Year Of Linux On Desktop?

Every year we read about "the year of Linux on Desktop", but those articles always seem to fail to explain how do they measure it. What does have to happen for us to definitively say "this is the year of Linux"?

Here's some data...

Market share growth from November 2009 to November 2010:

Micrsoft OS's: -02.77% 
Apple OS's:    +30.86% 
Linux:         +53.00% 

(using this statistics as a data source)

I don't know what "Year Of Linux On Desktop" means, but I, for one, see a winner in 2010: Linux.

Evolution of Operating Systems usage

I needed this statistics and I'm sure they're somewhere, but I don't know where. So, I went to Wikipedia which has the updated numbers but not something showing the progress. Fortunately, wiki's have revision history, so it was fairly easy to compile what I wanted. Here it is, for the sake of others (or me) not needing to go to the same hassle again.

Wikipedia page used as a source (by using several different revisions of this document)

Q4   2004 - Windows 96.34%; Apple  3.25%; Linux 0.29%
Q1   2005 - Windows 96.21%; Apple  3.40%; Linux 0.29%
Q2   2005 - Windows 96.10%; Apple  3.50%; Linux 0.31%
Q3   2005 - Windows 96.03%; Apple  3.55%; Linux 0.32%
Q4   2005 - Windows 95.50%; Apple  4.11%; Linux 0.30%
Q1   2006 - Windows 95.29%; Apple  4.30%; Linux 0.31%
Q2   2006 - Windows 95.08%; Apple  4.40%; Linux 0.41%
Q3   2006 - Windows 95.01%; Apple  4.45%; Linux 0.44%
Q4   2006 - Windows 94.10%; Apple  5.41%; Linux 0.38%
Q1   2007 - Windows 93.17%; Apple  6.22%; Linux 0.45%
Q2   2007 - Windows 92.78%; Apple  6.23%; Linux 0.74%
Sep. 2007 - Windows 89.10%; Apple  4.00%; Linux 0.81%
Oct. 2007 - Windows 91.76%; Apple  4.46%; Linux 0.81%
Nov. 2007 - Windows 91.45%; Apple  4.48%; Linux 0.81%
Dec. 2007 - Windows 92.88%; Apple  4.32%; Linux 0.88%
Jan. 2008 - Windows 91.79%; Apple  4.12%; Linux 0.76%
Feb. 2008 - Windows 92.13%; Apple  4.34%; Linux 0.77%
Apr. 2008 - Windows 93.94%; Apple  4.47%; Linux 0.81%
May  2008 - Windows 93.98%; Apple  4.39%; Linux 0.83%
Jun. 2008 - Windows 94.06%; Apple  4.33%; Linux 0.89%
Jul. 2008 - Windows 93.64%; Apple  4.31%; Linux 0.90%
Aug. 2008 - Windows 91.95%; Apple  4.49%; Linux 0.96%
Sep. 2008 - Windows 93.61%; Apple  4.86%; Linux 1.04%
Oct. 2008 - Windows 90.40%; Apple  5.50%; Linux 1.16%
Nov. 2008 - Windows 90.50%; Apple  5.41%; Linux 1.16%
Dec. 2008 - Windows 90.50%; Apple  5.24%; Linux 1.16%
Jan. 2009 - Windows 91.10%; Apple  4.81%; Linux 1.02%
Feb. 2009 - Windows 91.03%; Apple  4.77%; Linux 1.04%
Mar. 2009 - Windows 90.99%; Apple  4.81%; Linux 1.05%
Apr. 2009 - Windows 91.22%; Apple  4.95%; Linux 1.13%
May  2009 - Windows 91.30%; Apple  5.01%; Linux 1.12%
Jun. 2009 - Windows 91.24%; Apple  5.06%; Linux 1.12%
Jul. 2009 - Windows 93.18%; Apple  4.59%; Linux 1.05%
Aug. 2009 - Windows 93.06%; Apple  4.59%; Linux 0.94%
Sep. 2009 - Windows 92.77%; Apple  4.59%; Linux 0.95%
Oct. 2009 - Windows 92.52%; Apple  5.87%; Linux 0.96%
Nov. 2009 - Windows 90.52%; Apple  6.48%; Linux 1.00%
Dec. 2009 - Windows 90.22%; Apple  6.57%; Linux 1.04%
Jan. 2010 - Windows 92.02%; Apple  5.79%; Linux 1.08%
Feb. 2010 - Windows 91.60%; Apple  6.58%; Linux 1.12%
Mar. 2010 - Windows 91.34%; Apple  6.63%; Linux 1.14%
Apr. 2010 - Windows 90.95%; Apple  6.61%; Linux 1.15%
May  2010 - Windows 90.88%; Apple  6.67%; Linux 1.22%
Jun. 2010 - Windows 89.53%; Apple  6.93%; Linux 1.31%
Aug. 2010 - Windows 88.92%; Apple  7.72%; Linux 1.33%
Sep. 2010 - Windows 88.66%; Apple  7.82%; Linux 1.34%
Oct. 2010 - Windows 88.40%; Apple  8.22%; Linux 1.50%
Nov. 2010 - Windows 88.01%; Apple  8.48%; Linux 1.53%
Dec. 2010 - Windows 87.82%; Apple  8.87%; Linux 1.58%
Jan. 2011 - Windows 87.54%; Apple  8.97%; Linux 1.64%
Feb. 2011 - Windows 87.36%; Apple  9.27%; Linux 1.66%
Mar. 2011 - Windows 87.15%; Apple  9.27%; Linux 1.82%
Apr. 2011 - Windows 87.00%; Apple 10.44%; Linux 1.88%
May  2011 - Windows 86.58%; Apple 10.34%; Linux 1.95%
Jun. 2011 - Windows 86.00%; Apple 10.05%; Linux 2.15%
Jul. 2011 - Windows 83.30%; Apple 10.26%; Linux 2.07%
Aug. 2011 - Windows 82.58%; Apple 10.91%; Linux 2.25%
Sep. 2011 - Windows 82.41%; Apple 11.10%; Linux 2.41%
Oct. 2011 - Windows 86.15%; Apple 10.37%; Linux 2.53%
Nov. 2011 - Windows 85.8%;  Apple 10.7%;  Linux 3.0% 
Dec. 2011 - Windows 80.83%; Apple 11.20%; Linux 3.00%
Jan. 2012 - Windows 78.66%; Apple 13.28%; Linux 3.90%
Feb. 2012 - Windows 82.11%; Apple 10.61%; Linux 2.82%
Mar. 2012 - Windows 73.38%; Apple 15.87%; Linux 5.05%
Apr. 2012 - Windows 82.21%; Apple  9.89%; Linux 3.05%
May  2012 - Windows 83.07%; Apple 12.28%; Linux 3.60%
Jun. 2012 - Windows 78.89%; Apple 15.47%; Linux 3.95%
Jul. 2012 - Windows 79.88%; Apple 13.99%; Linux 4.05%
Aug. 2012 - Windows 79.21%; Apple 14.55%; Linux 3.90%
Set. 2012 - Windows 75.88%; Apple 14.87%; Linux 3.81%
Oct. 2012 - Windows 82.76%; Apple 12.58%; Linux 4.13%
Nov. 2012 - Windows 81.74%; Apple 12.55%; Linux 3.93%
Dec. 2012 - Windows 81.54%; Apple 12.56%; Linux 3.92%
Jan. 2013 - Windows 80.84%; Apple 13.41%; Linux 3.97%
Feb. 2013 - Windows 75.89%; Apple 15.99%; Linux 5.47%
Mar. 2013 - Windows 78.85%; Apple 14.81%; Linux 4.59%
Apr. 2013 - Windows 79.01%; Apple 14.25%; Linux 4.66%
May  2013 - Windows 80.34%; Apple 12.89%; Linux 5.29%
June 2013 - Windows 73.49%; Apple 17.27%; Linux 6.68%
July 2013 - Windows 75.67%; Apple 16.05%; Linux 5.57%
Aug. 2013 - Windows 74.97%; Apple 16.12%; Linux 6.65%
Sep. 2013 - Windows 72.32%; Apple 15.69%; Linux 6.80%
Oct. 2013 - Windows 72.02%; Apple 15.85%; Linux 7.06%
Nov. 2013 - Windows 77.90%; Apple 12.96%; Linux 5.35%
Feb. 2015 - Windows 60.27%; Apple 17.70%; Linux 15.05%
Jun. 2015 - Windows 41.48%; Apple 35.75%; Linux 16.19%
Dec. 2015 - Windows 48.70%; Apple 16.33%; Linux 28.40%
May  2016 - Windows 45.00%; Apple 16.43%; Linux 33.15%
Dec. 2016 - Windows 38.31%; Apple 17.63%; Linux 39.38% 

(I intend to update this article from time to time - hopefully at least once per month.)

"Social DRM" is Anti-Social

In February 2007, right after Steve Jobs claiming to the world that he was Anti-DRM and that the fault of him having DRM in iTunes was that of the majors (which is nothing but a bunch of crap, but I digress), Adobe's Bill McCoy wrote in his blog about his vision of DRM, acting as agreeing with Steve Jobs. His ridiculous arguments leaded to a new concept: "Social DRM". I ditched the whole absurd idea and almost forgot about it. Until now.

It seems that there are lots of people thinking that "Social DRM" is a bright idea. Actually, I've seeing the term in my readings more, so I decided not to ignore the issue anymore, and write a quick post about why "Social DRM" is a really bad idea.

First, getting this straight: I really think that "Social DRM" is less bad than "traditional DRM", mostly because it isn't DRM at all. Yet, being less bad doesn't mean it is good, to the point of making me state that, like I don't buy DRM'd stuff, I wouldn't buy nothing with "Social DRM".

What is "Social DRM"? Well, nothing more than watermarking. Basicly, McCoy is trying to think of DRM on e-books, and his "idea" is to have a "Social DRM" that is in fact a mark in every page on the ebook, make it header or footer, stating something like "this book is for the exclusive use of [insert purchaser's name here]". Why is it bad?

Well, McCoy certainly choose the name "Social DRM" because he understands the "social" need consumers need to have in their "content". A book (or an album, or a movie) is social, because if you read and like it you want to share it, to recommend it to your friends, you're going to cite it on your blog, you'll make references to it in your day-by-day... you'll use it as a social tool. So, he [tries to] argue, when watermarking the book instead of making it have DRM, you're not taking the social part of having the book out of it. It is social because it isn't anti-social. But he's wrong.

Let me make a small and quick list of social things I can do with my books:

• I can borrow it;


• I can leave it on my desk and next time I know Paula is reading it;


• I can give it;


• I can sell it;


• I can trade it (bookcrossing-style);


• I can leave it on the bus bench after reading it;


• I can let it be used by everyone in the office;


• ...

Now, how many of this social things I can do with your "social DRM"? I can't borrow it, 'cause you're not "Marcos Marado", I can't let Paula wander around with it on her laptop, she's not "Marcos Marado" either; I can't give, sell or trade it, which means that if I abandon it (or loose it!) in my flash disk on the bus, I might get in trouble, 'cause you aren't me. Does this sound social to you? To me, like "tradicional DRM", this sounds exactly like "I'm having my freedoms removed".

Thanks but no, thanks, I'm too social to buy anti-social "Social DRM" stuff.

Microsoft to buy Yahoo! ?

Is today the sad day? Last May I wrote:

According to NY Post, Microsoft is trying to buy Yahoo!, in a move that speculation sees as to make a force against Google dominance in some markets. It makes a lot of sense to me Microsoft wanting this, but I surely hope Yahoo! to fight against it. And if Microsoft manages to buy Yahoo!... It will be a sad day.

In fact, when Google acquired YouTube in October 2006, I said:

I mean, why are you all worried about Google's relations with Fox (MySpace owners) when the real Google competitors nowadays are Yahoo! and Microsoft?

And, as a matter of fact, 2008 begins with

• Microsoft and Yahoo! being the two direct competitors of Google
• Google, Yahoo! and Apple being Microsoft's direct competitors
• Microsoft and Amazon being the direct competitors of Apple

Now, if Microsoft buys Yahoo!... Who will compete with it? Google and Apple? Separately or together?

Microsoft just made an hostile Yahoo acquisition proposal for $31 per Share, in a $44.6-Billion Deal. Hostile means that Microsoft isn't asking Yahoo nothing, instead telling its shareholders to sell at their target price.

Yahoo! stocks are rising and Microsoft stocks falling, but Google's stocks are falling too.

What's going to happen? I'm surely waiting to see, if this acquisition happens the IT world will change violently the next months or even years.

Cisco's iPhone

This WAS a picture I took from a Cisco magazine... The funny thing is that this is their latest issue, and the article is about nothing new... But their iPhone branded stuff. It's fun to see that they're using Apple's iPhone hype (the hype behind the brand iPhone) to try to cativate people to their stuff... ;-)

You don't see the picture there because the service hosting it decided to remove it without warning. BAH.

Google buying Apple? nah...

Rumours started about Google wanting to buy Apple... But I just don't believe it, at least not in a couple of years...

Opera Mini vs. iPhone

Whatch the video or download it as Flash or Ogg theora here.

This publicity comes with the release of the beta version of Opera Mini 4. From the example videos of it, it seems that they took lots of ideas from Nokia's Mini Map, from which they heard about for the first time at XTech'06. Advantadge goes to Opera, even if they're late, since Opera Mini runs on (almost) every cellphone, while Mini Map only runs on Nokia's S60 phones...

Apple Jobs ISN'T Anti-DRM

OK, now the discussion can finaly come to an end. I'm connected via GPRS so I don't feel like talking much about this issue with such a connection, but PCWorld is reporting that Steve Jobs thinks DRM in Movies makes sense. Maybe now, with this, can we please stop talk about Jobs as "the saviour against the DRM battle"? Thank you.

Your take on EMI && Apple

Two days ago I wrote the second most criticized blog post I wrote here - damn, it's the second time I feel someone's comming to me physicly and beat me. While there are only a few comments there, the flame wars started in Mailing Lists, but, surprisingly (seeing the common reaction we get from the blogosphere), I saw that there are more people thinking like me about the latest DRM news.

So, out of curiosity, I created this poll and I ask you to please answer it... The first options implicitly take that you care about DRM issues. If you do not, then there's a propper option for you.

Thank you.

Edit: For those who are not seeing the poll, please vote here. For those that do not have a flash plugin, vote here.

Apple iTMS to sell DRM-free EMI tracks... as luxury items

Do you know the difference between a CD record with its jewel case and it's digipack version? Easy, the digipack version is more expensive, probably in a limited edition, because you're paying for it as a luxury item. Think on books, and why are hardcover books so much expensive than their trade paperback versions. Well, Apple and EMI are now doing the same with music.

The good news for EMI: they can now sell music for more than $0.99 ($1.29, to be exact), something they were trying to achieve for a long time.

The good news for Apple: they are now selling some music without DRM. Maybe they can use this to postpone the court decisions on those European countries that will sue them if they don't stop selling DRM'd files. They can even argue that they're giving an alternative to users. Until then, they'll keep telling "hey, give us time - we dealt with EMI, maybe in the future we'll do the same deal with others". They'll keep "forgeting" that lot's of indie labels want to ditch DRM files and sell only DRM-free music. They'll keep forgeting that they're still signing new deals about new businesses (video and movies instead of music), and those deals are only in DRM'd formats - no DRM-free files there.

The good news for music lovers: uh... good news? Nah. This is an attempt of turning the "standard" music (DRM-free, where "consumers" have rights such as the "personal copy" and "fair use" ones) into luxury items, making the DRM items the standard.

So, excuse me, but FUCK YOU Apple and EMI. DRM is absurd and non-acceptable. Music lovers won't accept that YOU decide that music should be defaulted as DRM'd, and that RIGHTS that we have now can be turned into "extras" we can, sometimes, purchase.

Your proposition on a new music world keeps unaceptable. You're still not giving a fuck to music artists and lovers - those that give you money - so we'll keep telling you to fuck off until you take US into consideration.


Apple's press release
EMI's press release
Announcement Podcast

EMI might ditch DRM from iTMS songs

A lot as been rumored lately about the press conference that is going to happen today at 1pm in London, with Apple's Steve Jobs and EMI's Eric Nicoli. Most speculation went about EMI starting to sell The Beatles songs on iTMS, but then an article in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) raised hope: as you can see here, where they quote the original article, saying:

In a major reversal of the music industry's longstanding antipiracy strategy, EMI Group PLC is set to announce Monday that it plans to sell significant amounts of its catalog without anticopying software, according to people familiar with the matter. The London-based music company is to make its announcement in a press conference that will feature Apple Inc. Chief Executive Steve Jobs. EMI is to sell songs without the software -- known as digital rights management, or DRM -- through Apple's iTunes Store and possibly through other online outlets, too.

The press conference is going to be webcasted live here, for those wanting to hear the news on first-hand.

Petition for Steve Jobs

Last month, Steve Jobs told the world that he thought DRM was dumb and pointless. He pledged to ditch it on the iTunes Music Store, if only the 4 major music labels would let him. He told us that it was up to the consumers to take action, and that there was nothing he could do, his hands were tied, so to speak. Since then the internet has been abuzz with all kinds of theories and ideas about what Jobs was thinking, and the things he could do to show his commitment.

DefectiveByDesign have drafted an open letter to Steve Jobs asking him to take action and show us that his DRM diatribe represents a pledge that he'll make good on, and not just a prank to divert attention and criticism from Apple.

Visit DefectiveByDesign now to sign the letter and see the countdown to April 1, the deadline by which we have asked Jobs to demonstrate his commitment, otherwise we'll know that his posturing is just an attempt to play us the fool.

One year ago...

It was one year ago when Apple said that stopping DRM was promoting piracy.

It was one month ago when Apple said they would embrace a DRM-free world whole-heartedly.

Digital Music Group just "signed new video distribution agreements with Apple iTunes", and no news about ditching DRM. We know that the deal between Apple and the Major labels is going to be renewed this Month. So the question is...

What will Apple say about DRM in one year?

More links

Sorry, still busy. Here's another set of links, for your weekend:

• Second Life is going to get more ubiquous;
• Want to contribute to Open Source but don't know how?
• How do you define a cultural work?
• More on Steve Jobs and DRM;
• Music execs criticise DRM systems;
• An awsome prediction on the future of Second Life (in Portuguese);

Portugal started the deployment of the "citizen card". Here are some links:

• Concerns;
• Software.

Have a nice weekend :-)

Links

So, I've been kind of busy lately, so I didn't post anything lately. To avoid having one more day without posts, here is what I have in my browser tabs:

• A reflection on Jobs' article on DRM, not my point of view but an interesting read;
• more criticism on Jobs' article;
• Recalling the math Courtney Love did some years ago;
• Microsoft bringing DRM to cellphones;
• USA more dystopian every day;
• Oracle with some funny security isues;
• How ridiculous can USA be? (in Portuguese);
• A nice blog I knew today (thanks, cha0s);
• Security in Windows Vista is a joke;
• Oni, the next mp3's I'm going to buy;
• The blog of Joanna Rutkowska, lately hacking Vista;
• Carbono Zero (in Portuguese) tells you how to compensate CO2 emissions.

Have a nice reading time.

Apple on DRM, and reactions it caused

By now almost everyone knows that Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, wrote two days ago an article about DRM on iTunes Music Store, in reaction to the the latest events in Europe, where several countries are telling Apple to ditch DRM or else they're going to be sued.

So, Jobs told us his/Apple's public position about the use of DRM in iTunes, telling that there are three paths for the future:

1. Let everything as it is now (keep DRM, bad)
   
2. License Apple's DRM technology (keep DRM, bad)
3. Stop selling songs with DRM (ditch DRM, good)

Using his words, Apple would embrace DRM-free music "in a heartbeat" if "the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM.", or so they say.

Well, they also say that

"Much of the concern over DRM systems has arisen in European countries. Perhaps those unhappy with the current situation should redirect their energies towards persuading the music companies to sell their music DRM-free. For Europeans, two and a half of the big four music companies are located right in their backyard. The largest, Universal, is 100% owned by Vivendi, a French company. EMI is a British company, and Sony BMG is 50% owned by Bertelsmann, a German company. Convincing them to license their music to Apple and others DRM-free will create a truly interoperable music marketplace. Apple will embrace this wholeheartedly."

In other words, they're trying to escape from the lawsuits that are comming, by telling Europe to force the big four to do a nice deal with Apple... instead of forcing Apple to do their job.

Cool, heh?

Of course that this action already had some results:

Senior advisor Torgeir Waterhouse of the Norwegian Consumer Council did the best thing possible, and gave Jobs the reply he deserved:

"Our concern is of course that it's Apple and [the] iTunes Music Store [that] should be addressing the issue of record companies and DRM themselves if it needs to be addressed - and as we've stated earlier it's iTunes Music Store that's providing a service to the consumers and therefore has the responsibility to offer up a consumer friendly product."

and

"no matter what agreements [the] iTunes Music Store [has] entered into, they're still the company that's selling music to the consumers and are responsible for offering the consumer a fair deal according to Norwegian law."

On the other hand, RIAA refuses a DRM-free world, telling that "option 2" (open Apple's DRM technology) should be the choice, ant that

"We have no doubt that a technology company as sophisticated and smart as Apple could work with the music community to make that happen"

, but this is the option that Jobs himself dismissed...

As I've told you before, EMI is really slowly experimenting music sells without DRM. Inquired about it, Jeanne Meyer, an EMI spokeswomen, said:

"The feedback from fans (has) been very enthusiastic,"

and that

"I think the labels will release selected back-catalog stuff, to see what happens"

Norway tells Apple to drop DRM

First, Norway acknoledge that the iTunes store had a breach of fundamental consumer rights, caused by the use of DRM technologies.

Now, they're threatening to file suit against Apple, Inc., if it doesn't open up it iTunes store so media can be played on non-iPod devices by October 1, 2007.

While this is good news, we must take into consideration that this isn't exactly new, and, as a matter of fact, a previous deadline for the same thing existed for June 21, 2006, and nothing happened.

Anyway, good news are good news, and I just hope to see more countries doing the same.