The truth about linux having 15% market share in India.

I am from india. These numbers are inflated due to our population and government and health sector office pc using linux (ubuntu). These office pcs just require a chrome browser and all the work is done on the browser Nobody here cares what os they use in their office pc. I don’t see anyone here switching to linux on their personal pc other than the IT students who are forced to install kali linux. And most of them are running linux on virtualbox on windows.

Steam deck is not even officially sold here and imported ones that are sold cost 950$ for the 512 gb variant. So it is a ultra niche item here. .

People here buy desktops only for gaming/content creation, which means most households here doesn’t need/require a desktop. And these people always prefer mac or windows.

Also gaming scene here is dominated by mobile games (because gaming pcs and consoles are too expensive and we have the cheapest internet and phone prices) As for pc games it is dominated by valorant, Minecraft and gtav (fivem rp).

Edit - Many consider this a huge win. But getting market share in the office space for basic browsing and word processing inflates the numbers for actual game/app developers who wants to support linux and they will disappointed seeing the actual usage and they will abandon the linux support. Also the indian market isn’t buying laptop/desktops for browsing, they just use their phone because pc hardware is expensive and phones prices are cheap. And anyone who is buying desktops for serious tasks stick to windows and mac.

dino,

they just use their phone because pc hardware is expensive and phones prices are cheap.

Lol, this is so wrong and misleading. Like the whole post. Even for 350 dollars you could buy a used laptop which probably is more able to properly browse/word process than any of your smartphones.

Bene7rddso,

And for $200 you can get a smartphone that is more than good enough

tone1928,
@tone1928@aus.social avatar

@Bene7rddso @dino And sometimes the thing you need ends up being the one you get first. I need a phone and can get by without a PC.

dino,

For text processing? Okay, checks out.

Bene7rddso,

With Google Docs it works. If you need more a cheap tablet and Bluetooth keyboard & mouse is still cheaper

dino,

Yes, and I place the smartphone on my smartphoneholder glasses so I can actually see what I am typing on my bluetooth keyboard… oyoyoyoyoy

Vega,
@Vega@feddit.it avatar

Phones in India can be bought for near 50$, and that provide everything a common citizen (and I mean mandatory government app and messaging) need. And 50$ still isn’t cheap for most of the population. It’s a totally different economy than usa

emergencyfood,

I don’t see anyone here switching to linux on their personal pc other than the IT students who are forced to install kali linux.

I think someone is pulling your leg. All the IT / engineering students I know use either a normal Linux distribution like Ubuntu, or Windows. Kali is for cybersecurity people and wannabe h4X0rs.

teawrecks,

Microsoft is as ubiquitous as it is specifically because of decades long efforts to be the default in government offices around the world. So the Indian government using Linux definitely counts as a win.

nooneshere,

Where’s the truth in your claim? Whether the numbers are from ignorant office goers or eloquent nerds, it still counts

BananaTrifleViolin,

I get what you’re trying to say but I work in a large healthcare organisation in the UK and our PCs run Windows. Most of the work across our organisation is done within a virtual machine window for our Electronic Patient Record; the local OS on the PC is largely irrelevant. The exception is that office is used for email and that causes a drag on moving away from Windows - people are used to using Outlook rather than just using a webmail or other tool.

Windows has that market share currently largely through inertia rather than going for the most cost effective option. The 15% in India with government and health sector use does count, it’s quite an achievement to have successfully deployed a vendor neutral operating system for other tools to be deployed on to. Shame it’s using Chrome though. In the UK Healthcare we’re wasting huge sums licensing and maintaining Windows when we really shouldn’t be.

caustictrap,

The workflow actually works on any browser. Chrome is used because that icon is recognisable and IT guy can just say click on the chrome icon and people understand that.

turkishdelight,

80% of computer usage is just a browser. you can swap in any OS, it does not matter for the end user.

helenslunch, (edited )
@helenslunch@feddit.nl avatar

These numbers are inflated due to our population and government and health sector office pc using linux

That’s…not how inflating numbers works?

These office pcs just require a chrome browser and all the work is done on the browser

I mean, that goes for most people…

Every company I’ve ever worked for does all “work” in the browser. Because all the data is stored and managed in the cloud and you don’t need each client to have a powerful PC, just the one powerful server.

That goes for consumers, too. Most people out here spending $2k on Apple Facebook machines. Very few people actually need any amount of power in their personal computer. Especially as cloud computing becomes more and more popular.

other than the IT students who are forced to install kali linux.

Isn’t Kali a pentesting distro? Strange choice.

Atomic,

Indeed. I know someone who bought the latest mac laptop. Very expensive, as they are. And all it’s used for is browsing the internet.

And when I say that’s all it’s used for I mean it.

Railcar8095,

Truth be told, that battery life is sweeeeet. I hope by the time I need a personal laptop arm is more popular or Linux on M chips is fully matured.

Atomic,

I blew in Debian on my Microsoft Surface Pro4. It runs so much better and battery lasts longer too. It’s the shitty 4GB ram version so it was freezing a lot on Windows. Way less on Debian

LeFantome,

“Nobody cares” is how Linux will eventually win on the desktop. It becomes viable for most people when they no longer “need” whatever they were using before. As Linux is free, it will win when it becomes “good enough”.

Office use dominates desktop use everywhere in the world at this point. So, nothing in India sounds unique per se. In wealthier countries, Windows can be purchased because it does not cost that much and so it just makes sense to reduce risk and go with the flow. Compared to India, there is a reduced incentive to ask if Windows is needed.

In the USA in particular, there is a wealthy creative class that props up the macOS numbers. MacOS having 25% share in the US is an anomaly driven by software development, media production, and lifestyle. Economically, this is more of a hardware choice than an OS decision. The prevalence of Mac laptops drives these numbers.

Outside of office use, the next biggest category is gaming. Again, if money is no object and you are buying the latest NVDIA kit, Windows still has an advantage. This is changing though.

The Linux gaming tech stack is rapidly improving and NVIDIA specific issues are finally being addressed. I see the next 24 months as pivotal. Linux gaming is likely to be the vector that drives Linux adoption in the first world. That will be sticky adoption. Developers will follow. In the US, this will create enough exposure to push Linux to the mainstream. If Linux becomes mainstream in the US, the barrier to adoption drops all over the world. See first paragraph.

moon_matter,
@moon_matter@kbin.social avatar

“Nobody cares” is how Linux will eventually win on the desktop. It becomes viable for most people when they no longer “need” whatever they were using before. As Linux is free, it will win when it becomes “good enough”.

The largest barrier is the fact that the end user is expected to install the OS themselves. Having an OS work 100% of the time right out of the box with a default install is impossible. Windows and OSX have a huge advantage by being installed on the factory floor. The manufacturer guarantees that the drivers work for the hardware they decide to install and that the default applications on the OS work as they should.

Linux needs an equivalent to Microsoft or Apple that can put Linux on shelves at WalMart for average people that buy $600 desktops.

SineSwiper,
@SineSwiper@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Microsoft spent millions of dollars and clout to lock their OEM out of offering Linux on the desktop. There’s a good reason why you don’t see Linux PCs on the shelves of Walmart.

moon_matter,
@moon_matter@kbin.social avatar

I meant it quite literally. Another multi-billion dollar company needs to be willing and able to spend the same level of resources and time. Wal-Mart or Costco itself would have to be willing to produce their own hardware.

Yeah, I fully realize it's never going to happen. It's a hypothetical to illustrate just how high of a hurdle it is. It won't happen organically, there needs to be a strong driving force with the financial backing that rivals that of the competition.

GreatDong3000, (edited )

Is it really so hard to find Linux computers in the US?

That’s mindblowing for me, in Brazil it is super easy.

For example, these two below are two of the major retailers in the country, one is online only and the other one has brick and mortar stores all over:

https://www.submarino.com.br/busca/notebook-linux

https://www.casasbahia.com.br/notebook-linux/b

They are targeted for middle class to poor people so you won’t find any great hardware but still.

You can see brands like Lenovo, Vaio (Sony), Acer, Dell, Asus, Compaq and Positivo (last one is a Brazilian brand), coming with pre-installed linux distros, Ubuntu, Debian and some other distros that idk. You can really find those irl stores not just online.

You can find desktops too: https://m.magazineluiza.com.br/busca/computador+desktop+linux/

umbrella,
@umbrella@lemmy.ml avatar

thats very fair and doesnt take away from that 15% at all

a browser is all most people use their computer for anyway

acockworkorange,

These numbers are inflated due to our population and government and health sector office pc using linux (ubuntu).

They are not inflated. Office use is the majority of desktop use elsewhere in the world too. It’s very much a apples to apples comparison.

CeeBee,

These numbers are inflated due to our population and government and health sector office pc using linux

So just like Windows numbers being massively inflated because of corporate computer fleets?

These office pcs just require a chrome browser and all the work is done on the browser Nobody here cares what os they use in their office pc.

Right, so again, the mostly the same with Windows for both office and personal use.

I don’t see anyone here switching to linux on their personal pc other than the IT students who are forced to install kali linux.

What are you expecting exactly? Is the choice of each person supposed to be formally announced? Are we supposed to real into a populated areas and declare like Micheal Scott “I declare: I’M USING LINUUUUUX!”?

People here buy desktops only for gaming/content creation, which means most households here doesn’t need/require a desktop.

You just described the entire world. This is far from unique to India. Most people I know don’t have a desktop and maybe have a laptop, and I live in North America.

Not to be conceded, but I’m guessing this post is in response to my comments from a couple days ago?

I really don’t understand your point. It’s like you’re saying “the users in India don’t count because they’re not using Linux the way I do”.

Does that mean that all the workstations at CERN don’t count? Or that the systems up on the ISS don’t count?

To me (and I’m certain most people in general would agree) the ISS story is very important, because they were originally running Windows on those systems, but it kept crashing. They switched to Linux to get more stability out of those systems and have been using Linux ever since.

Also, does the story of the City of Munich switching to Linux not count either? It’s supposed to be a major win, btw. A city government switching away from Windows and choosing to go with Linux is huge. I see it the same way with India. The more often people are Linux in the wild, the more normalized it is and the more mind share it generates. And mind share is huge in getting people to make a certain choice. It’s the reason why product ads are everywhere. The more often you see a product/brand, the more likely you are to say to yourself “that’s the thing I’ll buy”.

Before anyone says Munich switched back to Windows, they didn’t. Microsoft made an under-table deal with some officials with the at-the-time in power government to switch back to Windows if they set up a Microsoft office in Munich. Then a new government was voted in a few months later and said “hell no, we’re continuing with the Linux rollout” and that’s where we are today. The City of Munich is a Linux success story.

Ultimately your post was just stating some facts and then waffling on about how it doesn’t count.

lurch,

You just described the entire world. This is far from unique to India. Most people I know don’t have a desktop and maybe have a laptop, and I live in North America.

I’m pretty sure in Europe, UK and Switzerland almost every household has at least one PC. A lot even one per person. Everyone I know from Europe has their own in their room and kids usually get their own in their teens. The difference between poorer households and rich are usually just how good/new those PCs are.

caustictrap,

In india due to low cellular data prices and android phone prices (chinese brands are huge in india) situation is very different. Consoles and pc hardware are priced differently compared to other electronics.

CeeBee,

I’m in Canada and work in IT. Most of the people I know that have desktop systems are other IT people or PC gamers. Otherwise most of everyone else uses a laptop.

dino,

You work in IT but you distinguish between desktop systems and laptops? Why?

CeeBee,

Lol, especially because I work in IT. I’m tired of companies only issuing laptops to employees when SFF systems get you more for less. The company where I work currently sends out a laptop, two monitors, a mouse, and keyboard for all hires.

They were giving out 8GB systems to developers (mostly running Windows and Visual Studio). It was a massive issue. I made a big deal out of it and advocated for new systems with 32GB. They bought new systems, sent them out, and it turns out they all had 16GB.

The person doing the order missed that detail and thought they were getting a deal for the company. Which resulted in a complicated process of ordering everyone an extra stick of RAM and then trying to instruct everyone how to open a laptop to install the RAM.

A SFF system would have solved much of these problems. Cheaper than laptops, usually better specs and thermals, and far easier to upgrade.

So to me, there’s a massive difference between desktops and laptops.

dino,

By SFF you are talking small form factor? To my knowledge there is only one big player in this field which is Intel NUC and I am not even sure THEY have business support. Thats a big argument for laptops, because you get proper business support compared to niche products like SFF devices.

But maybe I completely missed your point.

CeeBee,

SFF is an entire class of desktop computing with multiple product lines from HP, Lenovo, Dell, etc.

The Intel NUC was a unique subset often called a “mini pc”.

Businesses buy SFF systems all the time. My point was simply that SFF should be favoured over laptops in many cases, instead of being the default employee device within a company.

federalreverse,

People here buy desktops only for gaming/content creation, which means most households here doesn’t need/require a desktop.

You just described the entire world. This is far from unique to India. Most people I know don’t have a desktop and maybe have a laptop, and I live in North America.

Pretty sure that they mean that most people’s only device is a phone. Desktops and laptops are basically the same thing, packaged slightly differently.

CeeBee,

Yes, which is why I said “Most people I know don’t have a desktop and maybe have a laptop”.

My sentence implies that most people don’t have a desktop or laptop, and if they are to have one, then it’s more likely to be a laptop.

federalreverse,

Ah! In that case I misunderstood you, sorry!

Railcar8095,

I was in reddit just a few minutes ago. I don’t think I have seen a comment like this there in forever. Kudos!

caustictrap,

So most of the entire world is using windows/mac if they want to do something serious other than web browsing. And most of the linux desktop usage is contributed by enterprise and office pcs using linux. People still use windows and mac on their personal pc. So it is not a huge win if you want developer support for games and apps. Even if developers follow these numbers and start supporting linux, they will soon realise it is not worth their time because linux usage is mostly due to enterprise running chrome.

CeeBee,

So most of the entire world is using windows/mac if they want to do something serious other than web browsing.

Absolutely not. Depending on what you want to do, Linux enables you to do way more than Windows.

And most of the linux desktop usage is contributed by enterprise and office pcs using linux.

Do you have actual numbers for this, or is it just entirely your own anecdotal observation?

Even if developers follow these numbers and start supporting linux, they will soon realise it is not worth their time because linux usage is mostly due to enterprise running chrome.

Garbage argument. It’s like the whole induced demand nonsense city project planners use. No one ever says “I’m only using Linux because I don’t need the extra stuff Windows can offer”, instead what you often hear is “I’d switch to Linux if this one specific application wasn’t Windows only”.

The largest thing that has held Linux adoption is application compatibility.

And one fact that I know that questions your “it’s only cheap enterprises” argument is that Linux is huge in the academic sector in India (and the world also). More than half of the AI and ML demo videos on YouTube are from Indian accounts.

eugenia,
@eugenia@lemmy.ml avatar

The same in Greece, where it has 11%, it’s because some government agencies use it, and the whole of the Greek military is on Linux Mint!

gunpachi,

As someone from India, I agree with you.

I guess people just want to use what everyone else uses. Using something different than windows is instantly assumed to be very difficult.

I even showed my friends how they can play games on linux instead of having their laptops get stuck while using windows 11 , but they still won’t even consider trying it.

Btw if you don’t mind - do you play apex legends ? (Judging by your username)

Harbinger01173430,

Thank you. The mystery is now solved for me.

Drinvictus,

People just use the software they need and it works. That’s not a bad thing. That’s how it’s supposed to be. I mean imagine paying for a whole OS just to run chrome. Now that would be crazy and stupid.

someacnt_,

Agreed. Also I think web browser is sufficient for most workloads nowadays. Maybe vim or vscode for programming?

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