• HobbitFoot
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    1 year ago

    Because it is incredibly expensive and risky to compete in the service market.

    Software has been giving way to service revenue for awhile. Both Android and SteamOS are based on Linux, and Android without Googlr has been used to create phones.

    Hardware has notoriously thin margins, with non-flagship equipment being really cheap. Hardware margins are so thin that a lot of hardware manufacturers now rely on service providers to subsidize their work.

    • rob299@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      If you just simply make an operating system, that alone would increase competition. The thing is, people don’t go to Linux when they do think of alternatives they go to mac, you need more commercial oses, that’s why apple is number two on most used operating systems on PC.

      • HobbitFoot
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        1 year ago

        If you just simply make an operating system, that alone would increase competition.

        Would it? An OS by itself that doesn’t have anything to run has little value. The whole reason Microsoft got its monopoly was because it became the standard for most desktop software.

        • rob299@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I think so, the reason why Linux isn’t as successful even though it’s free is because it is complex. With Windows, you just buy a windows. WIth apple you just buy a Mac. with Nintendo, you just buy a Nintendo. With Linux, you gotta know how to hack your computer and you got to pick a distro. (i’m exaggerating a little on the hacking part, but that’s how people see it.)

          Or maybe we could get a centralised open sourced os that does not have anything to do with Linux, since that’s being took over by Microsoft and other investors in the Linux foundation anyways that have been known to use Macs themselves. Just for the sake of simplicity and competition that actual works for people.