Keep hearing about boxing 32 win apps and such. Why not Android OS?

<p><a href="https://www.thurrott.com/forums/microsoft/windows/thread/keep-hearing-about-boxing-32-win-apps-and-such-why-not-android-os#465936&quot; target="_blank"><em>In reply to ianceicys:</em></a></p><p>Maybe. Maybe not.</p><p>Disclaimer: I'm a Linux user for the most part at home. I use Windows at work, but the only software I use which needs to run under Windows is Excel, with a bunch of add-ins which aren't available for the Mac version. In theory it's possible to develop work-alike add-ins for LibreOffice Calc, but that's a wheel with no screaming need for reinvention.</p><p>At the risk of gross oversimplification, Windows users could be split into the following groups: (1) at work, (2) at home doing work, (3) at home doing productive things other than work, (4) creative/artistic, (5) hobby/freelance software development, (6) serious gaming, (7) leisure computing comprising modest games and lots of web browsing.</p><p>IMO, phones and Chrome OS devices are more than adequate for (7), so it's hard to see demand not declining for Windows among those users unless those users want to hedge against (2) and (3). OTOH, it's hard to see Linux (as in Linux desktop environments and package managers rather than Chrome OS's desktop environment and web store) as more appealing for those users.</p><p>For (4), Macs are definitely an alternative, but the number of people willing to embrace Krita, InkScape or the Gimp to be more than a tiny fraction of those who've become familiar with Windows creative/artistic software. (5) would be more or less the same: most people would likely prefer to keep using the tools they've become familiar using, and that means most sticking with Windows (at least those over 40).</p><p>IMO, (1) and (2) will follow whatever their employer's IT department chooses, and inertia means that's going to be Windows for a long time to come. (6) will follow game vendors, and at the moment that's overwhelmingly Windows, and Steam isn't likely to change that.</p><p>That leaves (3) as the group which may have the most to gain from switching to Linux. However, again people don't like change, and they may have a few 10-year-old or older Win32 programs they keep using despite no recent updates. OTOH, wine has become quite good at running Win32 software from developers other than MSFT and Adobe.</p><p>That said, I have my doubts whether Windows has a bright future on servers. Departmental/local file servers, sure because it's insanity to fix what ain't broken. Anything else? VMs may be the best answer, which leads to the question what's the best host OS for lots of VMs.</p>