Since last year, tech giant Microsoft has been on a mission to remain the absolute leader of the operating system (OS) market. With Windows 10, the company made famous by former CEO and co-founder Bill Gates is on track to asserting OS dominance not only on desktops and laptops but also mobile devices.

Microsoft Windows Faces Rising Competition

For decades, Windows’ main competitor has been Apple’s OS X, which is currently in its version 10.11.4, called El Capitan. The only other OS that used to nip at the heels of Apple and Microsoft used to be Linux and its many desktop versions; however, that started to change a few years ago with the advent of the Android mobile OS, one of the most successful projects launched by Google.

[su_note note_color=”#F4f4f4″]These days, Android is an even greater challenger to Windows than OS X and Linux combined. It so happens that Android is essentially a special build of Linux, which is a major reason why this former underdog OS is once again garnering interest.[/su_note]

The Convenience of Smartphone Apps, on a Computer

For all the great new features of Windows 10, many computer users in Apple Valley, Victorville and across the High Desert are getting used to Android-powered devices that rely on flash storage and cloud computing. This means that a disk-based OS such as Windows is no longer as attractive. Some people are waiting for a desktop version of Android, which will probably arrive before the end of the decade; in the meantime, however, many are trying out the Linux OS in their desktops and laptops because of the ability to run Android apps.

Although Microsoft has promised to bring Android apps to Windows 10, this may take some time. Linux users do not have to wait at all; with special emulators, they can install apps from Google Play and run them on their Linux desktops, which means that they can be fully synchronized.

[su_note note_color=”#F4f4f4″]The advent of Windows 10 has not slowed down Linux; in fact, developers in this open source community are learning interesting concepts from Windows 10 that they would like to incorporate into future OS builds.[/su_note]

Don’t Be Intimidated

Trying out Linux in 2016 is not as intimidating as it may have been more than five years ago. If the majority of your files are in the cloud, and if you find yourself working out of your Android tablet or smartphone, there is a good chance that you may enjoy Linux.

[su_note note_color=”#F4f4f4″]If you would like to configure your desktop or laptop into a powerful Linux machine that can run your Android apps, contact A Plus Computer so that we can discuss your options.[/su_note]