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Comment by JoeAltmaier | Hacker News Reader

Right. But the point is the vast, vast (non-HNer) use case is not in favor of Linux. For every 1 Linux-on-the-desktop person, there are what, 1M others?

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I hope that I never see the "Have disk" button again. The Linux way of distributing hardware drivers is so much easier.

As for usage, linux on the desktop is between .5% and 2% market share. And there reason to suspect that Linux usage is undercounted.

https://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share...

https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/268237/global-market-sha...

https://hostingtribunal.com/blog/operating-systems-market-sh...

> The Linux way of distributing hardware drivers is so much easier.

You mean having to recompile them whenever there's a new kernel because the developers consider a stable driver ABI to be abhorrent?

I don't think I've ever compiled a driver. So no, I don't think that's what they meant.

Only because the disto does it for you. If they mean because the driver is distributed from a centralized repository over the internet... that's how it works in Windows too, only Windows also has the option to use alternate media and a stable enough driver ABI to have that make some kind of sense.

I don't know if API stability is a barrier to adoption or not, but I was just explaining my experience with both platforms. For me, I don't much care how many people use Linux; I just want to use my computer how I like to, and Linux suits my needs best.

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