Personally I couldnt really care less. People will use what theyre confortable with and/or enjoy and good luck to them for that. Surely an amiga based site and it's people understand that ? As for why Windows is so dominant, there's plenty of reasons. Firstly (besides marketting) it's software. As good as some open source software has become, for the most part it's inferior to dedicated commercial efforts (with obvious reason). Also, exposure. Windows is everywhere. You can go into a shop and buy software for it. Without this sort of every day exposure something will seem "strange" to people. Also, and Im sure long time linux users might disagree as they've by now learned how it works, but Linux simply isnt as friendly, even the more popular distros arent as easy to get your head around as Windows. Honsetly I think something like AROS has more chance in the future to gain mainstream users (although I doubt that'll happen still), Linux is typically just too cumbersome. Where's all the big name games for Linux. Resident Evils, Silent Hill, FInal Fantasy, etc, etc. ? Yes Im aware that Linux gaming is a little bigger than it once was, and through WINE a lot of software can run (typically with somewhat inferior performance to on Windows), but Joe Public doesnt care to have to tweak/update thier system, so again it falls into the "weird" category for them, and they'd prefer a "normal" machine.
And yes, Im aware that many of these shortcomings of Linux can be redeemed, but people want something that works out of the box and makes sense to them without having to learn.
At the end of the day I'll just use the right tool/system for the right job. I have no allegiance to anything but myself and my interests/needs/budget. Having said that it's as clear as the nose on my face as to why Linux hasnt taken off on the desktop (a lot of the mainstream users who use it do so because of computer enthusiast friends/family talking them into it).
As for desktops being on thier way out,... what a crock. Netbook/laptop sales have dropped recently due to saturation, and for many things a desktop machine with a larger screen, nice sound system, more powerful hardware, etc. is by far the best experience. The format itself is simply more practical a lot of the time.
Anyway, each to thier own, and I couldnt care less if complete strangers use Windows, Linux, Mac OSX, or GeOS. The only OS users I care much about are amiga based os users, as the more there are the better the experience (new users brings new developers and also more people for me to inflict my own software upon
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