The desktop ship certainly has sailed - it's lost the home market as people use phones and tablets now.
> And on Android and ChromeOS, it isn't exposed to user space, so kind of irrelevant
Sure, and I can run Windows applications on Wine, so Windows is kind of irrelevant. Don't be silly.
> The only place where Linux really made it, was replacing expensive proprietary UNIX servers with free (gratis) clone.
Except you're forgetting that these expensive UNIX servers were supposed to be replaced by Windows NT (later Windows Server) machines. So you'd have Windows at every level and could hire a point-and-grunt "sysadmin" to run it all at a much lower TCO. That's the grand vision that we've been spared.
And you forgot about the embedded market. Hell, my TV runs Linux and I didn't even know (my wife chose it) until I was poking about in the menus and found a copy of the GPL. And you also omitted Cloud Servers, where Linux is hugely dominant. Oh, and Supercomputing where 499 of the Top500 Supercomputer run Linux.
But yeah, apart from embedded, phones, tablets, laptops, servers, cloud servers and supercomputers...what has Linux ever done for us?
I've no idea where you're going with the TV thing; it's a TV. It was just an example of how Linux is everywhere. It has as much worth as any other TV. The firmware updates are via Internet or OTA, like, you know, a TV.
>Talk to me in a couple of years, now that everyone is migrating to BSD style licenses
Nonsense, Linux is more popular and more widely used than ever. You were saying the same things two years ago, right? I suppose you'll still be saying the same two years from now.
> Had the BSDs won against GNU/Linux*
The BSDs aren't against Linux (except in the minds of some overly zealous BSD fanboys). The popularity of Linux has increased the popularity of the BSDs. They've helped each other.
EDIT: Oh yes, Containers! How could I forget containers! Just add it to the list...
> I've no idea where you're going with the TV thing; it's a TV. It was just an example of how Linux is everywhere. It has as much worth as any other TV. The firmware updates are via Internet or OTA, like, you know, a TV.
Ah the Pyrrhic victory, it is there but out of reach!
> Nonsense, Linux is more popular and more widely used than ever. You were saying the same things two years ago, right? I suppose you'll still be saying the same two years from now.
Yep, and if Google does release Fuchsia, lets see who is right.
Yep, but it doesn't matter what it technically is, the underlying principle is the same. We'd have a more secure, more understandable, more open system that replaces the proprietary ones. I have my Chromebook which runs Linux and GNU software. I have my cell phone which runs Linux and I can rebuild whatever part I desire. I have my server which runs Linux.
A man can dream one day we'll have a phone with a baseband chip we can control, a RISC-V core we can program, no?
Surely, but as history proves since OpenMoko, that dream requires the buy-in of an OEM willing to keep the ship going, even when there is no wind to push the sails.
And on Android and ChromeOS, it isn't exposed to user space, so kind of irrelevant and can be changed at any moment, e.g. Fuchsia.
The only place where Linux really made it, was replacing expensive proprietary UNIX servers with free (gratis) clone.