It would help all of their competitors. A non zero number of people would move from windows to each of the others.

Whether or not the number moving away from windows and on to each of the others is significant or not is a different matter.

The biggest thing helping Linux right now is Valve's work improving the gaming experience, IMO.

valve would be really happy if Microsoft do windows subscription, lmao

For the average consumer, this would help Apple and Google out more than anything. **People want what they know. **

Exactly, which is why this will probably work, do you really think the average consumer that's used to Windows is going to switch to Mac when they can just pay 5$/month instead? Lol

As long as the price isn't ridiculous like 50$/month or some shit, the average consumer is just going to pay it lolol

Yup, Chromebooks are already cheap and pretty intuitive, I think this will bump their sales a lot. I've ditched windows long ago except for my gaming PC and the PCs at my office (I don't have a say in those though, I just much prefer Linux

I imagine they’ll split it into an enterprise version and then multiple consumer tiers, with a "free/lite" version with ads and progressively more function or less ads. Folks that dont use a computer for more than web browsing will jump on that

Judging by this decade I don't estimate in decades anymore.

Why? They could roll out W12 with subscription-only plans. Besides the contracts they currently have that specify a specific amount of security updates for X years, they can let W11 and previous versions die. No more updates besides what they need to protect themselves.

It's not like governments and businesses will balk. They already pay a premium for Windows licenses and they'd probably get deals, anyways. Average home users might not upgrade, but all new PCs sold will have W12 and require a subscription if you want to be able to use most of the features.

This is what happens by not breaking up MS more or imposing penalties for anti-competitive behavior.

Yeah, except the Steam Deck has been giving a huge reason to provide compatibility with Linux, and Valve/WINE have been pushing hard as hell to help facilitate it.

Unity pushed me to go with Godot. Unity already had a Linux editor, but this has pushed me to also move from Photoshop to Krita, since we’re in that kind of mood.

I tried several games last night that were rated gold or platinum rather than native on ProtonDB. While some people provided launch options, they all worked flawlessly out of the box. I’m even the first person to file a compatibility report for Furry Cyberfucker, let’s fucken go.

Piper let me configure my mouse and keyboard without the need for GHub. My HOTAS works flawlessly without the Saitek software, since I’m used to configuring buttons in-game.

I tried this last year, and went back to Windows with the same “it’s not quite there” response as everyone there. But I’ve been keeping an eye on this since I had to use ndiswrapper to get Ubuntu to play nice with my wlan adapter, and this month, I installed PopOS, and have been getting along pretty well. I haven’t encountered a single issue or compatibility that outright breaks this move for me, and I’m generally stubborn as shit to learn new things.

It may not be the “year of the Linux desktop” for everyone, but it is for me. If you’re expecting some monolithic mass adoption, keep dreaming, but this progress doesn’t seem to be slowing down.

Right!

If I had gotten 10 cent each time I heard (or said) this I would be close to 10 € by now :D
I switched to Linux back in 2006 but not everyone has the knowledge, the capacity or the motivation to do so.

Someday Linux desktop percentage will jump up, but not how the optimists have thought. It's going to be more because the younger generations don't think they need desktop operating systems, leaving them exclusively to to younger gen-X, older gen-Y, various hobbyists, and those who need a desktop workflow at work and like it enough to bring it home. The desktop will settle into its niche, like live theater, fountain pens, and a thousand other mass culture relics, and Linux will still be there chugging along while Windows and OS X (as we know them) slowly molder due to reduced profits in the desktop space.

I have a kid, and yes, there's a laptop she uses, but to her it's exclusively for games and for dicking around in Roblox Studio or TinkerCAD. I've even seen her close a game, settle into her chair at the very same desk, and pull up Youtube on an iOS device. And this is from a kid who is more comfortable with a PC than most of her peers.

2025 is the year of the linux desktop!