Intel: The year of the Linux desktop is here

One where accountants aren't the only people buying computers.

Accounting software is being taken over by the web. More generally, the entire financial industry is being taken over by the web. The impact of iPads and smartphones isn't a small contributor to this movement.

There are enormous numbers of office workers who could very easily transition to Linux desktops with barely any notice that they did (Firefox is firefox is firefox, after all).

It took a decade+ longer than most expected, but the operating system really is becoming irrelevant.

Accountants and financial advisers are cheap bastards who have to deal with crap loads of regulatory compliance rules and complicated software that integrates with lots of other companies and governments, costs a fortune and never works properly.

People who package up all this shit and stick it on the web so the end user maintenance cost isn't there are winning over standalone PC software vendors these days.

And it all works via a web browser (which conveniently doesn't require windows).

Even if you bag Office 365 for comms which is typical at the moment from what I've seen, it works on anything.

I've seen IFA's and accountants wholly running off ChromeBooks and iPads in the UK. The only complaint they have is printing and even that's pretty much solved.

This isn't some a large enterprise company either, just a small accounting consultancy trying to maintain client compatibility.

I have a high end laptop that doesn't run Windows as the primary OS. (I occasionally run Windows in VMs to verify that cross platform OSS software runs on it and on Patch Tuesday to fix the latest exploits...) Other than that, Linux is my primary personal machine at home for development, research, office work, music and movies, etc... I'm also shopping for a new desktop and home media server that will probably not be Windows.

Windows currently has a chokehold on the desktop market with it's huge ecosystem of applications and entertainment, that's what's preventing many folks from moving. Games and accounting applications are the only reasons that my spouse still runs Windows at home.

Regardless what I think about that claim: That market segment is miniscule. One of the reasons Apple has done so well is that Apple has managed to capture the relatively price-insensitive part of that market segment, and as a result their average revenue per unit is north of $1000.

The average price per unit for PC's on the other hand has been steadily declining to the ~$500 level.

> Contrary to the current hype, mobile is not going to replace the desktop/laptop except at the low end.

So 95%+ of the market, in other words. The PC vendors have been in crisis for years as PC's got "fast enough" that consumers started prioritising low price rather than maximizing performance within their budget.

> If you want to do anything compute-intensive you need a "real computer."

Most users don't do anything more compute-intensive than Facebook and Youtube on their PCs.

If anything, Intel seems to have had remarkably little success considering the amount of effort they've put into Linux. Moblin was merged with Nokia's mobile Linux Maemo to create Meego, and that floated in the market like a rock tied to a solid block of concrete.

Since then, Intel has been doing Tizen with Samsung. It's a closed-development mystery OS that seems to be meant for everything, with every kind of UI, but still isn't shipping anywhere with any kind of UI anytime soon.

Intel has been among the top 5 Linux kernel contributors for many years.

>I find it really hard to believe that quarter of all computer sales are Chromebooks. Does anyone have a source? One would expect Google to announce real shipments if they were that good.

>Web usage metrics from a few months ago showed that Chromebooks are used even less than Windows RT.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-10/google-chromebook-u...

The relevant statement:

>Chromebooks have in just the past eight months snagged 20 percent to 25 percent of the U.S. market for laptops that cost less than $300, according to NPD Group Inc

So, 20% to 25% of laptop sales costing below $300 became "25% of all computers" ? I don't know if the Intel guy said that in this keynote, or it's SJVN's mistake, but it's just terrible reporting.

This! The whole article reads ass-backwards by suggesting that if you're accessing a Linux-hosted site you're somehow using Linux on your desktop. I have strong aversions to this kind of sophistry, b/c readers who don't know that that makes no sense innocently repeat it, thereby confusing others or being publicly smashed down by folks who do know better.

Do you, or a company you're employed with, have a financial relationship with Microsoft? A simple "Yes" or "No" will do, thanks. I'm very trusting and will believe you.

Who cares - people like them, they have a nice sized niche. Just like macs, just like other distros.

They're great for schools - esp. high schools. iPads are probably the more suitable option for elementary age kids.

And luckily prices are staying down. Chromebooks are <$300. iPad minis are $329.

Windows 8 tablets are good for math/science/engineering majors who have to run windows software and might need to use the stylus for notes/drawings.

Even though I've used middle of the road laptops running Ubuntu the past 6 years, I ended up getting a higher end Windows 8 touchscreen laptop to use for video editing, games, graphics, etc. I'll dual boot to Ubuntu or else run it in a vm.