Comment 1928 for bug 1

Revision history for this message
Tom (tom6) wrote : Re: [Bug 1] Re: Microsoft has a majority market share

Hi :)
While this is still true and unlikely to change many people are using
chromebooks, tablets, phones and other devices to do things that they
previously would have had to use a desktop to do. Laptops have also become
much more popular too. A few years ago some study allegedly found that 80%
of computer usage is now done using tablets and phones.

For tablets and phones gnu&linux is king. Android is a flavour of
gnu&linux on a layer of java. Blackberry is gnu&linux, and of course
Chrome is too. iPads and iPhones, really anything Apple, is a flavour of
BSD, which is another unix-based system = practically a sister/brother of
gnu&linux. Apparently only about 1% of hand-helds (tablets and phones etc)
use a Windows-based system. Windows has one major disadvantage in trying
to run on hand-helds which is that it's a huge great big bloated behemoth
despite their best efforts at slashing it down-to-size. It just about
manages to cope on laptops but when they tried to push it onto netbooks it
performed so badly that it killed the entire netbook market. We see some
resurgence of the netbook market through Chromebooks but people are still
wary of that form-factor, thanks to Windows.

Windows are attempting to rewrite Windows to work on Arm chips, having
recently abandoned their earlier recent attempt, but it's likely they will
still need vast amounts of resources, such as one would reasonably expect
from a desktop/laptop - and still not work on other form-factors.

So wearables (incl watches) and handhelds, and chromebooks are likely to
keep using unix-based systems, usually specifically gnu&linux.

This bug was first raised when the word "desktop" covered all the
form-factors that could be used in small-business and by families or other
private usage. Nowadays the term "desktop", even if expanded to include
laptops, only represents under 20% of that market.

Regards from
Tom :)

On 13 December 2016 at 14:40, Luca Ciavatta <email address hidden> wrote:

> I confirm this bug.
> I visited some local PC stores (middle-sized city in Italy) and I
> attempted to buy a machine without any proprietary software.
>
> All the computers on sale had proprietary software.
>
> --
> 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 Clubdistro:
> Confirmed
> Status in Computer Science Ubuntu:
> Confirmed
> Status in LibreOffice:
> New
> Status in dylan.NET.Reflection:
> Invalid
> Status in dylan.NET:
> Invalid
> Status in EasyPeasy Overview:
> Confirmed
> Status in Ichthux:
> Invalid
> Status in JAK LINUX:
> Invalid
> Status in LibreOffice:
> In Progress
> Status in Skylinux:
> New
> Status in Linux Mint:
> In Progress
> Status in The Linux OS Project:
> In Progress
> Status in Neobot:
> New
> Status in Novabot:
> New
> Status in OpenOffice:
> In Progress
> Status in Tabuntu:
> Invalid
> Status in Tivion:
> Invalid
> Status in Tv-Player:
> Invalid
> Status in Ubuntu Malaysia LoCo Team:
> In Progress
> Status in Wine:
> Unknown
> Status in Ubuntu:
> Fix Released
> Status in Arch Linux:
> Confirmed
> Status in Baltix:
> Confirmed
> Status in Debian:
> In Progress
> Status in Fedora:
> Confirmed
> Status in Fluxbuntu:
> Confirmed
> Status in openSUSE:
> In Progress
> Status in Tilix:
> 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
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/clubdistro/+bug/1/+subscriptions
>