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General discussion

The State of Operating Systems 2015

Feb 20, 2015 9:36PM PST

It's the year of 2015 and we're seeing old and new operating system competitors at what may be their truest, purest, form. Mac OS X Yosemite, Windows 10, Linux and its distributions, and Chrome OS 40-something-whatever are the competitors in the desktop operating system world, and this is what I see on the State of Operating Systems for the year of 2015.
Mac OS X <span style="font-size: 14.4799995422363px;">Yosemite.
<span style="font-size: 14.4799995422363px;">The Yosemite update of Mac OS X brings an updated interface and features like continuity and iCloud Drive.
Pros: Excellent, well-designed UI and environment; best-there-is hardware; overall high quality; excellent software like iMovie, Pages, Final Cut Pro, etc.
Cons: Limited to Apple hardware (barring Hackintosh, but you may as well just get a Windows computer for that); some minor annoyances in compatibility, etc. compared to Windows.
Popular with: Artists, professionals, rich folk, people who aren't into customization or gaming

Windows 10
Windows 10 is what Windows 8 and 8.1 should've been, with the return of the start menu, a more metro and less aero interface, and general improvements.
Pros: All the good things about windows - fast productivity features; huge program library; gaming!; customizability
Cons: UI not as smooth to some users; Less efficient performance and battery life; bloated with unnecessary stuff compared to Linux, Chrome OS, and Mac OS
Popular with: Businesses, general public, casual tweakers, gamers

Linux
Although the huge Linux craze has died down, it remains popular with power users, programmers, tweakers, etc.
Pros: Power to do stuff your way; powerful linux-only apps, etc.
Cons: Not hugely popular, not many common people use it, so you have few friends to ask for help; A little harder to use, less streamlined, requires more user effort
Popular with: Power users, super-customizers

Chrome OS
A budget, lightweight, fast operating system that's getting much popularity, and for good reason. Based off of Google's Chrome Web Browser, Chrome OS is super-fast, super-lightweight, cheap, and has awesome Google integration that helps you get stuff done. If it were made by any other company it might not have worked, but with Google's huge name behind it, the app library is growing every day, and you can be sure that you'll feel comfortable with it.
Pros: Simple, easy to use; budget-friendly; amazing Google integration; super-fast and fully capable without breaking your bank.
Cons: Definitely offline functionality, but still limited; power tasks are made difficult because it's so "Cloudy" (cloud-based); app library a bit lacking.
Popular with: Schools, businesses, organizations, light users, cloud users

My forecast is this.
Mac OS: It will take over the high end of the laptop industry as well as creatives with unrivalved design, battery life, and performance.
Chrome OS: It will take over the budget end of the laptop industry, supplying schools, offices, and most home users with its fast but lightweight performance, long battery life, unrivaled Google integration and a price tag that is unique for its actual performance and fast productivity capabilities.
Windows: This will become the operating system for gamers and professionals, people who can sacrifice the inefficiency of the system for the gaming and heavy software capabilities that it provides. People in the high and low ends will be whisked away by Mac OS and Chrome OS, respectively.
Linux: This will remain the platform of choice for power users, super-customizers, and programmers.

What do you think about my forecast? Agree? Disagree?

Discussion is locked

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I think the good news is that I can still choose.
Feb 20, 2015 11:57PM PST

While our office does choose what market to go after, what I use is still my choice.
Bob

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It's all about the software.
Feb 23, 2015 12:02AM PST
http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=10&qpcustomd=0

Chrome isn't listed as an OS.

I don't see Apple taking over number 1 reason is they are a Software company that makes an OS to support their hardware. Apples devices are all in one price range (High) . Laptop magazine has Lenovo ThinkPad X240 as the number 1 laptop for battery life followed by another Lenova and then an Asus. Apple has the next 3 then an Acer. Your
completely ignoring desktops which battery life isn't considered.

You can compare Windows 10 to anything since it's only a technical preview.

Seeing that Windows is around 90% of the market something drastic would have to happen.

Linux is so confusing Ubuntu, Xbuntu, Zorin, Mint, and how many others that end in untu. Google the the 50 best linux's that's all you have to do . They all compete against each other.