In my region (India), for a while, there seemed to be plenty of laptops available with Linux installed as an option. Then again in the last few years that seems to have withered down to almost none, sometimes even if the same model is available with Linux in some other regions. I am not sure what changed. Perhaps some deal with Microsoft. The good part is that the fact that they do support Linux elsewhere on the same laptop configuration generally means its easy to get it up and running yourself even if it does not come pre-installed.

In any case, as an old-timer, it's very impressive to me how much hardware Linux supports nowadays without any drama at all. Not to mention all the progress made in software especially in supporting Windows-only games, which is truly magical work by the Wine / Proton teams. As far as I am concerned the "Year of Linux Desktop" is here already since I can use it daily without missing absolutely anything at all from Windows.

Honestly seeing the performance of the steam deck right now I'd probably buy a steam machine if a modern one came out

Steam Deck is the first taste I get of Linux. I've always had this fear of not being able to fully utilize a Linux OS due to my lack of skills in coding, but I find myself looking into it more ever since I got a Steam Deck. It may just be the right excuse I need to git gud in coding.

Edit: Thanks for the clarification and encouragement guys. I'm going to make it a mission to move to Linux ASAP since it feels like Windows has been really pushing the limits of privacy these days.

The steamdeck is the first step to that future

I'm sure people said the same about android

I get that SteamOS is an actual desktop distro, and that's closer to a daily driver than any android or bespoke *nix compatible SOC OS, but I doubt we'll see this spread from steamdeck to daily drivers, unless...

Unless linux can offer some feature windows/mac/ios do not, or at least market itself as doing so the way that Apple does, and get the overwhelming majority of tech consumers—who want nothing more than to keep up with the joneses and see the hardware specs numbers get bigger—to FOMO into it

Unfortunately that would conflict with the most enticing features it does have that no one else does: a code of ethics that are inherently anti-capitalist and anti-authoritarian. And honestly, who wants every Linux community, online or off, flooded with consumers who only care about the newest Feature™ and have no care about maintaining software freedom?

One of us, one of us ! Proxmox vaultwarden owncloud openmediavault docker-mailserver openwrt syncthing

The nasty truth is, most folks don't have a computer at home anymore. They do everything on their phone. The desktop is reserved for the office worker, which is itself a double-edged sword as the average office worker is so clueless about the computer they're sitting in front of that it could be replaced with a Linux desktop without them knowing anything other than "IT changed this and I don't like it" but the flip side of that is that there's a generation of IT people who learned their craft during the Ballmer era and are now in positions where they run the IT departments (and those who learned before and Linux kinda sucked back then). If they aren't too jaded to try something new they're too tired or too scared of the long term ramifications of trying something so radically different

As someone in the initial "hop around and pick up as many skills and resume line items as possible" phase of my IT career, I've already heard the exact reasons why Windows is still so prevelent "our company's client base is largely farmers. Sure you might have the skills to be a Linux admin but who would replace you whenever you move on? Good luck finding a good Linux admin around here at a rate we can pay!" "Windows Server is so much easier to deploy and troubleshoot without having to remember the commands, why would I bother learning Linux which is much harder to learn when employers around here aren't even looking for Linux experience" and even my friends who appreciate the geekiness and will openly lab out ideas in their free time for fun have to stay realistic about how stable or how janky every part of the given software solution is, plus the value of a support contract where you can answer the "why is this not fixed" questions with "I have a ticket in with the vendor"

Being a beginner distro doesnt make mint any less linuxy. Its probably the gest recommendation to convert people over from windows

I remember in the beginning when leaving windows how quiet everything was. No notifications from windows about all kinds of shit, no ads and no interruptions. Have you noticed how calm it feels?

2323 - the year of Linux desktop.

angry bernie sanders screaming

I've been hearing this song since 2002

That's the joke, my guy. THIS TIME IS REAL!

This is in the StatCounter FAQ:

Are laptops included in the desktop platform?

Yes. Laptops and desktop machines are included in the desktop platform together. We use the browser useragent to determine the platform and there is not enough information contained in the useragent to distinguish between laptops and desktops. That is why we do not have a separate laptop platform.

So it sounds like they're using the useragent to distinguish between mobile and desktop. So most likely, yes, steam decks would be counted as desktops, but only to the degree that they are used to browse the internet. I suspect most steam deck users don't do that, but I don't know, I don't have a steam deck.

"I use Linux as my operating system," I state proudly to the unkempt, bearded man. He swivels around in his desk chair with a devilish gleam in his eyes, ready to mansplain with extreme precision. "Actually", he says with a grin, "Linux is just the kernel. You use GNU+Linux!' I don't miss a beat and reply with a smirk, "I use Alpine, a distro that doesn't include the GNU Coreutils, or any other GNU code. It's Linux, but it's not GNU+Linux."

​

The smile quickly drops from the man's face. His body begins convulsing and he foams at the mouth and drops to the floor with a sickly thud. As he writhes around he screams "I-IT WAS COMPILED WITH GCC! THAT MEANS IT'S STILL GNU!" Coolly, I reply "If windows were compiled with GCC, would that make it GNU?" I interrupt his response with "-and work is being made on the kernel to make it more compiler-agnostic. Even if you were correct, you won't be for long."

​

With a sickly wheeze, the last of the man's life is ejected from his body. He lies on the floor, cold and limp. I've womansplained him to death.

yeah honestly if Linux ever goes mainstream it will probably be some monkeys paw bullshit where some corpo makes a non-Foss data hungry distro or something and it's barely batter than windows or osx