I’m not sure how accurate StatCounter is, given that most Linux users use adblockers. However, according to it, Linux has almost a 14% desktop share in India.
- NateNate60 ( @NateNate60@lemmy.ml ) 77•1 year ago
That’s because even a grey market Windows key costs US$20 nowadays and that’s over ₹1,600. For comparison purposes, the largest Indian banknote is ₹500.
- stepanzak ( @stepanzak@iusearchlinux.fyi ) 24•1 year ago
Windows Activation Scripts are free 😉
- NateNate60 ( @NateNate60@lemmy.ml ) 36•1 year ago
…but not legal. Being poor doesn’t necessarily mean you’re inclined to break the law. Besides, Linux is useful if you perhaps want to later get a job in the tech field.
- d3Xt3r ( @d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz ) 26•1 year ago
You’re not breaking the law, you’re breaking a software license agreement. That does not automatically make it a crime, at least, that would depend on your exact local laws, and the lawyer’s interpretation of it - in many cases the actual wording around this is ambiguous and could be argued both ways. A better term for it would be a “legal grey area”, which means if you’re a company then don’t f*** around with it, and if you’re just a random user then no one gives a f***.
In any case, if those scripts were truly illegal, then the Microsoft-owned Github wouldn’t host them in the first place. Clearly Microsoft themselves don’t have an issue with it, so why should anyone else care about it?
- NateNate60 ( @NateNate60@lemmy.ml ) 16•1 year ago
Yes, you are breaking a law. Copyright infringement in this manner is an offence under the Copyright Act 1957 punishable with up to three years imprisonment and a fine.
- Helix 🧬 ( @Helix@feddit.de ) 15•1 year ago
In my country there is no copyright act of 1957.
- NateNate60 ( @NateNate60@lemmy.ml ) 5•1 year ago
That’s not relevant. We’re talking about why Indian people are using Linux in greater numbers so only Indian law really matters in the context of this discussion.
- garam ( @garam@lemmy.my.id ) 4•1 year ago
I think copyright and ownership law only broken in France tho? I never seen many country that has no that kind of law? Well if you ask implementation… It’s different things. 😂
- d3Xt3r ( @d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz ) 12•1 year ago
But you’re not infringing on any copyright. You’re downloading a copy of Windows directly from Microsoft legally, and then activating it using a free and open-source script hosted on Microsoft’s own servers. You aren’t breaking any copyright law in doing that.
- leneth ( @leneth@beehaw.org ) 1•1 year ago
That’s how it should work, but creating a derivative of a copyrighted work, through modification, even if it is for personal use, is technically illegal in the US.
- bamboo ( @bamboo@lemm.ee ) 2•1 year ago
Copyright doesn’t even apply until you attempt to distribute the covered work, so no, this is false.
- reinar ( @reinar@distress.digital ) English12•1 year ago
resold oem key is not legal as well.
only legal options are: get windows with your device or purchase retail for a hunnit $.
just accept it and pirate.
- d3Xt3r ( @d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz ) 7•1 year ago
only legal options are
You could also just download the ISO from MS directly and use it without activation. It’ll only prevent you from changing the theme and wallpaper, but you could just change the registry entries directly or use a third-party tool to change your wallpaper/theme.
- QuazarOmega ( @QuazarOmega@lemy.lol ) 7•1 year ago
And no BitLocker (without fiddling around even more)? No, thanks.
There’s no way Microsoft can win this moral battle, they’ll profit off you enough with all their tracking, have you seen the atrocious setup screen at installation they put you through?
- Do you want to ads?
- Do you want to a keylogger?
- Do you want to get tracked?
- Do you want to get fucked?
Yes, please, daddy
GatesNadella(Sorry, can’t help myself from sounding like a nutjob when Microsoft gets into the equation)
- d3Xt3r ( @d3Xt3r@lemmy.nz ) 2•1 year ago
Not sure what you’re getting at here. I’m a Linux user FYI, I’m just disagreeing with the OP’s comment that there are only two legal options.
- QuazarOmega ( @QuazarOmega@lemy.lol ) 1•1 year ago
That’s fair, just disregard my comment then
- exu ( @exu@feditown.com ) English1•1 year ago
Oem keys are absolutely legal in the EU
- NateNate60 ( @NateNate60@lemmy.ml ) 1•1 year ago
It’s of questionable legality. It’s not illegal as in “piracy”, but the seller, or whoever obtained that key from Microsoft, is violating their agreement with Microsoft by reselling the keys.
- loki ( @loki@lemmy.ml ) English4•1 year ago
Being poor doesn’t necessarily mean you’re inclined to break the law.
Really? Piracy should not be very popular there then. oh wait…
https://www.revenera.com/blog/software-monetization/software-piracy-stat-watch/
- NateNate60 ( @NateNate60@lemmy.ml ) 3•1 year ago
You really need to learn to read properly. What I’m saying is that being poor on its own does not incline people to commit crime. You read it as “People commit piracy if and only if they are poor”, which is the only statement under which your reply and its implications would be logically sound.
Is being poor correlated with piracy? Yes. But I argue the much bigger factors are the lack of availability of legitimate methods of acquiring software in India as well as the difficulty of acquiring such legitimate copies, even when they are available. There are also cultural differences that make piracy more acceptable in India than in other places, such as Europe or North America.
Think of it like this: a hypothetical 13-year-old child in the United States who wants a video game and sees it on Steam for 60 USD may consider piracy, but is much more likely to save up for it and buy it legitimately when they get a Steam gift card for their birthday or ask their parents for it for Christmas. Their parents can easily go to Walmart or Amazon and buy a copy. Meanwhile, a child in India who sees the same game for sale for the equivalent of 5,000 INR will know that is firstly a ludicrous amount to save for, and secondly, may not be available in their region, and thirdly, lacks the ability to simply ask for it for their birthday or something. Gift cards don’t seem to be too common in India. A person living in India is also less likely to have access to banking infrastructure that allows for easy electronic payment. Even things bought on Amazon have “cash upon delivery” available as a payment method. That is how undeveloped India’s payment infrastructure is. Meanwhile in the USA, every teenager has their own bank account and debit card. As a result, the Indian teenager is more likely to pirate. But it is not solely because they are poorer.
- loki ( @loki@lemmy.ml ) English5•1 year ago
It’s not that deep.
-
Kid wants a video game thats paid
-
Kid searches the game piracy website and finds it.
-
Kid downloads and plays the pirated game
Every kid does this and you know it. People don’t consider downloading things off of internet as some sort of a moral test or a criminal action. And software piracy is just in paper in some countries.
- NateNate60 ( @NateNate60@lemmy.ml ) 3•1 year ago
It’s not that shallow. You are trying to use an anecdote, and not even a concrete anecdote, to argue a matter of statistics. The anecdote isn’t even illustrative of any point. It is utterly disconnected from any statistical argument. It is not logically sound and you should know that. We’re talking about how many people pirate things, not whether any given person pirates something. What you have argued in your comment is, “there exists a set of circumstances where a person could reasonably be driven to commit piracy”. That is neither persuasive to your thesis nor particularly enlightening.
I really wish rhetoric was taught as a standard subject in grade school. It must not be where you’re from.
-
- stepanzak ( @stepanzak@iusearchlinux.fyi ) 3•1 year ago
I absolutely agree that Linux is great and I genuinely hate Windows for number of reasons. The problem is that some people just have to use Windows. This might include me in a few days, because I’m in high school and we have to install Solidworks. I think that for these people, Windows Activation Scripts are a good option that is safe (like it’s not a virus), is free (because I don’t want to pay for OS that I’m forced to use for some reason) and is safe in the meaning that there is no way of legal consequences if you are an individual, AFAIK. Also the licenses from 3rd party websites are often stolen licenses and buying them is IMO worse than activating Windows using the scripts, since you are supporting scammers.
- umbrella ( @umbrella@lemmy.ml ) 10•1 year ago
why go through the trouble when linux is free?
- stepanzak ( @stepanzak@iusearchlinux.fyi ) 1•1 year ago
Sadly, some people have to use Windows.
- randompepsi ( @randompepsi@lemmy.ml ) 9•1 year ago
Do you have to pay for Windows still? I thought they made it free to download
- nous ( @nous@programming.dev ) English30•1 year ago
While it is free to download it, the license still costs. Though they seem to let you use it unlicensed for an unlimited amount of time with some restrictions (like not being able to change the background image and an ever present watermark). At least this was true for windows 10. No telling if/when they will drop that feature though, especially if loads of people start using it unlicensed like that (though I doubt that has any effect on people using it that way or not).
- the_lone_wolf ( @the_lone_wolf@lemmy.ml ) 4•1 year ago
No largest note was ₹2000 but just recently it got banned maybe government likely going to launch new notes?
- NateNate60 ( @NateNate60@lemmy.ml ) 3•1 year ago
Was, but no longer is. It is officially discontinued, making the ₹500 note the largest for now. I would expect the Government to quickly launch a new large-denomination note. India is still a largely cash society and the largest note being worth 6 USD is surely going to be inconvenient for everyday citizens.
- RandomVideos ( @RandomVideos@programming.dev ) 3•1 year ago
People activate windows? Most of the pcs that i have seen using windows are not activated
- elouboub ( @elouboub@kbin.social ) 47•1 year ago
Hopefully people in India are spreading the world of Linux. Blessed they be.
- loops ( @loops@beehaw.org ) English8•1 year ago
(☝◞‸◟)☞
- Riskable ( @riskable@programming.dev ) English6•1 year ago
I hear even the cows run Linux. They only peer into Windows from time to time.
- onlinepersona ( @onlinepersona@programming.dev ) English24•1 year ago
It’s a little puzzling to me that Linux isn’t popular in low-income countries. Why wouldn’t it be the OS of choice there? Do we need to become linux missionaries? I imagine it would be easier to convince people who can’t buy an iPhone to use FLOSS than those who can drive to an Apple Store and waddle over to get yet another one.
- drathvedro ( @drathvedro@lemm.ee ) 23•1 year ago
Probably because it has to compete with piracy there, not with Microsoft and Adobe and such.
- halva ( @halva@discuss.tchncs.de ) 12•1 year ago
ironically enough i think microsoft (at least until very recently) has had a very lenient stance on piracy exactly because of this
piracy is the key to the consumer market in developing countries, consumer market is the key to enterprise (where the actual money lies)
- onlinepersona ( @onlinepersona@programming.dev ) English2•1 year ago
I remember switching to linux because windows was shit and because I was afraid of getting caught using pirated warez. Is there no fear of that there?
- VCTRN ( @victron@programming.dev ) English18•1 year ago
Puzzling? Windows comes preinstalled or can be pirated. Also, it’s popular, Linux isn’t. No puzzle on sight.
- ILikeBoobies ( @ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca ) 4•1 year ago
Same as any other country, people use what’s preinstalled
However following that trend Chrome OS and Android have really boosted Linux’s numbers
- GadgeteerZA ( @danie10@lemmy.ml ) English3•1 year ago
They know little about open source. Microsoft is exclusively in schools and government, and that is what they grow up with. They probably know more about pirating Windows, than using Linux legally. There is also a good kick-back in terms of MS license mark-ups for middle-men businesses. One would hope there is some mandatory education around different OSs as I’m sure kids would love to explore and modify software.
- onlinepersona ( @onlinepersona@programming.dev ) English2•1 year ago
It feels like those kinds of countries are perfect targets for linux and FLOSS.
- GadgeteerZA ( @danie10@lemmy.ml ) English3•1 year ago
Linux and FLOSS unfortunately don’t have budgets, and rely on logic and common sense. Microsoft has a big lobbying budget, gets in to see senior politicians and decision-makers, and then sponsors training, digital villages, etc. Yes, it costs a country overall much more than Linux, but it is easier for schools/gov depts and middle-men make some actual money in their pockets. That’s what Linux and FLOSS end up against. What would turn it around is having strong local businesses driving training and making tender bids to install and support Linux and FLOSS. A government or school wants to have it done for them. That’s the reality, unfortunately.
- onlinepersona ( @onlinepersona@programming.dev ) English2•1 year ago
The sad reality indeed.
- lemmyvore ( @lemmyvore@feddit.nl ) English3•1 year ago
Two reasons, low income means no culture of paying for software, and easily corrupted government and administrations which companies like Microsoft have no problem taking advantage of to push their products to city halls, schools, hospitals, universities etc.
- meullier ( @meullier@lemm.ee ) 2•1 year ago
I don’t think many people buy windows, laptops already comes with it and ones how can build a pc already know how to get windows for free, as far as iPhone goes, why would any one choose floss if they can’t afford iPhone? They usually choose Google services
- Spore ( @Spore@lemmy.ml ) 1•1 year ago
They don’t choose. Choice is something to make when people have enough time and resource. Instead they use what they are familiar with and have little time to grab and learn a new thing.
Free software comes with an implicit cost while pirated Windows doesn’t, ironically.
Also have no idea why Windows share dropped so low in April 2023. Perhaps some Windows update caused them to be recognized as unknown device
- chevy9294 ( @chevy9294@monero.town ) 13•1 year ago
I read somewhere that was caused by linux-based botnet ddos or something like that. So windows share didnt drop but linux share significantly increased.
- taaz ( @taaz@biglemmowski.win ) English10•1 year ago
Maybe something with the hwid activation?
- andruid ( @andruid@lemmy.ml ) 5•1 year ago
I do remember reading India declaring a switch for government computers a while back. So maybe that?
- odium ( @odium@programming.dev ) 5•1 year ago
That would be a permanent increase /decrease.
- 👁️👄👁️ ( @mojo@lemm.ee ) English12•1 year ago
Say the line bart!
This will be the year of the Linux desktop
- A10@kerala.party ( @A10@kerala.party ) 9•1 year ago
I am contributing to this number by installing Ubuntu Linux on my relatives old laptops.
- imAadesh ( @imAadesh@lemmy.ml ) 2•1 year ago
Do Mint
- A10@kerala.party ( @A10@kerala.party ) 2•1 year ago
Actually It is Lubuntu with LXDE.
- snek_boi ( @snek_boi@lemmy.ml ) 8•1 year ago
I’m not sure adblockers change the OS they report. Other tools I know for a fact do it.
Edit: However, as @aebletrae@hexbear.net mentions, adblockers don’t have to change what OS is reported to change the overall statistics. They explain how in a comment below.
- MonkderZweite ( @MonkderZweite@feddit.ch ) 8•1 year ago
I find the concept of ‘market share’ applied to FOSS projects quite confusing.
What’s confusing to you? If Linux has higher desktop use, wouldn’t it bring more and better quality apps and games.
- xvlc ( @xvlc@feddit.de ) 3•1 year ago
I would assume that “market share” is related to the relative number of units sold/number of active subscriptions/fraction of total sales in terms in revenue, or some similar metric. I run a variety of different distributions on servers (bare metal, VMs and containers) and desktop computers. Do they all count equally? Without giving it more thought, I wouldn’t even know how to determine the market share of Ubuntu in my own home in a sensible way.
With Windows, I can just count the number of active licenses. Oh wait, its zero.
- MonkderZweite ( @MonkderZweite@feddit.ch ) 2•1 year ago
For once, Redhat and Suse do have market share, because they are companies. Other distros not so much. Then the reliability of the numbers, since you can only guess it from downloads and useragents.
- Possibly linux ( @possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip ) English8•1 year ago
Content management doesn’t affect usage numbers. I think it has to more with user agent switching
- RandomVideos ( @RandomVideos@programming.dev ) 7•1 year ago
A lot of people are comparing windows to linux, but windows worldwide has only about 70% market share.
There are way less mac os and chrome os users than worldwide
- kingthrillgore ( @KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml ) 4•1 year ago
You can identify OS without an adblocker it’s usually in the user agent