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Comment by Normal_gaussian | Hacker News Reader

It's certainly not the year of the Linux desktop, but it's not far off.

I've successfully switched both parents to Linux and non tech at our company run completely on Linux.

It's a real threat, especially with MS failing to innovate.

This failure to innovate presumably includes touch screens, Windows Hello biometric sign-in, running sandboxed apps from a Windows Store, integrated Cortana AI, Notification Center, cloud integration via OneDrive, Continuum mode, Device Guard, Universal apps that work across PCs, tablets, phones and the Xbox One, Xbox app for streaming live games to a PC or Tablet, touch-optimized Office apps on Windows, iOS and Android, and half a dozen other things.

So I understand that these features took a great deal of engineering effort, but except for sandboxing I have zero interest in any of them. So maybe it's innovation, but I don't see a whole lot of innovation that I care about. In particular, many of these features deal with touch interfaces, which I have no desire ever to use for serious work. And why would I ever run Windows if I didn't have to for work?

It would still be useful to distinguish between innovations that hundreds of millions of people use -- including me -- and your personal requirements. Sadly, the whole IT world does not actually revolve around those ;-)

Sure, and I'm careful not to impose my value judgements about whether an innovation is actually interesting to the question of whether it's an innovation. But personally I find that improving touch interfaces is this decade's version of adding a wheel to the mouse.

You said Linux was "a real threat, especially with MS failing to innovate."

This was an unrestricted claim that ignored a massive amount of Microsoft innovation. I pointed out that you were wrong and now you're quibbling about another of your personal opinions. Why make the same mistake twice?

Seems to me that the whole Microsoft Windows ecosystem -- across Azure, PCs, games consoles, smartphones, and iOS and Android devices -- shows far more innovation than Linux.

If you want to provide a list of Linux innovation to compare with my incomplete list above, I'd be interested to see it.

Be even better if you could address the whole market, without restricting it to your personal peccadilloes.

> You said Linux was "a real threat, especially with MS failing to innovate."

You're quoting somebody else there, friend. I jumped on this particular subthread because I wanted to point out that your list of innovations boils down to "Microsoft improved the user interface for touch devices."

> your personal peccadilloes

Peccadilloes? I do not think that means what you think it means.

> You're quoting somebody else there, friend.

Sorry. My apologies!

> I jumped on this particular subthread because I wanted to point out that your list of innovations boils down to "Microsoft improved the user interface for touch devices."

No, it doesn't. I use most of them on a desktop PC that doesn't include touch. Also, cloud and cross-platform capabilities go beyond touch.

> Peccadilloes? I do not think that means what you think it means.

I know what it means. And in the UK, it's not specifically sexual in connotation. However, I did spell it wrong ;-)

The year of linux is behind us.

Today in 2016, Linux is the superior platform for both user-friendliness and stability. It is easier to use and install on a wider variety of hardware. The old belief that Windows is "easier" is deprecated, and it is time to change the conversation to reflect that truth.

From my experience supporting my colleagues, no.

Linux does not exceed windows at user friendliness.

Stability completely depends on your hardware, distro, and use case.

It has made great strides, and windows is regressing, but it's not done yet.

I think it should be considered that the vast majority of Windows systems are pre-installed and pre-configured out of the box. If this were the case with Linux, there might be an argument. Most Windows users couldn't easily install, configure and use, e.g. Server Enterprise Edition. Likewise, I doubt Gentoo would be a common candidate for ease of use. The various *buntus have really come a long way in regard to user friendliness, maybe far enough.

That was part of my reasoning. Installing Windows is a huge pain in the ass compared to installing Linux. If you need a service pack you have to go to their website, the download links are always difficult to find and buried under walls of text that nobody cares to read. And there's always a chance that the download link simply won't work for some stupid bureaucratic reason, such as "Use Windows Update". And if Windows Update fails, you're really SOL.

In Linux, if you're missing something it's a simple matter of "apt-get install something" and it almost always works. The rate of failure for Windows updates and installing proper drivers and software in windows is much higher.

And Linux is far more likely to work out of the box on most hardware. Windows installs never have more drivers available than what ships on the CD/DVD. With Linux Net Installs, as long as your Ethernet is supported, and it probably is supported, the rest of the system will be up-to-date.

I have recently installed Windows 7, Windows 10, and Linux, I've used each for a number of months. Linux was the easiest and friendliest. I've been using Windows for years so I'm not a newbie, it's a terrible operating system.

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