Between Linux or Windows which do you think will be first to have a viable OS for quantum computers?

Quantum circuits aren’t general-purpose computers—they’re added to conventional computers to allow them to perform a small handful of algorithms more efficiently. I don’t believe any of those algorithms would benefit the basic features of an operating system enough that it would make sense to modify an OS to require the use of one.

(Although I could totally see Microsoft doing something like only licensing their circuit’s drivers to run on Windows.)

Exactly. If they do ever become a thing, if thats even possible, it would be a special card like a graphics card.
they are effectively GPUs
- QPUs

TempleOS

The real answer.
if we could build one for real, maybe King Terry will still be alive today

I think quantum computers may be impossible. But if they are possible, they will be a USB/PCIe accessory that works alongside an ordinary processor running an ordinary operating system.

I expect Linux will have a driver for quantum computers before Windows.

They literally exist right now.
- The quantum computers that exist can't solve anything that can't be done better and faster by a normal computer.
how can a thing that has existed for years be impossible?
- What exists is a weird engineering experiment that runs some synthetic tests that are designed to return a number that you plot on a graph which you show your investors. And it costs all the money in the world and then some.
  Not only there is no practical use for all that, there are debates about what the practical uses might even be in theory for something that nobody really sure is happening.

neither, you need to have a totally new architecture

Finally we can tell the console people we will have PC 2!

I mean it seems more like a gpu in the sense it would be interacted with from a standard computer.

This is not how this works. One day in the future, when quantum computers have matured enough to do something actually useful instead of just quantum benchmarks, they still will not be general purpose systems.

The situation will be more like video cards at the moment: it would be a subsystem doing something very specialized and limited, being controlled by a driver handing over certain jobs from the OS of the real processor.

I suspect the Linux kernel would support quantum first. Somehow I don’t see a multi billion dollar multinational moving fast enough to beat some caffeine addicted teen looking for street cred.

*nix for sure. No way MS will develop a quantum OS before a *nix variant is out

Your quantum computer will have a device driver, that allows you to use it through your cluster. Just like your SAN.

Honestly neither since we won't have that in a PC sized containment for decades or ever.

To add to what most people are saying here, i also believe that quantum computing will evolve rapidly one day, with new algorithms being developed there is no telling if quantum computing will truly stay niche or specialized and can't be expanded into general purpose computing. as tech is always evolving, i would argue that claiming that quantum processors stay akin to gpu's. gpu's are pretty much a sprecialization of the same stuff that builds a cpu, to my understanding. therefore, there is nothing truly proving that qpu's can't just evolve backwards into a parallel to cpu's. besides, i can see it being favorable to keep only a qpu for most desktop platforms and only optionally a cpu that would be plugged into the equivalent of a pcie slot. that's far fetched, but i also don't think it's too unreasonable.

Quantum computing is a pipe dream, it's never going to happen.

it's happening but it's probably not the thing that you think it is
It’s already happening so… L take?
- No, what is happening is a lot of hot wind is being expelled and the word quantum computing is being thrown around.
  There is nothing actually concrete that has been realized, or will be realized.
  It's a huge fucking investment sham.
  A wonderful idea that should have been pursued, immediately revealed to be garbage, it's never going anywhere.
Just like building flying machines, its impossible.
Just like humans landing on the moon, its impossible.
- Hey I mean it's fun to make snappy comments, but it's a joke. There is no merit to the underlying principles in quantum mechanics, it's a giant shell game, and it's all about investments and the PhD machine. It's all phony, take it from somebody who did 30 years of game development and comp sci. It's fucking nonsense.