Exactly who, is Linux for?

Is Linux for everyone? Is Linux destined to be the Great Replacement? Will Linux ever reach billions on billions of installs in the world?

Not likely.

If Linux isn't for everyone, then who is it for?

A) Linux is for people who want a computer but can't afford to buy one. Believe it or not, in the home user market, there are a lot of people in the lower income scale who cannot rush out and buy a new PC. You can forget a Mac entirely.

These people finally do get a computer in their house by getting a donated one, someone hands one down ( like my cousin bought a new one, and gave the old one to me...kind of thing ).

Now, if the computer is a hand me down of some kind, it will likely have a corrupted version of windows on it and/or have some hardware issues because whoever got rid of it tried to upgrade Windows, but the hardware wasn't up to snuff.

So, the inheritor of the hand me down PC wants to install an OS that is free, as in cost and gets them that basic user functionality.

B) Linux is for Hobbyists and techs. I fall into this category and somewhat the first also. I don't have a lot of money and I hate to waste a perfectly good machine that MS has decided is to old to work with. So I like to use Linux to revive an old PC and expand my own knowledge and experience at the same time. There are a lot of people like me.

C) Linux is for business. Linux is like golf, you learn the basics of it easily, then can spend a lifetime trying to master it. For business users in a business environment, it can provide a clean, directed interface and experience that allows businesses to be more productive and focused. For business admins and techs, it allows a high level of control and flexibility to manage and customize a single sytem or an entire network to their needs.

D) Linux is for people who "Do" things. People who are interested and confident of learning how to handle adversity and change.

One of the biggest gripes people have in the IT industry is the idea that modern OS's have 'dumbed down' users to a level that can be considered non productive. Instead of capable, intelligent and knowledgeable users, we have a legion of users that stop all work at the first hint of something different. They stop and wait for someone else to come and handle the situation.


E) Linux is for people who like to have the feeling of 'control'. I fit here too. I don't want what someone else thinks I need. I know what I need. I just want to make it happen without taking out a loan or going broke to do it. I also don't need some condescending nerd to stand over my shoulder to change things I should be able to change myself.

Does everyone fall into these categories? of course not. Will Windows and Mac always have a place in the OS world? Quite likely, there is always room for healthy 'competition'.

( On a side note, I would like to define 'healthy competition' as something like teammates sparring or competing against each other to make each other a better boxer, or swimmer or whatever. The idea of competition in this sense is not to beat down everyone around you, but to make the individual, the team and the sport itself better. )

Linux is not and never will be for everyone. It does have a place and it is a worthwhile OS and team member of the OpenSource 'movement', which is trying to make software better for everyone.

If you know someone who finds it easier to spend money to pay others to do something for them they would rather not do themselves, so be it, that's the nature of people. We all do it, maybe not in relation to computers, but in some aspect of our lives, we pay others to do what we don't want to do. like mow the yard or clean the house or cook the food or whatever it is we are not interested in.

Computers are not magically separated from the 'real world', and the way people interact with and use computers is the same way we do with any other part of our lives.

To all those people who have gotten themselves worked up to a fever pitch about which OS is best or which distro is best or which nerd writes the best code, I say this to you;

I'll cut your grass if you'll wash my car.