Yeah a lot of things have changed. But what's not changed are the fact that a majority of Internet users are surfing on Windows. 

Yeah I remember reading this bug on a Symbian smartphone. The growth of smartphones and pads are certainly an expression of discontent with Windows, and a big blow to Microsoft. 

But a majority of the users are still on desktops running windows. I hope that chromeos will defeat windows on this battlefield. 

Personally I will not consider this bug solved until Window joins Internet Explorer's decline, which I think will happen if ChromeOS success continues. 

> Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 12:42:10 +0000
> From: <email address hidden>
> To: <email address hidden>
> Subject: Re: [ubuntu-marketing] [Bug 1] Re: Microsoft has a majority market share
> 
> Hi :)
> When this bug was first posted even laptops were quite rare.  So the only
> form-factor that people were aware of was desktops.  It is already
> difficult to imagine such a time!
> 
> It was after this bug was posted that netbooks came out and they were
> swiftly crushed by clever tactics from MS.  Do you remember going through
> that time?  It was unthinkable that normal users might have access to
> anything non-MS.  That is what this bug-report is about.
> 
> If the original poster could go back in time then i am certain there would
> have been at least 3 bug-reports in order to still apply today.  Almost
> everyone who posted to this thread was basing their responses on the solid
> fact that desktop machines were the only form-factor available to normal
> users.
> 
> This bug-report was about reaching normal users.
> 
> As such it HAS been solved.
> 
> Now the whole landscape has changed radically.  There are new words to
> cover technology that hadn't been anticipated outside of Sci-fi.  Many of
> the responses are laughably wrong these days but were quite wise at the
> time.
> 
> 
> We have an opportunity to recognise that things were different back in the
> old days and an opportunity to cut away legacy stuff that is no longer
> useful.
> 
> Continuing with this thread would be much like keeping a bug-report open
> about support for Betamax systems or even VHS ones.  While technically not
> solved it has become largely irrelevant because it fails to account for the
> new landscape.  Of course 1 slight difference is that people still have
> movies that were recorded onto Betamx or VHS ;)
> 
> Regards from
> Tom :)
> 
> -- 
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1
> 
> Title:
>   Microsoft has a majority market share
> 
> Status in Club Distro:
>   Confirmed
> Status in Computer Science Ubuntu:
>   Confirmed
> Status in LibreOffice Productivity Suite:
>   New
> Status in dylan.NET.Reflection:
>   Invalid
> Status in dylan.NET:
>   Invalid
> Status in EasyPeasy Overview:
>   Invalid
> Status in Ichthux - Linux for Christians:
>   Invalid
> Status in JAK LINUX:
>   Invalid
> Status in LibreOffice:
>   In Progress
> Status in The Linux Kernel:
>   New
> Status in The Linux Mint Distribution:
>   In Progress
> Status in The Linux OS Project:
>   In Progress
> Status in Neobot:
>   New
> Status in Novabot:
>   New
> Status in The OpenOffice.org Suite:
>   In Progress
> Status in Tabuntu:
>   Invalid
> Status in A simple player to online TV streaming:
>   Invalid
> Status in Tv-Player:
>   Invalid
> Status in Ubuntu Malaysia LoCo Team Meta Project:
>   In Progress
> Status in Ubuntu:
>   Fix Released
> Status in Arch Linux:
>   Confirmed
> Status in Baltix GNU/Linux:
>   Invalid
> Status in “linux” package in Debian:
>   In Progress
> Status in Fedora:
>   Confirmed
> Status in Fluxbuntu: The Lightweight, Productive, Agile OS:
>   Confirmed
> Status in openSUSE:
>   In Progress
> Status in Tilix Linux:
>   New
> 
> Bug description:
>   See Mark's closure comment here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/1/comments/1834
>   ------
> 
>   Microsoft has a majority market share in the new desktop PC
>   marketplace. This is a bug which Ubuntu and other projects are meant
>   to fix. As the philosophy of the Ubuntu Project states, "Our work is
>   driven by a belief that software should be free and accessible to
>   all."
> 
>   "Ubuntu software is free. Always was, always will be. Free software gives everyone the freedom to use it however they want and share with whoever they like. This freedom has huge benefits. At one end of the spectrum it enables the Ubuntu community to grow and share its collective experience and expertise to continually improve all things Ubuntu. At the other, we are able to give access to essential software for those who couldn’t otherwise afford it – an advantage that’s keenly felt by individuals and organisations all over the world."
>        * http://www.ubuntu.com/project/about-ubuntu/our-philosophy
> 
>   Non-free software leaves users at the mercy of the software owner and
>   concentrates control over the technology which powers our society into
>   the hands of a few. Additionally, proprietary software stifles
>   innovation, maintains artificial scarcities, and enables malicious
>   anti-features such as DRM, surveillance, and other monopolistic
>   practices.
> 
>   This bug is widely evident in the PC industry.
> 
>   Steps to repeat:
> 
>       1. Visit a local PC store.
>       2. Attempt to buy a machine without any proprietary software.
> 
>   What happens:
> 
>   Almost always, a majority of PCs for sale have Microsoft Windows pre-
>   installed. In the rare cases that they come with a GNU/Linux operating
>   system or no operating system at all, the drivers and BIOS may be
>   proprietary.
> 
>   What should happen:
> 
>   A majority of the PCs for sale should include only free software.
> 
>        * http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
>        * http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines
>        * http://www.opensource.org/docs/osd
> 
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