Software Piracy Hurts Linux Adoption, Research Finds

[AlTech]

13 hours ago, CUDA_Cores said:

sooo... What you are saying is that it is a GOOD thing for Microsoft if I pirate windows?

No! *facepalm*

 

9 hours ago, Daring said:

My college, at least, has taught me both Windows and Linux classes. Two classes now we've even used Windows and Linux side-by-side. Now if only that could happen in general education, too.

That would be perfect.

[LukeTim]

14 hours ago, SamStrecker said:

I was talking to a classmate about my kodi server and I said it is a linux distro and right after I said that everyone was like only hackers use that what are you doing

I had some experience working in the computing department at a college once, being an assistant teacher. The teacher we were working with genuinely referred to some of the students being "Linux Fiends" when talking about how they lock down the system/network.

 

It does seem as though Linux users have an image problem in that sense...

[DimasRMDO]

16 hours ago, techguru said:

people pirate windows cause they prefer it and can use it easily

linux is WAYYYY to fragmented OS for the average user

 

Linux is not mainstream yeah I agree with that, and most software (well known) are supported by Windows, not Linux (you need to find the alternative).

[ShadowCaptain]

Linux adoption is low because A) most people have no idea it exists, B) most people want to use software that isnt on linux anyway rendering it useless 

[jasonvp]

11 hours ago, NuclearPeace said:

Linux doesn't offer a lot of software that is needed for many people's jobs (also for entertainment too, i.e games) and it is overall more difficult and requires more involvement and computer knowledge than both OS X and Windows. That's the main reason why people don't use Linux.

And here's the true "Chicken and Egg" problem WRT Linux.  Linux adoption will continue to have issues on the desktop as long as there aren't the usual slew of commercial applications available for it.  That means things like MS Office, all of the AAA games, publishing, editing, etc apps that everyone is comfortable using already.

 

The challenge: what encouragement do the companies have to make Linux versions?  It has nothing to do with the perceived fragmentation of the Linux community; all of the various glibc, libX11, etc libraries are there, and if not, the apps can be linked statically.  The problem is that there aren't enough potential sales to make it worth the R&D time/effort/money.

 

While the article author may think he's found a link between the Windows piracy and Linux adoption, he's stretching hard to make his case and quite frankly: he's wrong.  It has nearly nothing to do with the supposed easy availability of pirated copies of Windows.  It has to do with the lack of professional/useful apps.

 

Remember WordPerfect?  I'll bet a number of you are too young to even know what WordPerfect is; word processing to you is and has always been Microsoft Word.  Ages ago, WordPerfect was another such word processor that ran on DOS, within Windows, and, get this: SCO UNIX.  Yeah, really: they made a version linked against the Motif and Xt X11 libraries to run on SCO UNIX.  Why does this matter?  Well, back in my college days of the very early 90s (again, probably back before a lot of you young'ns were around), I harangued the folks at WP to release a statically-linked version of their app.  Why?  Because statically-linked SCO apps would run on Linux.

 

They finally did it.  We had WordPerfect on Linux, via SCO.  It worked.

 

But no one cared.  They likely sold only a few licenses (I was one of them).  There was no loss in R&D; they already had the SCO code written, they just needed to link it statically vs dynamically.  But still, not many folks bought it at all.  And it eventually just went away.

 

As always: the market will decide.  It's what the market does insanely well.  Thus far, the market has decided against Linux on the desktop, and there's no reason to believe that will ever change.  But this is one of those things I'd be profoundly happy to be wrong about.

[DXMember]

So now they blame pirates that Linus is not targeted for pirating? What does that imply for games developers? Will we be huring games developers if we stop pirating games?

 

That's like saying nobody is buying Pepsi because Cococola...

 

Microsoft's strategy is working like a charm:

Number ONE - Make sure everyone is using Microsoft

Number TWO - Make sure eveyone is using Microsoft legaly

And in this exact order.

 

and if you haven't noticed yet - Phase two is already deployed with Windows 10 Insider

[NumLock21]

liunx isn't widely adpoted by the consumer cause its not user friendly. They want run setup and click next, next, next. Then there is the elitism with some of them.

[samcool55]

Well, the fact they gave pirated windows versions the option to upgrade to W10, and activate it legally is a clear sign of MS not giving a f*uck about piracy.

They also said they prefer someone with a pirated copy of windows, than someone that's running a different OS.

Don't have a source, but it's probably somewhere on the internet.

[patrick3027]

13 hours ago, Trik'Stari said:

15 hours ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

China doesn't really count because their copyright laws are extremely fucking bad. As in worse than United States copyright laws.

I do tend to take personal opinions based on experience, much more seriously than any review done by government or third parties.

So when talking about how many Windows licences worldwide are pirated, I can't mention a a country with 1,375,010,000 inhabitants? Makes perfect sense.

"Hey, it's only 1.3 billion people, it doesn't really count!"

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anecdotal_evidence

 

(Quotes are messed up, blame the new forum)

[Trik'Stari]

1 hour ago, patrick3027 said:

So when talking about how many Windows licences worldwide are pirated, I can't mention a a country with 1,375,010,000 inhabitants? Makes perfect sense.

"Hey, it's only 1.3 billion people, it doesn't really count!"

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anecdotal_evidence

 

(Quotes are messed up, blame the new forum)

Was about to be like "what?", then I saw the thing at the bottom.

 

Not sure what is happening.

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

7 hours ago, jasonvp said:

Remember WordPerfect?  I'll bet a number of you are too young to even know what WordPerfect is; word processing to you is and has always been Microsoft Word.  Ages ago, WordPerfect was another such word processor that ran on DOS, within Windows, and, get this: SCO UNIX.  Yeah, really: they made a version linked against the Motif and Xt X11 libraries to run on SCO UNIX.  Why does this matter?  Well, back in my college days of the very early 90s (again, probably back before a lot of you young'ns were around), I harangued the folks at WP to release a statically-linked version of their app.  Why?  Because statically-linked SCO apps would run on Linux.

There was a version for the Macintosh too.  I remember using it BITD on my SE/30 and IIsi, so we're talking early 90s

[PlayStation 2]

5 hours ago, patrick3027 said:

So when talking about how many Windows licences worldwide are pirated, I can't mention a a country with 1,375,010,000 inhabitants? Makes perfect sense.

"Hey, it's only 1.3 billion people, it doesn't really count!"

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anecdotal_evidence

 

(Quotes are messed up, blame the new forum)

You're really assuming everyone in China has a computer, and with pirated Windows on top of that.

 

I have no words.

[RagnarokDel]

6 hours ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

You're really assuming everyone in China has a computer, and with pirated Windows on top of that.

 

I have no words.

You didnt understand what he said and you're way too defensive.

[deviant88]

OMG these threads annoy me so much, let me tell you how things are in reality:

 

Read this article or my rant down there http://itvision.altervista.org/why.linux.is.not.ready.for.the.desktop.current.html

 

-If i install Linux(any distrubution it doesnt matter) i cannot get my Asus Xonar DG sound card to work, no drivers, no audio, no good.

-My main monitor runs of my gtx 670 and my second monitor off my integrated graphics which doesnt work, i read i have to manually configure nvidia driver with intel driver, but since my audio doesnt work anyway why would i even bother. It works with default software mesa drivers installed or whatever its called but i need acceleration not garbage software video driver.

-If i want to use any advanced/professional software there is none, theres only open source and free limited features software, there's blender no autocad, theres gimp no photoshop or adobe, there's VLC and no potplayer with madVR or anything alike, just basic video playback in VLC.

-If i want to play my favorite online games that i payed for i cant, there only a few games and even less online ones.

-And the most important of all i cannot recommend linux to anyone, my mother and sister pc's/laptop have been managed by over years yet i cant even imagine them using linux, and how would i even make it work on a laptop i have so much trouble with known recent hardware on my desktop PC? They had lots of trouble with viruses running out of ram on, antiviruses etc, Linux could have solved these problems, and LXQT or KDE light distribution would have been perfect for them yet due to all the problems above i cant recommend it, so more people cant adapt to it.

 

The only way to fix this is that the open source community comes under one banner and they all develop only one distrubution. This team should be split in groups and have tasks and goals of optimizing maintaining, adding features and mainly supporting all the device/drivers they can and not waiting for the linux kernel to support them.

There should be no more Ubuntu,Steam OS, and a dozen other distros each with their quirks and problems, 1 distro with all the fixes/drivers updated upon which you can choose to install whatever environment you want both in easy auto GUI installation and command line customizable like arch linux.

 

Imagine if there were 12 distros of windows for each windows version.

 

 

[PlayStation 2]

7 hours ago, RagnarokDel said:

You didnt understand what he said and you're way too defensive.

Yes I did?

[Sauron]

That is true to an extent, but that was 15 years ago when MS themselves put up pirated copies of windows to boost adoption. Nowadays windows pirates would probably suck it up and get a license if they couldn't pirate it (or get in the insider program and have it for free legally).

[Sauron]

On 21/2/2016 at 10:41 PM, TetraSky said:

I wouldn't use Linux even if pirating windows wasn't an option... I'd just buy Windows (which is what I already do), because I'm a gamer and while there's more and more games being released on Linux, the games I generally play aren't. And from my experience with Linux and WINE, it's not good enough to replace Windows just yet.

 

That and the fact that Linux is just more complicated to use than Windows, because you WILL need to use the Terminal sooner or later. Every time I tried Linux(last time was just before Windows 10 came out), I was forced to use the terminal within an hour to either install something or change something, for a regular user that's too much.
Until Linux can be used without ever needing to use the Terminal, it ain't gonna go mainstream.

 

tl;dr : Piracy doesn't hurt Linux adoption, Linux itself does.

you don't need the terminal if all you need is web browsing and office.

[suicidalfranco]

i used to pirate windows, now i just use linux. Been good to me for the last 5 years

[dalekphalm]

3 hours ago, deviant88 said:

OMG these threads annoy me so much, let me tell you how things are in reality:

 

Read this article or my rant down there http://itvision.altervista.org/why.linux.is.not.ready.for.the.desktop.current.html

 

-If i install Linux(any distrubution it doesnt matter) i cannot get my Asus Xonar DG sound card to work, no drivers, no audio, no good.

-My main monitor runs of my gtx 670 and my second monitor off my integrated graphics which doesnt work, i read i have to manually configure nvidia driver with intel driver, but since my audio doesnt work anyway why would i even bother. It works with default software mesa drivers installed or whatever its called but i need acceleration not garbage software video driver.

-If i want to use any advanced/professional software there is none, theres only open source and free limited features software, there's blender no autocad, theres gimp no photoshop or adobe, there's VLC and no potplayer with madVR or anything alike, just basic video playback in VLC.

-If i want to play my favorite online games that i payed for i cant, there only a few games and even less online ones.

-And the most important of all i cannot recommend linux to anyone, my mother and sister pc's/laptop have been managed by over years yet i cant even imagine them using linux, and how would i even make it work on a laptop i have so much trouble with known recent hardware on my desktop PC? They had lots of trouble with viruses running out of ram on, antiviruses etc, Linux could have solved these problems, and LXQT or KDE light distribution would have been perfect for them yet due to all the problems above i cant recommend it, so more people cant adapt to it.

 

The only way to fix this is that the open source community comes under one banner and they all develop only one distrubution. This team should be split in groups and have tasks and goals of optimizing maintaining, adding features and mainly supporting all the device/drivers they can and not waiting for the linux kernel to support them.

There should be no more Ubuntu,Steam OS, and a dozen other distros each with their quirks and problems, 1 distro with all the fixes/drivers updated upon which you can choose to install whatever environment you want both in easy auto GUI installation and command line customizable like arch linux.

 

Imagine if there were 12 distros of windows for each windows version.

 

 

I've had my share of headaches with Linux, but that blog is absolutely fantastic - it outlines in detail all of the potential issues with Linux.

 

Not to say I think Linux is shit and no one should use it, but I personally don't feel like Linux is ready for mainstream AT ALL. Fragmentation is a huge issue - Linux needs a lot more consolidation and focus - especially on the UI front - to eliminate ever needing to go into the Terminal (Sure if you just install a default distro with no customization and just browse the web, but forget about updating the system or getting stuff like Flash or other plugins to work easily, unless you're a tech enthusiast).

 

You don't have to match the Windows GUI in looks, but Linux needs to match it in capability. Hell, look at Apple, if you want a good method to follow - OS X - based on UNIX (Similar to FreeBSD/FreeNAS in core nature) is a cousin to Linux, and while OS X has plenty of quirks that I don't like, it's EASY TO USE, AND A REGULAR USER NEVER NEEDS TO USE THE TERMINAL.

 

I guess when it comes down to it, OS X is the "Linux for normal users" type experience. Linux needs to use OS X as an example of what to strive for at the bare minimum.

[Albatross]

On 2/22/2016 at 6:40 AM, NumLock21 said:

liunx isn't widely adpoted by the consumer cause its not user friendly. They want run setup and click next, next, next. Then there is the elitism with some of them.

Ubuntu is actually incredibly easy. Need an update? A window pops up and does that for you. Need to install software? Use the Software Center. Have a problem? Google it or get support at official website....just like with Windows, only you will find far more helpful people.

 

But yea, If only more support would come out for Linux. More support means more software/things people need/want as well as people working to make it more user friendly and less...all over the place.

[NumLock21]

47 minutes ago, Albatross said:

Ubuntu is actually incredibly easy. Need an update? A window pops up and does that for you. Need to install software? Use the Software Center. Have a problem? Google it or get support at official website....just like with Windows, only you will find far more helpful people.

 

But yea, If only more support would come out for Linux. More support means more software/things people need/want as well as people working to make it more user friendly and less...all over the place.

The last time I've tried it, it was a horrible experience. I download ubuntu because I wanted to play with those cool visual effects they have, but instead of doing a simple flip of the switch, I had to open terminal and download that feature. Then there are dependencies, and other bs, so when that dependency link is broken, then it's back to step 1. I went to the ubuntu forum to ask for help. No one bother cause of their smugness and elitism. Eventually I got it to work after hours of googling and research. In the end, I thought to myself, lucky I'm a tech person, who can handle these things, but what about the regular joe and jane. They won't have time to play with these nonsense. I do believe they have gotten better, but I haven't bother or got the time to try it again.  Ubuntu isn't the only linux I've tried. Others I've tried are OpenSUSE, Fedora, Red Hat, Sabayon, and don't know if it's part of Linux, ReactOS. This one looks exactly like Windows XP, works like it, and even behaves like it too. Just finish installing it. Open Computer (forgot what it's called) and that thing bsod. I uninstalled that thing immediately.

[suicidalfranco]

2 hours ago, NumLock21 said:

The last time I've tried it, it was a horrible experience. I download ubuntu because I wanted to play with those cool visual effects they have, but instead of doing a simple flip of the switch, I had to open terminal and download that feature. Then there are dependencies, and other bs, so when that dependency link is broken, then it's back to step 1. I went to the ubuntu forum to ask for help. No one bother cause of their smugness and elitism. Eventually I got it to work after hours of googling and research. In the end, I thought to myself, lucky I'm a tech person, who can handle these things, but what about the regular joe and jane. They won't have time to play with these nonsense. I do believe they have gotten better, but I haven't bother or got the time to try it again.  Ubuntu isn't the only linux I've tried. Others I've tried are OpenSUSE, Fedora, Red Hat, Sabayon, and don't know if it's part of Linux, ReactOS. This one looks exactly like Windows XP, works like it, and even behaves like it too. Just finish installing it. Open Computer (forgot what it's called) and that thing bsod. I uninstalled that thing immediately.

regular jane and joe will not try to install compiz, they will turn on their machine, enter their session open firefox aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand... done.

ReactOS is not Linux (not even Unix), it's an attempt to have an OS compatible with kernel NT and make it open source

[patrick3027]

22 hours ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

You're really assuming everyone in China has a computer, and with pirated Windows on top of that.

 

I have no words.

I never said it has 1.3 billion internet users, only that it has 1.3 billion inhabitants. Maybe you "have no words", but I assume you can read?

 

China has 527 million internet users, 80.9 percent access it with a PC. https://www.techinasia.com/chinas-mobile-internet-users-outnumber-pc-internet-users

 

Total number of Windows users? 1.25 billion. http://www.businessinsider.com/right-now-there-are-125-billion-windows-pcs-worldwide-2011-12?IR=T

 

So 426.87 million PC users in China divided by 1250 million PC users worldwide gives 34%.

 

90% of these 34% are pirated (http://www.neowin.net/news/ballmer-9-out-of-10-copies-of-windows-in-china-is-pirated), that equals 30%: 30% of Windows users at least use a pirated version, assuming no one pirates Windows outside China.

 

[PlayStation 2]

2 hours ago, patrick3027 said:

I never said it has 1.3 billion internet users, only that it has 1.3 billion inhabitants. Maybe you "have no words", but I assume you can read?

 

China has 527 million internet users, 80.9 percent access it with a PC. https://www.techinasia.com/chinas-mobile-internet-users-outnumber-pc-internet-users

 

Total number of Windows users? 1.25 billion. http://www.businessinsider.com/right-now-there-are-125-billion-windows-pcs-worldwide-2011-12?IR=T

 

So 426.87 million PC users in China divided by 1250 million PC users worldwide gives 34%.

 

90% of these 34% are pirated (http://www.neowin.net/news/ballmer-9-out-of-10-copies-of-windows-in-china-is-pirated), that equals 30%: 30% of Windows users at least use a pirated version, assuming no one pirates Windows outside China.

 

Who said that the tally counted pirated copies.

[AresKrieger]

Yeah I saw this article on torrent freak, and I didn't buy it, since most people don't use linux since they are either a) not used to it and like windows/ need certain programs, b) us apple crap, or c) just don't like linux after trying it, I fall into the third/first categories and would pay for windows 7 if I had to get an OS on another machine, but I don't have to.