How do you make Linux more popular?

Linux recently hit 4% desktop operating system market share and I am really really happy about that however it's still far away from competing with Windows or even Apple's Mac OS honestly I'm sick of Windows dominating the space everything is being optimized for Windows built for Windows and I thought what what could Linux do to make itself more popular on desktop so here's some of my suggestions and some of these will be silly so just keep that in mind and also it's fair to say that n of them will be equally effective Hardware is such a big reason why Windows is so widely used go on Amazon right now and search for a PC to buy and what you'll find is that most if not all computers there already come with Windows pre-installed whether a laptop or a pre-built desktop PC this means that millions of people buying new PCS end up using Windows now there are retailers that do sell pre-built PCS and laptops with Linux but quite frankly they're few and far between what we need is more big companies releasing custom Linux optimized devices like the valves steam deck that thing is awesome and it runs well not just because it has a decent mobile AMD chip in it but also because valve really optimized Steam OS unlike with Windows companies can build custom interfaces and settings that work really well with the hardware and steam deck is a prime example of that as it has custom overlays that help you choose how you want the game to run like you can limit the FPS or increase it to optimize battery life as well as provide you with useful info in addition the whole OS is gaming optimized so you get that conso like experience but you also have the choice of using it as a regular pc I honestly believe that this one handheld console from valve was a big factor in getting Linux to that 4% market share Mark now can we get more companies to follow a similar pattern I mean truth be told you don't even have to design a new device for that take Sony's PS5 which runs a custom Zen 2 chip that's most similar to something like a ryzen 3700x and a GPU that's best compared to a Radeon RX 6700 non XD I mean those are really not too shabby specs for just $500 if Sony could just add a desktop mode to the PS5 interface with Linux where you could hook up a mouse and keyboard and use it your your PS5 as like a home PC for homework and media consumption and maybe even content Creation with editing that would be so cool and given that there's over 50 million ps5s in the world it would certainly help Linux become more widely used by the way that wouldn't be Sony's first time ever doing this as they did release Linux for the PS2 back in 2002 later on with the release of the PS3 it too had the option to run Linux however uh in 2009 the support for it was uh dropped for unknown reasons and I mean I can only speculate why they did that but maybe not enough people used it question mark again valve and Sony are just examples that with good Hardware that can also run Linux they can make a really big impact to make Linux become more popular now when we're talking about advertisements a lot of people assume that they just don't work which is false by the way ads do attract customers that's why all companies do it however do you ever see a Linux penguin mascot whose name is tux by the way tell you to install Linux well my guess is that the answer is probably no there's an issue in advertising Linux since a lot of the dros are well there's a lot of dros right like if you're going to gather the funds to help spread the word about Linux to more people how do you exactly do it do you tell them to install a BTU or Linux Mint or Arch by the way I'll talk about the whole Linux drro fragmentation problem a bit later and for now we'll just assume that we solve that problem so here's just one of my ideas of a perfect advert for Linux the year is 2025 and windows 11 has been out for 4 years and it's nowhere near Microsoft desired user numbers but aha those windows 10 users will have no choice the support for that OS ends in 2025 and that is The Perfect Storm the perfect window of opportunity for Linux to step in and advertise that hey look not only Linux will still perfectly work fine on your windows 10pc after 2025 since it will have all the security updates but it will also run faster due to linux's low PC resource use did we also mention it's free Linux is free you can just download it install it boom you're done anyway this could be a billboard a TV ad perhaps a bus in London or something like that but that 2025 October time period is the moment for Linux to strike if there's ever going to be an ad campaign speaking of the moment remember that moment when you first got into your computer science class and you were met with Windows 98 or Windows XP if you're around my age now being an adult I still remember those classes very vividly and what operating system did my school use to teach about computer stuff well it was Windows of course meaning that my school probably to this day still uses it and gives many kids their first experience of using a PC with a Windows OS please comment down below if your school ever used Linux in their computer class I'll be looking for those comments because I'm interested if that was a thing somewhere in the world but yeah again Windows gets such easy wins because of its dominance it's easy for schools to pick windows it's easy for developers of games and other software to prioritize windows it's easy for Hardware to be Shi with Windows Out of the Box all because Windows is dominating the market like I know the reality of the situation uh of just being the most popular desktop OS that's just just how it is but it's so annoying what's also kind of annoying is when you get these content blocked or inaccessible messages and you can do anything about them unless you get a VPN Ser stke VPN allows you to change your location with a single click and encrypts your connection making you more secure online it also has additional security and privacy features like alternative ID that can create new personas for you to use online for a more private internet together with a fully featured antivirus and more use the code academy when purchasing Ser shark and get two additional months for free it also helps to support our Channel and make more videos which I really appreciate in our last Linux video I made a point that having too many Linux disos isn't too confusing but honestly reading your comments and talking with a few of my friends I perhaps want to change my stance on that like I know that many Linux enthusiasts consider that having more dros is a benefit I don't disagree with that at all but we have to acknowledge that this Dro fragmentation does presents some challenges when bringing in new users to the platform it matters less when there is a device that's already running a predetermined and pre-installed version of Linux like again valve steam Deck with Steam OS however just look at the advertising part or recommending a dis to your friend several dros come across your mind when doing so and you might even recommend different dros to different people which I guess like it can be a benefit but at the same time it's like you know it presents this challenge when everyone's going to be using a different OS kind of so look I don't like consolidation but can we just agree that if we had the Linux disal like a singular entity that would be the de facto default for every Linux user that it would make downloading it easier support would be easier and also advertising would be a lot simpler etc etc Ubunto I think is one of the most popular dros out there at least in my circle people just assumed that Linux was Ubuntu anyway put in the comments below let me know if we need just one Dro and if we had that one Linux drro how would that impact the market share now my final proposal is perhaps a little out of this world and stupid and silly and whatever but hear me out just for a second take a look at these two this is is an iPhone and this is a Google pixel or in other words iPhone and Android in a sense they're both running very different operating systems yet they're also very similar in many ways like take something as simple as installing an app you go to the Google Play Store on Android or on the Apple App Store if you have an iPhone and both devices you just click install and boom the app is installed and ready to use software updates are also very similar and are handled in a very similar manner using a camera is simple right you just open and you snap a picture they have similar phone unlocking features like you know they have your face ID and your camera unlock on the pixel now I'm not saying that Linux and windows are super different I actually always recommend Linux Min to people who are switching from Windows to Linux but even so there are differences between the two like on Linux you can install apps via the snap store which is kind of like the Windows store or you can also use the software manager manager that's included but I mean who likes Windows tour anyway right most users on Windows at least use exes and you can actually do the same thing on Linux as well if you're using wine many Linux users tend to stick with the terminal since once you get used to it installing apps actually is way easier by just typing in commands and to be frank the rest is also kind of similar especially because most basic users what do they do they browse the internet and what do they browse the internet with a web browser and so you can imagine that Google Chrome is exactly the same if you're using like Linux or Windows or it doesn't matter but I want to hear it from Windows users because besides all the software you know not everything is supported obviously or you know certain Hardware also lacks drivers on Linux but what are the main functional Everyday Use differences that make you not want to use Linux like I'm generally interested to know like maybe you don't like the general flow of the installing apps on Linux even though again it's kind of similar or maybe the secure but sometimes annoying way of Linux super user access of having to enter your password to do anything or perhaps you once you had a bug that took forever to troubleshoot and it left a bad taste with Linux let me know in the comments below like I'm genuinely interested to know listen I think the whole Windows gets easy wins argument is a big one and it really stands true like seriously Linux gets a lot of things right but the problem is that most people just don't get to experience it they're stuck behind whatever already works and they call it a day and I mean can you really blame blame them for that I was going to make this video a lot bigger and name like 10 reasons on how to make Linux super popular and grease the market share make it much bigger but I just can't I simply can't come up with enough good ways to make it happen I still do stand that by pre-installing Linux on new PCS which people tend to buy is probably still the best way to make Linux more popular though you know that is also kind of like a double-edged sword because at the same time people who are used to Windows already that could also leave a bad impression for new users when they realize like oh what is this Linux Mint thing what is it like I can't even install my exe files blah blah blah uh Linux users should really celebrate the 4% number it's a big achievement honestly I guess we should also thank Microsoft for that as well since well some of their decisions do a great job of uh promoting Linux with their mishaps like having ads in the start menu ouch by the way go watch this video next where we go over reasons why Linux isn't as popular as it should be and you can also watch me lose my mind over the fact that adobe stuff is still not on Linux yet and I'm hoping that will change but anyway that'll be all for now take care

Channel: Surfshark Academy

Views: 44,314

Keywords: surfshark, surfshark academy, How do you make Linux more popular, how to make linux more popular, linux, linux os

Id: WYOpwZJapbs

Length: 11min 41sec (701 seconds)

Published: Fri May 17 2024