That is not totally true. The reason most people stay with Windows is because the hardware ships with it. In my experience Linux usage has about 50% retention rate among those I installed the OS for.
If you'd install OSX or Windows on a non techie who grew up using just Linux, I'd think the retention rates would be much lower.
>That is not totally true. The reason most people stay with Windows is because the hardware ships with it.
Only every attempt to sell hardware that ships with Linux (by several companies) failed.
And the "switch to something different" didn't seem to bother those going to OS X.
OS X, in less time than what Desktop Linux was promoted (1998-2013 for Dektop Linux, 2001-2013 for OS X), and with more expessive hardware, went from 2% to around 12% in the US (and even more for laptop share).
>In my experience Linux usage has about 50% retention rate among those I installed the OS for.
No, that is actually stunningly good, considering the alleged state of the Linux desktop and considering the audience that the Linux desktop has traditionally been targeting. It is so good, that I suspect he has a strong selection bias (he is probably only installing Linux for users he thinks may be able to use it fulltime. This selection is probably unconscious.)
(And because it always seems to be necessary to add this disclaimer: I've been using Linux fulltime for over a decade; I'm not a critic, just a realist.)
If you'd install OSX or Windows on a non techie who grew up using just Linux, I'd think the retention rates would be much lower.