DEV Community

Discussion on: Why is Linux Not More Popular on the Desktop?

Collapse
 
aghost7 profile image
Jonathan Boudreau

So far I haven't had to use apt-get to install GUI software (only need it for some development stuff). Everything can be installed from Ubuntu Software (it integrates snaps, gnome plugins, and apt packages). I'd like to hear what software can't be installed through a GUI.

I personally want to have Linux on the desktop become more mainstream. Right now at work I'm forced to use OSX. I want to use Linux as my only operating system, but due to it not being mainstream enough it doesn't look like its going to happen any time soon.

Collapse
 
jacobherrington profile image
Jacob Herrington (he/him)

Where I work people choose their preferred OS and we haven't ever had problems, not sure why that's not more common practice.

I've worked in enterprise before and I can see the struggle with that in those environments, but I feel like devs should be encouraged to work in their favorite OS... 🤷‍♂️

Thread Thread
 
kyleboe profile image
Kyle Boe

Can't speak to "enterprise" per se but our office is split 50/50 macOS and Linux and we haven't had problems getting work done.

Thread Thread
 
simbo1905 profile image
Simon Massey • Edited

I was sat in a workshop at an enterprise that has a fifth of a million employees and one of them had a mac book pro. I stared at it a lot as the company has a few hundred thousand IBM thinkpads with the majority running windows7. On the coffee break I ask him if it was indeed a company laptop on the global corporate network. He said it was. The developers at this enterprise are given Thinkpads. So I asked him what he did for a job. He is a data scientist. I guessed that the head of data scientist had argued that they needs macs for some made up reason and the enterprise had gone along with it as a special case as it's very hard to hire data scientist and impossible to retain them if you give them a winows7 thinkpad on their first day 😂