Linux Won The Desktop Wars A Long Time Ago

Linux has won the desktop wars and Tux now represents the dominant desktop operating system. We’ve been in this position for a while now. The reason many of us haven’t recognized it is because this win doesn’t look anything like we thought it would. When wishes come true, they’re rarely what we envisioned...

For some reason, we decided these new uber smart smartphones belonged in a category by themselves. Although Android quickly went to the head of the class, we didn’t count it in our quest for Linux popularity. Indeed, we haven’t considered these devices to be personal computers at all, even though they’re used to do word processing, surf the web, read and write email, manipulate images… Do these uses sound familiar?

We lump phones and tablets into one classification, where Linux and Apple are way ahead of the game, and put desktops and laptops into another class where Windows dominates, although both the Chromebook and Mac are offering credible challenges. This distinction is artificial. People interact with their smartphones and their tablets in exactly the same way as they do with the tower, keyboard and monitor in their homes. Desktop, laptop, tablet and phone are different versions of what are essentially the same thing...