Think of the opportunity Linux creates in a place like India. If you have some smarts and a good work ethic, Linux and a machine from 2010 allows you to run the very latest software used by tech giants all over the world.
You can self-teach a huge number of skills on Linux and become deeply familiar with the REAL software that professionals are using—even in the West. One you know your stuff, you can leverage that into a job that pays fantastic money by local standards.
If you want to be a developer, you can build a GitHub portfolio or participate in Open Source projects.
If you are more entrepreneurial, you can post videos showing others how to use the skills you have acquired. These not only make a fantastic resume but they can generate advertising income. What may seem like a poor return on time in richer countries can provide important income in poorer ones.
If you have not tried it, you may be amazed that you can run up-to-the minute current versions of Docker, Kubernetes, databases, dev in any language ( even .NET ), and almost any other in-demand technology on really old Linux hardware.
Beyond hard technology skills, a Linux computer is just a fabulous productivity tool. You can get hardware and software to help manage your business that you perhaps could never afford otherwise. If you are a creative professional, you have access to amazing tools. If you are a photographer, you have pro level tools. If you are an architect or engineer, same thing. Again, we can say that some of these are not “professional” but I bet they do the job in markets where few can afford expensive software.
About the only things that push the hardware envelope these days are video editing, AI, and gaming. Even these work better than you may think though. It will take you longer but you can do pretty good video editing on 2010 HW for example.
We really need more marketing of Linux itself. I run ubuntu and run Cyberpunk 2077 natively, with a wireless gamepad… It’s all out of the box, I don’t know why people are afraid of it?
Edit: It does take about 30 seconds to load things into VRAM, but still worth all of it.
Engineering is very popular in India and computer programming is one of the courses that is common to all disciplines. Our professors recommended installing Linux.
A few years back, Dell would sell budget laptops with Ubuntu preloaded instead of Windows. Although I can’t find any right now.
Back around 2010s, in my state edu. board, we were taught about Ubuntu in high school and had Linux Mint installed in our school computers. Although the material was very shallow and designed short-shortsightedly, it helped introduce Linux and FOSS to lots of us.
Government departments are slowly ditching windows because everything they need to do can be done on Linux without malware attacks and every application screaming “buy me!” every time you open it.
Also educational institutions (at least in my State) do give basic Ubuntu training. I learned Gimp ,Inkscape and Libre office as part of my curriculum.
There is also the reduction of dependencies on non-democratic institutions for the government to function! The America first policy held by the US for a few years triggered a lot of planning from governments to increase their ability to sovereign from the states.
Because they are smarter than the West and less likely to use the biggest “scam” called Windows. Linux is also suitable for less modern computers and useful with excellent FOSS software.
India is a country with a huge population India is also a third world country where people. 1 computer is probably an years wages for most Indians. And alot of linux distros run well on older hardware same goes for eastern europe and africa or so I hear plus engineering is very popular over there as embed put it himself
Because it’s free. That’s the beauty of FOSS software. But only is it user freedom respecting but also often free of charge.
In third world countries like India where only a small percentage can afford a Windows licence, Linux can thrive. And once people see it can do anything that Windows can, and far better with no security concerns, plus they can modify and build upon Linux, they tend to adopt it with passion.
If you’re starting a business in India and have little money but need an OS to run your business, Linux can do that for you for free.
I suspect it is a combination of its being free, working well on older hardware, and the tech literacy in India.
Software development and engineering are important aspects of the Indian economy. Linux is arguably the best platform for that kind of work, especially in the cloud. Tech support of those kinds of systems require the same skills.
Given how well Linux runs on older machines, I consider low Linux penetration a hallmark of rich countries.
In my own household, Linux goes on all the older hardware ( including Macs ). That has really extended the length of time before hardware needs to be replaced. It also means that, over time, the percentage of active equipment using Linux has increased.
First, you set up a company, doesn’t matter the name. Hire the bare minimum number of employees maybe one to handle accounting, and one sales person to start. Make sure you pay them either minimum wage or slightly under, with a false promise of introducing a profit sharing mechanism soon to keep them motivated. Then, the magic starts. You handle key clients yourself and make your sales target various demographies - sell this graphic for 1 bison dollar per jpeg. The trick is to sell the first million within 3 months. Show these sales to banks or investors and ask them for a further 500 million to expand and scale up your sales. Then, you vanish to an unknown island in the Pacific. Easy money.
I wish they would include mobile in these stats, it would better show consumer operating systems and the Android bump would let people know Linux isn’t as niche as they thought
Edit: Apparently they have this but they don’t label it as Linux
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