this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2026
131 points (97.1% liked)
Linux
64446 readers
194 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
All of the things you mentioned are annoying level problems.
Card payment should still work, ATMs are more of a footnote in today's world. I can't even remember the last time I used one. If I were to use one and it didn't worked it would be annoying.
And there are lots that don't. Plus, wine has excellent support for old windows versions, I would be very surprised if something didn't just worked. So there would be some downtime while people annoyingly set things up with wine.
And a lot of POS don't, the ones that do would have to change OS, an annoyance.
The ones that don't would receive lots of new clients, and the rest would leave clients annoyed while adapting.
I think you're probably exaggerating the proportions, nearly 100% of the hardware that runs Windows runs Linux. Yes, there would be some chaos until things migrate, but there are alternatives that are reachable and usable.
That's an annoyance. It's not just some phones, it's absolutely every network connected device that is not a Windows or apple thing. If you Google something on your phone yo go through possibly 20 different Linux devices back and forth.
This is the big one, removing Linux menas breaking the internet (and most intranets). And it's not breaking one thing or another, it's breaking every single internet service, the ATMs in your windows example wouldn't work, nor would any PoS, since they usually depend on inventory management and card connectivity.
And it's not a "until people reinstall their system" deal, it's breaking in an essentially unrepairable way. There's a very high chance that outside of a very small subset of devices there's just no alternative to Linux. That's the difference, Windows disappearing is a hiccup while things adapt, Linux disappearing is chaos without a foreseeable solution, 90% of electronics become e-waste.
I would argue it's not. There's still a lot of professional and industrial software that doesn't run on Linux at all, even through Wine. I've had a glimpse into the world of industrial automation, there's a bunch of devices that simply don't have the drivers to run on anything but a specific (old) version of Windows. Supply chain issues would persist for decades.