Wednesday, July 12th 2023
Linux Breaks 3% PC Desktop Market Share After 30 Years
The PC market is dominated by the Windows operating system. There are alternatives, but most commercial applications run Windows OS, and the usage for the average user makes sense. However, Linux users often dream of the "year of Linux on desktop," where Linux starts dominating the PC market and mass adoption starts. In reality, this isn't the case as most people use the default or install the Windows OS. Today, we learn that Linux broke the 3% market share number after 30 years of presence. Being the highest market share it ever recorded, the OSes based on the Linux kernel now represent 3.07% of the entire market.
The survey data conducted by StatCounter shows that Windows holds 68.23%, OS X for macOS holds 21.32, ChromeOS has a 4.13% share, while unknown OSes hold 3.24%. This includes BSD-based alternatives and others. It is worth noting that Linux adoption could be a part of Steam Deck, which runs on a SteamOS 3.0 distribution based on Arch Linux. It also includes a Proton compatibility layer, which helps Windows games run on Linux, so users have an easier time running their favorite applications.
Source:
StatCounter
The survey data conducted by StatCounter shows that Windows holds 68.23%, OS X for macOS holds 21.32, ChromeOS has a 4.13% share, while unknown OSes hold 3.24%. This includes BSD-based alternatives and others. It is worth noting that Linux adoption could be a part of Steam Deck, which runs on a SteamOS 3.0 distribution based on Arch Linux. It also includes a Proton compatibility layer, which helps Windows games run on Linux, so users have an easier time running their favorite applications.
120 Comments on Linux Breaks 3% PC Desktop Market Share After 30 Years
I remember around 15 years ago when I fiddled a little bit with Wine to game under Linux, it was a huge disappointment to me.
I really hope it gets even better so that we don't rely on Microsoft for games and other commercial stuff.
I was sad that I couldn't get used to Steam Deck layout as a device, so I had to sell it eventually, because otherwise it was pretty solid.
Since the data is compiled based on OS advertisement from the web browser, at least some of the Linux share is not Linux. As a FreeBSD user, there are a number of websites that do not work if the advertised OS is not Windows, MacOS, or Linux, so we have to "spoof" our OS and advertise as Linux. Once that setting is made, I'm not going to toggle it on and off. I doubt that makes up a significant amount of the Linux share, but something to keep in mind.
The above stats are in stark contrast to our beloved tech market from early 2000s and before. Windows no longer dominates and app developers have a diverse array of programming environments to choose from.
As an aside, 100% of the top 500 supercomputers have been running Linux for a few years now. Unix and an ill-fated attempt by MS to develop an HPC version of windows are long gone.
Windows has massively regressed in the last 14 years or so and frankly it should be ripe for the picking. Once games widely work on Linux I wouldn't be surprised if it's ultimately game over for Windows, with browser based apps replacing legacy windows installed ones.
That would be the natural evolution.
I for one do not care to rent anything I could previously buy once and use in perpetuity as long as the hardware lasted.
It could be interresting !
But Microsoft is really trying hard to get people to stop using Windows. So maybe it will continue to grow. But personally I've switched to using my MacBook Pro for most things except gaming. Gnome just isn't my cup of tea and it is too opinionated. And KDE was buggy.
Then after an update they reinstall all sorts of ads for applications no one uses because some spyware company (Meta, etc) paid Microsoft to put it there. At least I can disable seeing the out-of-box experience multiple times a year.
It's getting worse with time which is unfortunate because the core of Windows - the hardware and backward compatibility - hasn't been ruined but the idiotic Bing managers running the user experience is ruining Windows as a whole.
listen gui settings to change network config won’t change Linux adoption rates but it does exist, it’s been included for over a decade and is probably easier to access then windows.
But even if it doesn't apply to you it does apply to others. Windows didn't have to make these changes which reduce user experience compared to even Windows 10. But they chose to do so anyway. Because of ad money. Disgusting.
Of course I should consider me a noob today, so the above opinion is probably wrong. Having played with Linux from probably 1999, I abandoned it a few years latter, only occasionally throwing a look at it from time to time, but without the patience to insist with it.
But what I was saying for many many many MANY years is that Linux needs to become just that. LINUX. A simple alternative to Windows. ONE DISTRO. Not in general, but just EVERYONE to push that ONE DISTRO to the public and every other distro to be there, for everyone getting familiar with Linux and thinking to try something more customized to it's needs, go the next step.This is the BIGGEST negative of Linux. It's greatest power and at the same time it's curse.
A gazillion of distros would NEVER work and 20 years latter this seems to be true and in 20 years from now it will remain true if nothing changes.
Above I read thatWell, no. 20 years ago they where saying it. Vista having a negative responce from the public, was seen as a good opportunity for people to swap to Linux. Didn't happened. Windows 8 an even bigger one. Didn't happened. Windows 10, again. Didn't happened.