Why Aren't People Abandoning Windows For Linux?

'This weekend SlashGear published "Reasons to Abandon Windows For
Linux," making their case to "Windows users who are curious about the
state of Linux for mainstream computing." It tries to enumerate
specific reasons why Linux might be the better choice, arguing among
other things that:

* Updates on Linux are fast and "rarely call for a restart" -- and are
also more complete. "Updates are typically downloaded through a
'Software Updater' application that not only checks for operating
system patches, but also includes updates for the programs that you've
installed from the repository."
* Windows "tries to serve a variety of markets...cramming in a
scattered array of features" -- and along those lines, that Microsoft
"has gradually implemented monetization schemes and methods for
extracting user data." And yet you're still paying for that operating
system, while Linux is less bloated and "free forever."
* "Because less people use Linux, the platform is less targeted by
malware and tends to be more secure than Windows"

The article also touches on a few other points (including battery
life), and predicts that problems with Windows are "bound to get worse
over time and will only present more of a case for making the switch
to Linux."

Long-time Slashdot reader shanen shared the article, along with some
new thoughts on why people really stay with Windows:

I think the main "excuse" is the perception of reliability, which is
really laughable if you've actually read the EULA. Microsoft certainly
doesn't have to help anyone at all. I would argue that Windows support
is neither a bug nor a feature, but just a marketing ploy.

Their original submission suggests that maybe Linux needs to buttress
the perception of its reliability with a better financial model --
possibly through a new kind of crowd funding which could also be
extended to all open source software, or even to journalism).'

-- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/19/04/07/2111218

Cheers, Peter
-- 
Peter Reutemann
Dept. of Computer Science
University of Waikato, NZ
+64 (7) 858-5174
http://www.cms.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/
http://www.data-mining.co.nz/
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