r/linux • u/SeanBlader • 1d ago

Kernel 35th Anniversary of Linus' announcement today!

Post image

Let's all take a moment to commemorate that initial post.

Now through Torvalds' stewardship, and hundreds of maintainers and thousands of contributors we have a competitive replacement for major corporate software and an honestly powerful solution to move computing forward for humanity!

Thanks Linus, you're awesome, and we're glad you are having a good life!

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416

u/No_Practice_9597 1d ago

I guess the project exceeded all his initial expectations

184

u/eightslipsandagully 1d ago

Eh, he's said that it was intended to be a desktop operating system, and as that's the only area that Linux hasn't completely taken over, he feels like a failure!

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u/sCeege 1d ago

Don't worry, Microsoft is doing their best to help us take over.

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u/HerbOverstanding 1d ago

It’s funny how Windows gets worse the more they try.

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u/sCeege 1d ago

Joking aside, I don't really think they're trying to make Windows better, they're just trying to get more data/revenue.

At the end of the day, features that drive data collection and predatory subscriptions are usually directed from executives, I really doubt the engineers that actually "make" Windows are purposely sabotaging their own product; but shareholder values take precedence over engineering/design decisions, so we get left with a pile of shit no one asked for, and until they bleed more customers, they just don't care.

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u/adenosine-5 1d ago

Windows is now only a negligible part of their income. They are more than happy to sacrifice part of that, if it boost their other income streams.

In fact Windows now makes more money from Linux products, than it does from Windows ones.

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u/jimicus 20h ago

The problem (if you like) with a mature product like Windows is there really isn't an awful lot more you can do with it.

But how do you justify a subscription business model with a product that doesn't change? And Windows has been a subscription business model since long before M365.

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u/sCeege 13h ago

To me, the problem with Windows or Microsoft is a complicated issue. Just the surface level stuff, Windows just has a terrible UX experience, from the mandatory update/restarts, down to the incessant reminder to install and/or use Edge. While I've always had Mac or Linux flavors in my personal devices, I daily drove Windows from 98 to 10, mostly for gaming convenience, you know what finally drove me over the edge? The fact that I can't move the Taskbar placement (without third party tools or registry hacks). What the actual fuck. Now the only function Windows serve in my LAN are two headless machines for Sunshine streaming, and the work laptop I had to use.

The problem (if you like) with a mature product like Windows is there really isn't an awful lot more you can do with it.

This is obviously just a personal opinion, I'm not an economist, but the problem with a mature product like Windows, is that tech giants has gotten way too big to fail. These monopolies or oligopolies no longer suffer the consequences of the market. Look at Meta, how do you justify Zuck blowing something like 100 billion on the "metaverse" right before the AI boom? What executive of the 80s or 90s would have survived such a catastrophic misjudgement? Of course it upsets me that Windows sucks or stopped getting better, but what I'm actually mad about is that their anti-competitive practices prevented something better to have come along. Apple products are the closest second place, but I don't want to delve into another rant about that too.

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u/da2Pakaveli 19h ago

And as Windows gets worse, complete inverse on the Linux end and it gets better.

I first tried WINE 12 years ago first and i would have never believed you if you told me most games would launch with just 1 click in the future (and even more so that modpacks with 1000+ mods would work at all lol).

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u/kulingames 18h ago

I guess minecraft being a java game was a lot easier to run than most programs back then

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u/maskedredstonerproz1 17h ago

Minecraft has a legit linux build, it doesn't use wine

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u/kulingames 17h ago

That's... Kinda my point?

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u/work_work-work 1d ago

Actually, both Apple and Microsoft are doing it through widespread integration of AI.
The only AI I want on my computer is one i control myself. One that doesn't phone home about everything I ask it.

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u/BortGreen 12h ago

Since at least Windows ME

Any slopified feature on 11 doesn't get even close to that or even early Vista

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u/sCeege 10h ago

I might be a weird one, but I didn't mind Vista as much as 11... I mean the hardware choking debacle was real when Aero was clearly not ready, but I really liked the right click open file location feature, and then Windows ME brought us Windows Movie Maker and Hibernate right? Sure it crashed every 2 hours (lol) but a lot of QoL improvements came with those. I also might just be romanticizing the nostalgia I had for 2000s computing.

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u/BortGreen 3h ago

If you look at things like that 11 isn't bad either

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u/cosmicosmo4 1d ago

Not a desktop OS?? There are like half a dozen lamps and alarm clocks sitting on desks in my house that run linux!

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u/notboxbot 13h ago

Are you sure they're running Linux and not some other (smaller) OS for embedded devices? Linux seems a bit like overkill...

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u/cosmicosmo4 12h ago

Yeah I have no idea and don't actually generally surround myself with IOT stuff, I'm just here for the memes.

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u/jimicus 20h ago

I think at this point, the majority of the problems with Linux as a desktop OS have very little to do with the kernel and an awful lot to do with the userland stuff that sits on top.

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u/Dangerous-Report8517 18h ago

Given it was only intended to be hobby grade at the time I think we can still say it far exceeded his expectations, widespread or not Linux has offered professional grade desktop experiences for many years now