palata
8 hours ago
> People often talk about "the Year of Linux on the Desktop," but what about "the Year of Linux on the Smartphone"?
Ironic to start with it, given that "The Year of Linux on the Desktop" is a running joke, essentially playing on the fact that it probably won't happen anytime soon.
> A premium smartphone that officially supports Linux mobile, something like the Google Pixel 6, 7, 8, or 9.
Is the argument here that what's missing to Linux on mobile is official support from Google?
> A Chromium-based mobile browser
Of all the things missing on Linux on mobile (and there are more than enough), this does not sound like one. Firefox is fine. The low battery efficiency and the lack of many important apps is much more of a problem.
> Banking and government apps.
And most other apps, too.
And the security model. Because for Linux on mobile to become mainstream, it would have to be used by normies.
Don't get me wrong: I really love the efforts made by projects like PostmarketOS. But before starting the joke of the Year of Linux on mobile, it would have to get to a point where it is actually usable there.
Bender
4 hours ago
won't happen anytime soon
I used to think that but I could see Valve changing that with time when enough gamers are able to switch without all the past stereotypical issues assuming they work out all the kinks. My understanding is they are making decent progress. Adding to this more influencers are trying out Linux. Don't get me wrong, I am not a fan of this. Once enough people move to Linux it will be a much bigger target for malware and other shenanigans, but I can see a path via gamers to popularity.
The next challenge will be making it viable in all work places and be able to smoothly run all of the ancient proprietary applications. The incentive for executives I could envision for the work place is sandboxing the ancient applications to improve the security posture even if it's mostly check-boxes at first until proper capabilities are set or limited. Less down-time from ransomware and more people working once the kinks are worked out one organization at a time.
grigio
3 hours ago
Yes, the SteamOS/Valve of Linux Mobile needs to come
grigio
6 hours ago
> Ironic to start with it, given that "The Year of Linux on the Desktop" is a running joke, essentially playing on the fact that it probably won't happen anytime soon.
Sure, Linux Desktop/Mobile will never be an alternative for all until it is preinstalled and top apps are developed for it.
> Is the argument here that what's missing to Linux on mobile is official support from Google?
No, it was just to mention a reference hardware
> Of all the things missing on Linux on mobile (and there are more than enough), this does not sound like one. Firefox is fine. The low battery efficiency and the lack of many important apps is much more of a problem.
Most of modern web sites are just tested for Chromium, but also Firefox is fine if it became well optimized in Linux Mobile.
> And most other apps, too.
The essential apps are already almost there, just need more optimization for mobile UI. Most of apps in the Play Store are just wrapped web views. It's more a quality issue than a quantity issue.