Germany experimented with OpenOffice a few times, which is a related problem. DPRK had (has?) Red Star OS. Russia has Astra Linux for gov / army use.

Have they tried LibreOffice? It seems to have a lot more updates since the split from OpenOffice.

The only thing that will make it, is the increase of nationalism, which will make FOSS OSes the only option that is somehow free from USA influence.

Other than that, I keep reading about the big Linux exodus for the last 20 years, myself I have given up for the Apple, Google and Microsoft controlled ecosystems, after having emails with a signature that used to have M$ on it, and having been a Linux Journal subscriber for the lifetime of its printed existence.

Linux is already widely used in govt and public servant computers. It's easy to do that, but to do it "for the masses" is an entirely different game.

To this day, laptop and desktop computers "for the masses" exist almost solely for office work and gaming. Windows and Microsoft products are too ingrained in both use cases, so it will take a herculean effort in changing software standards and platforms for app vendors to consider Linux.

I'm sure it's going to take a herculean effort, but hight time somebody took on the challenge.

Please keep us posted on your progress!

I am a lurker, not a programmer. Sorry.

The effort required is mainly in preventing Microsoft from subtly pressuring OEMs to either not offer Linux or to cripple their offerings.

The year of the Linux desktop ought to have started with the netbook craze of 2007 but Microsoft's nuclear response to that (free windows licenses, ordering OEMs to cap netbook RAM at 2GB) successfully choked that market segment in its sleep.

There are, unfortunately, an awful lot of ways Microsoft can still subtly bring legally deniable pressure to bear on OEMs and antitrust enforcement in America is a joke anyhow.

Chromebooks managed it, made by OEMs. The issue with Linux is pervasively user-hostile design in the name of GNU ideology, not Microsoft

Just issue Chromebooks for the 90 percent if most of the work happens in webapps?

Even worse spyware.

But with very polished drivers and firmware underneath.

Untying it from google is quite hard, though.

Enjoy implementing the legal and compliance requirements yourself on linux, then. We live in a society, after all. Enterprise chromebooks are not a consumer product, they are beholden to an entirely different terms of service.

You can either have the desktop linux that is proven to work as a drop-in replacement, or you can have the lab rat version that only works out in engineering orgs.

I remember that the Kerala government (southern state in India) deployed an ubuntu-based operating system on 200,000 laptops in government-funded schools in 2021. Turns out they saved an estimated $360,000 compared to Windows/ChromeOS offerings.

https://www.onmanorama.com/career-and-campus/top-news/2021/0...

So using Linux over Windows saves only $1.8 per user? If anything that makes an amazing selling point for Windows.

$1.80 doesn't sound like a lot in the US, but I'm sure the government would want to spend the savings on teacher salaries and equipment rather than on trivial Windows licenses - especially in developing countries where every dollar counts.

These types of broad summaries at least often fail to talk about the cost of support, education, and interoperability.

Eg xrdp is a huge productivity hit at best, but honestly not viable at all.