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Comment by melling | Hacker News Reader

9 out of 10 desktop computers still run Windows. 12% of those still run XP. There's still no 3rd option on the desktop; Linux has failed.

So, rather than fix a real problem, people start complaining about something a lot smaller: "18% of the world's phones run in a walled garden with a relatively modern browser."

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While Windows XP can run Firefox ESR, iOS of any version only runs whatever it had at last OS push.

Also, Linux works fine for plenty of people, sure miniscule in proportion, but it hasn't failed.

Linux has always been fine for a minuscule proportion. It has failed to be a viable 3rd option on the desktop for 98% of the population.

Who cares?

People who think competition brings innovation. If 90% of cars were made by General Motors...

When you have 90% market share, you have a monopoly. It hinders innovation.

It does though. If Linux & Apple didn't exist, Microsoft would have a much shitty product. Kind of like apple's browser, since it doesn't matter that they keep it up to date since they have lock in.

Sounds convincing but a lie. Unfortunately, those pesky facts just keep getting in your way. Microsoft has always been the laggard in browser standards.

https://html5test.com/results/desktop.html

https://html5test.com/results/mobile.html

Sure, Apple has made Microsoft a little better but the monopoly that Microsoft has really means that they don't need to compete.

Linux makes browsers? I'm talking about the OS.

But it has succeeded in being a viable desktop for software development for the web. I wouldn't call that a complete failure on the desktop.

98% of computer-using population will use whatever comes with the machine; Linux is viable but the hardware vendors are not pushing it, also because of Microsoft lobbying. On the other hand Android could be easily built on top of QNX and get the same market share.

I didn't ask anyone for an excuse.

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