I remember similar articles when Windows 7 reached end of life. People will complain but mostly adapt to Windows 11, and Linux will gain 0.2% market share.
Will they though ? Me and all my nerd friends straight up ignored windows 8, I’m sure we weren’t alone. I also saw the writing on the wall with windows 11 and went with Linux for my new gaming PC
I ignored Windows 8, and even 10 for a while, but that was because Windows 7 was still working and supported and still kinda is my favorite version of Windows.
Then at some point I just switched to 10 and been using it ever since while installing the occasional distro to see if I can move off of Windows (Answer is still no) or as an emergency desktop bootable USB
This time is a little different. A lot of slightly older but really decent hardware won’t be compatible with Window’s TPM requirements. They’re forcing their customers to buy all new hardware for an overall worse experience. Pair that with the upcoming Trump tariffs and you’ll see some people second guess their next choice of OS if it means they can save on a lot of money if they make some concessions on what they want. I’m not saying it’ll be a huge change but at least it’ll keep ticking up the Linux market share enough for some software publishers to start offering their products on the platform like Steam already is.
For most non-tech savvy people, the OS is part of the computer. It comes with win 10, that’s just the way the computer works and it will stay with 10 until the hardware fails or is too slow and they need a new PC. They’re not separate. And if a PC costs more, they’re just going to deal with it longer or give up on a desktop/laptop and do more on their phones.
When Windows 7 reached EOL in 2012, ChromeOS wasn’t even a year old, MacOS was too expensive, SteamOS wasn’t close on the horizon, tablets weren’t really usable, smartphones were severely underpowered, and most applications didn’t have web-based versions or replacements.
This time around, none of those things are true, and Windows 11 lost market share last month (which is frankly unprecedented).
Plus, even with that dearth of options, people griped and complained and refused for so long that Microsoft made a big marketing deal out of Windows 8.1. And even after that, they offered Windows 7 users free Windows 10 licenses to get them to upgrade.
Linux probably won’t get the crown (though I’d say a bump as high as 1-2% isn’t out of the question). It’ll probably be ChromeOS, if anything, simply because of the commanding lead Google has held for the past decade or so in K12. But in any case, if Microsoft doesn’t shift their strategy, they’re unlikely to win this one; there are a lot of options.
I remember similar articles when Windows 7 reached end of life. People will complain but mostly adapt to Windows 11, and Linux will gain 0.2% market share.
Will they though ? Me and all my nerd friends straight up ignored windows 8, I’m sure we weren’t alone. I also saw the writing on the wall with windows 11 and went with Linux for my new gaming PC
I ignored Windows 8, and even 10 for a while, but that was because Windows 7 was still working and supported and still kinda is my favorite version of Windows.
Then at some point I just switched to 10 and been using it ever since while installing the occasional distro to see if I can move off of Windows (Answer is still no) or as an emergency desktop bootable USB
This time is a little different. A lot of slightly older but really decent hardware won’t be compatible with Window’s TPM requirements. They’re forcing their customers to buy all new hardware for an overall worse experience. Pair that with the upcoming Trump tariffs and you’ll see some people second guess their next choice of OS if it means they can save on a lot of money if they make some concessions on what they want. I’m not saying it’ll be a huge change but at least it’ll keep ticking up the Linux market share enough for some software publishers to start offering their products on the platform like Steam already is.
For most non-tech savvy people, the OS is part of the computer. It comes with win 10, that’s just the way the computer works and it will stay with 10 until the hardware fails or is too slow and they need a new PC. They’re not separate. And if a PC costs more, they’re just going to deal with it longer or give up on a desktop/laptop and do more on their phones.
When Windows 7 reached EOL in 2012, ChromeOS wasn’t even a year old, MacOS was too expensive, SteamOS wasn’t close on the horizon, tablets weren’t really usable, smartphones were severely underpowered, and most applications didn’t have web-based versions or replacements.
This time around, none of those things are true, and Windows 11 lost market share last month (which is frankly unprecedented).
Plus, even with that dearth of options, people griped and complained and refused for so long that Microsoft made a big marketing deal out of Windows 8.1. And even after that, they offered Windows 7 users free Windows 10 licenses to get them to upgrade.
Linux probably won’t get the crown (though I’d say a bump as high as 1-2% isn’t out of the question). It’ll probably be ChromeOS, if anything, simply because of the commanding lead Google has held for the past decade or so in K12. But in any case, if Microsoft doesn’t shift their strategy, they’re unlikely to win this one; there are a lot of options.