The Quiet Revolution: GNU/Linux Crosses 6% Desktop Market Share—And It’s Just the Beginning
https://puri.sm/posts/the-quiet-revolution-gnu-linux-crosses-6-desktop-market-share-and-its-just-the-beginning/
789 points · 206 comments · view on lemmy.world
206 Comments
iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works · 180 pts · 347d
Nothing about Linux users is quiet.
I use arch btw
malloc@programming.dev · 38 pts · 347d
I have found myself deep in the Nix and nixOS ecosystem myself.
elvith@feddit.org · 42 pts · 347d
Somehow I feel like mentioning Nix and NixOS is the new 'I use arch btw'.
(No offense, but reading the 'I use arch btw' and then your response right after made me realize this)
pivot_root@lemmy.world · 34 pts · 347d
"I use Nix btw"
Rolls off the tongue in the same way. And, honestly, "I use Arch btw" just isn't the same hipster know-it-all contrarian meme that it used to be. It has a graphical installer now, and a popular retail device (the Steam Deck) comes with a user-friendly derivative of it installed out of the box.
Meanwhile, NixOS has a huge learning curve that's off-putting to most non-technical users and even Linux hobbiests. I mean, really—having to configure everything through a functional programming language masquerading as a configuration file format? That's just the kind of thing that would attract masochists and pedants!
I use Nix btw.
noxypaws@pawb.social · 7 pts · 347d
I just left nixos after about two years, and now on cachyos (arch). nixos is pretty cool in a lot of ways, but trying to stay on the bleeding edge of packages and kernels means living in nixos-unstable land, where broken builds are common. and I just got tired of it all.
chellomere@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 347d
My condolences
pivot_root@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 347d
Fun fact: if you have a Steam Deck, Nix (the package manager) is pretty much the only vendor-approved way to safely install extra packages that aren't otherwise available as a flatpak.
Trying to screw with overlayfs to make pacman usable is/was a thing, and it was a very good way to break the OS install despite it having atomic updates.
DaTingGoBrrr@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 346d
Fun fact: SteamOS comes pre-loaded with Distrobox so you can install whatever packages you want.
pivot_root@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 346d
That's new. Always good to see them add more ways to customize it.
DaTingGoBrrr@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 346d
I think it has been a feature since around 6 months after launch of the Steam Deck but it's not well known and widely used feature.
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 347d
Does Steam Deck not have rpm-ostree (or an arch equivalent since RPM is fedora-specific)?
Needs "pac-ostree" or something...
Also, what about distrobox?
I haven't really tried to do anything package manager-related on my Deck, so I'm going on what I know from Bazzite, but there are several ways to install non-flatpak software on it. In fact, I even installed yay on an Arch distrobox, and I can install things from the AUR (as well as the official repositories).
pivot_root@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 347d
Steam Deck has a custom solution involving an A/B partition scheme of immutable btrfs filesystems and overlayfs for layering changes on top of that.
If there's a way to install containerization software with Flatpak, maybe. Docker isn't available out of the box, though.
You can use pacman, but it's volatile and requires making intentional changes to restore its functionality.
The first option is to disable the read-only flag on the root filesystem, then set pacman back up so it can pull packages. Whenever the root filesystem image is updated, you'll lose the changes, though.
The second option is to add an overlayfs to persist the changes in a different partition or inside a disk image on the writable storage. There was a tool called "rwfus" that did this, and it worked well enough if you were careful. If you ended up upgrading a package that came installed on the base image, though, it would end up breaking the install when the next update came around.
With all the caveats, when Valve made
/nixavailable as a persistent overlay a couple of years ago, I just bit the bullet and learned how to use Nix to install packages withnix-env -i.prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 4 pts · 347d
Huh, interesting. Thanks for the info
Distrobox works really well in Bazzite, in fact I'm currently typing this comment in LibreWolf in a Fedora toolbox because I was getting a weird lag with the flatpak version. You wouldn't even know if you didn't set it up yourself, since it's just an icon on my launcher like any other program. No noticeable overhead whatsoever either.
quarterlife@lemmy.sdf.org · 4 pts · 346d
SteamOS also ships distrobox OOTB now, so you can use this anywhere.
NostraDavid@programming.dev · 9 pts · 347d
NixOS isn't great for non-programmers, I bet, but for programmers it's amazing.
DegenerateSupreme@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 347d
I’m just now starting my degree is software engineering. I’m 31. I’d gotten comfortable enough with Linux that I wanted to try NixOS to avoid having my system get borked again (in my case, KDE Plasma started having shell crashes at log in).
If I was only using NixOS to run a basic computer set up? Sure, no problem. If I want to rice and customize it? No, I wasn’t ready.
supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 347d
To be fair, we have to be that way to push back against the field of inveitability that omnipresent corporate marketing creates in our minds.
The extroverted nerdiness is an effective tool to communally deprogram our rheified way of looking at computers so we can envision a different future.
Scotty_Trees@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 347d
But but Phoronix just told me yesterday that Linux users went dramatically down on Steam from 3% to 2.99%! Almost like this weekly/monthly claim of Linux users "crossing" another imaginary threshold line hold as much value as this comment /s
mesamunefire@piefed.social · 124 pts · 347d
At work, the windows outage spooked management hard. They noticed that our small amout of Linux servers didn't go down. So now they are OK with us using Linux more. After many decades of Windows.
possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 15 pts · 347d
What Windows outage?
AdamBomb@lemmy.sdf.org · 33 pts · 347d
Maybe the CrowdStrike outage last year
mesamunefire@piefed.social · 15 pts · 347d
Yep
possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 347d
That is was a Crowdstike issue not a Windows issue. They have borked Linux updates as well. Microsoft has had their far share of bad updates but none of them were outage level assuming companies properly tested updates.
A lot of these large companies are terrible at multiple levels. It is great to pay premium dollar for junk.
AdamBomb@lemmy.sdf.org · 10 pts · 346d
From my understanding, it's true that CrowdStrike wrote the faulty code and submitted it to Microsoft. Microsoft shares blame in that they didn't properly vet and test the kernel-level patch CrowdStrike had submitted.
possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 346d
Microsoft doesn't vet the code. All code is required to be signed but that is it.
Badabinski@kbin.earth · 3 pts · 347d
Yep, my org had a Falcon sensor outage take out tens of thousands of Linux servers. Fuck Crowdstrike. Also, fuck Windows and fuck Microsoft.
MisterFrog@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 346d
I just wish it could have been longer, and affected my company (it didn't). A day or two off would have gone down a treat
VitoRobles@lemmy.today · 7 pts · 347d
Not certain what others experienced, but in my company, a bad Windows Update knocked out most of our computers for a full day. It was so bad, you can see it in like monthly financial reports when it happened.
It was one of the motivators for why my job dropped Microsoft.
morto@piefed.social · 94 pts · 347d
Installed linux for my brother-in-law and for a professor last month. Both liked it and are probably going to use it insted of moving to win11. I'm doing my part.
inbeesee@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 346d
What distro did you go with?
morto@piefed.social · 6 pts · 346d
Linux mint for my brother-in-law, and debian for my professor, because he said he has an aversion to stuff changing in his computer and wanted something that stayed almost the same in 10 or 20 or years from now and didn't fail him. He seemed enthusiastic with the concept of a distro that focuses on stability and wanted it, even if I said that it's a bit harder to use and recommended linux mint.
goatbeard@beehaw.org · 1 pts · 347d
o7
dormedas@lemmy.dormedas.com · 69 pts · 347d
Hi hello, this is partly me. My bad. I’m not moving to Win11 (by force and by choice) so I installed Arch just to start to get the hang of things and, well, now I’m just daily driving it.
I’ve run distributions in the distant past and toyed with recent ones. I think this one is staying though.
Feels good that when my computer is idle, it’s not busy spouting off telemetry to some server somewhere. I can customize way more than before, and with Proton, I can still play the games I want to.
three@lemmy.zip · 19 pts · 347d
Enjoy linux :)
Enjoy RTFM with arch :)
dormedas@lemmy.dormedas.com · 16 pts · 347d
The arch wiki is shockingly detailed at times. I’m very impressed.
Sxan@piefed.zip · 10 pts · 347d
I like Arch, but honestly the Arch wiki is one of the great contributions made to the Linux community, with value exceeding the distro itself.
Wildmimic@piefed.social · 4 pts · 347d
Hi you, this is me too, didn't want to buy new hardware too just because MS wants me to. i went with Nobara because it liked my Nvidia GPU a lot more than many other distros, and deleted my windows partition after 3 days - i expected it to take a lot longer than that to feel safe doing that, but it just works and i can do more with my PC than i ever could with windows.
We are doing our part :-)
Raptor_007@lemmy.world · 62 pts · 347d
Sunshine@piefed.ca · 24 pts · 347d
One of the hottest pics on the internet ❤️🐧
LeFrog@discuss.tchncs.de · 20 pts · 347d
Please mark this as NSFW ( not safe for Windows)
dajoho@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 347d
WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 347d
a little correction: its not VLC that misses the codec, but the distribution. most distros dont risk distributing hardware acceleration drivers for h264 and a few others because of patents
harsh3466@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 347d
To be clear, flatpaks from flathub. Fedora has their own flatpak repository, and those are not the flatpaks you are looking for.
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 1 pts · 347d
Be aware though, that flatpaks can fill up your drive very quickly. Using something like Warehouse and Flatsweep every now and then to clean things up can free up a shocking amount of space.
Jankatarch@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 347d
I thought this was a book at first glance
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 3 pts · 347d
Welcome!
If you like Fedora and are looking for something gaming focused and stupidly stable, check out Bazzite. It's based on Atomic Fedora
Gullible@sh.itjust.works · 56 pts · 347d
Kids really need to be introduced to Linux earlier. None of this iPad baby shit.
fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net · 35 pts · 347d
Get them a raspberry Pi or equivalent for Christmas and teach them how to run a Minecraft server on it
possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 347d
Necessity is the breeder of invention
I cringe at parents who build there kids gaming PCs. They should just give their kids "junk" and let them figure it out.
fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net · 5 pts · 346d
I mean a gaming PC is awesome but getting some old garage sales PC and spending an afternoon and showing them how to build a website would be awesome.
grue@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 347d
Specifically, kids ought to be using Raspberry Pis. Linux + a bunch of other stuff designed to help them learn about computers, including an actual goddamn book ("Raspberry Pi Beginners Guide") if you buy a Raspberry Pi 500 (the built-into-a-keyboard version).
QuadDamage@kbin.earth · 10 pts · 347d
Raspberry Pis these days are overpriced, a cheaper mini PC/old Optiplex will do fine.
Gullible@sh.itjust.works · 8 pts · 347d
Used enterprise minis are dirt cheap. The only downside is that they guzzle electricity compared to a low spec pi, but they can do much more, so don’t be afraid to give them additional tasks.
Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe · 12 pts · 347d
My Dell SFF uses close to the same power as my Pi, once you start doing anything with the Pi (like swap to an SSD instead of an SD card). Pi idle: 8w. Dell SFF: 12w. Neither one show up on my power bill. Both of those are less than a single LED light bulb.
Pi is great on power at idle, with nothing else going on. But it can't convert videos at a reasonable pace, doesn't come in a case with mounts, extra power, etc.
Don't get me wrong, Pi is great, it's been fun tinkering with it, a great learning tool. But it's hard to compete with a mini or SFF on a capability-per-watt basis or physical capability (standard brackets, expansion, etc).
freebee@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 347d
Those are heavy LED bulbs you got there at 12W or more. Typically LED bulb is only like 3 - 5 W??
possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 347d
Honestly they don't burn that much power but it will depend on the CPU
grue@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 347d
Mini PCs / old Optiplexes don't have built-in GPIO and a huge database of kid-friendly projects to do with them.
It's that software and community and hacker ethos built into the design that makes the difference, not the performance specs of the hardware. The point is "facilitating kids learning about computing," not merely "being a desktop computer."
I mean, I guess you could install Raspberry Pi OS on a PC and add a GPIO breakout board (like this or this) to try to replicate the pedagogical experience of a Raspberry Pi without the "overpriced" hardware, but it's not going to be nearly as straightforward as just using a real Pi.
QuadDamage@kbin.earth · 4 pts · 346d
Good point.
possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 347d
I personally wouldn't buy a Raspberry Pi. Instead, give them a old computer and say "have at it"
grue@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 347d
See my other reply expanding on why Raspberry Pi specifically.
Otherwise, while your strategy worked when I was a kid -- back in the DOS/early Windows days we had to actually figure out how stuff really worked out of necessity, and often without help from the Internet because we weren't online yet -- those days are gone. The expectations of easiness are too high now, and kids would just get frustrated and bitch about wanting to go back to a "just works" tablet or phone instead. They really need some additional killer feature to be excited about, that they can't get with a generic device running a web browser, in order to be motivated to explore.
My kids have Raspberry Pi 400s but are too young to get into reading the guide book that came with them yet, so even under (what I consider to be) those ideal circumstances they mostly ignore all the local software and just try to play the web-based games they found out about from school. 😕
In other words, even a Raspberry Pi isn't a guarantee of fostering real computer literacy, but I still think it gives the best chance (better than a generic old PC, and way better than a consumption-oriented tablet/phone).
possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 347d
Don't take this the wrong way but sound like a grumpy old millennial.
You don't need DOS or a Raspberry pi to learn tech. What you need is the right mindset and a desire to tinker. If your kid is "bitching" they simply don't care to learn about tech. Don't force it down their throat as that is not going to end well.
They are interested they will learn by simply tinkering and playing around. You should avoid giving them guidance as that doesn't teach critical thinking. Let them figure out how to do whatever. It might be improving the frame rate in Minecraft or it could be doing some sort of programming project. It could even end up being desktop customization or digital art.
I also think it is perfectly reasonable to tinker with a mobile device or tablet. You can do all sorts of things especially with some of the apps from F-droid such as Termux.
Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafe · 13 pts · 347d
Oh hell yes get them off these crappy mobile devices
Lemminary@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 347d
Yup, every time my niece and nephew come over I show them how awesome my desktop is! They also use my laptop but I want them to know what a proper PC can do.
Next up is showing them that the files they download don't just magically disappear into the ether on their device.
possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 347d
I think mobile devices aren't all bad.
Honestly the biggest issue is the exposure to marketing
WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 347d
The biggest issue is the surveillance capitalism, monopolization, and walled gardens/firmware that prevent linux mobile options from becoming a viable alternative.
possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 0 pts · 347d
Android is perfectly fine. I've even seen people do crazy things with iOS.
Kids will use whatever they have available if they have the right mindset. You can do some crazy things on mobile.
possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 347d
Honestly I think we need more open less harmful mobile platforms. Mobile devices are perfectly fine but the ads and tracking can be a very serious problem.
Gullible@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 347d
You’re describing a sturdy tablet running Linux. Speaking of which, I just remembered the worst gift I have ever been given, a gen1 windows surface! The sack of shit couldn’t even run windows, the OS it was designed for, without freezing. Gonna see if I can dig it out and swap the OS!
possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 347d
Linux sucks on mobile
I wish it didn't but in 2025 that is the state of things
Gullible@sh.itjust.works · -1 pts · 347d
And it seems like android sucks on there as well. Damn.
possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 346d
It is far better than anything else.
It isn't ideal what Google is doing. However, Lineage OS and other ROMs are keeping the ecosystem alive. We also have F-droid which is great.
Gullible@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 346d
Eh, it’s just not worth the effort to get a tablet that will still run poorly even after poring over half deleted xda threads. Were there any chance that the original surface running another OS could be useful, I’d do it. But it’d be a poor experience no matter what, based on what I’ve read.
BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 347d
Me: Junior! Did you hack a Gibson???
5yo: Maaayyybe...
Joeffect@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 347d
I mean technically its linux
grue@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 347d
iPads are technically BSD, not Linux.
pivot_root@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 347d
Don't forget the Mach heritage! Darwin is the mutt of kernels.
Successful_Try543@feddit.org · 7 pts · 347d
Technically, Android is Linux (but not GNU/Linux), but as @grue@lemmy.world mentioned, i(Pad)OS is based on BSD ("Darwin"), a UNIX derivate.
Both are unixoid systems.
possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 347d
Termux
gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de · 55 pts · 347d
https://endof10.org/
Support for Windows 10 ends on October 14, 2025.
Microsoft wants you to buy a new computer.
But what if you could make your current one fast and secure again?
SourGumGum@lemmy.world · 43 pts · 347d
Is this the century of Linux?
Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 14 pts · 347d
That could actually be a reasonable view, considering Windows has fallen off since the late 90's or early 00's, depending on what version you draw the line on.
namingthingsiseasy@programming.dev · 11 pts · 347d
To be fair, it is pretty hard to keep increasing your market share when you get closer and closer to 100%.
But yes, 2000 or XP was the last respectable version of Windows. Maybe Win7, but I never used it.
0x0@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 346d
Generally it's a sine wave: XP SP3 good, Vista bad, 7 good, 8 bad, 10 good-ish, 11... nevermind.
tempest@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 347d
Windows is falling off because they missed the mobile boat.
Most people never needed a full computer. All they do is consume and a phone and iPad is more than enough for that.
The desktop market is shrinking and the steam deck is pumping Linux numbers in an increasingly smaller pond.
twice_hatch@midwest.social · 2 pts · 346d
yeah that's the sad truth. I was watching a video yesterday about like "All creators should be on YouTube" because Instagram, Twitter, etc., will open your Patreon link logged-out in a WebView....
I'm the only one watching videos on a desktop I guess
Damage@feddit.it · 41 pts · 347d
My gamer Brother-in-law asked me about Linux gaming. Until a few years ago he was all like "Windows is super!".
traceur201@piefed.social · 40 pts · 347d
I recently wiped my 10yr running windows install that had all manner of shady hacks applied over the years to basically lobotomize it, after a hardware upgrade. As I was wiping I was largely intending to create another "lobotomized" win10 install as the second install on dual boot, but windows on top of everything is known for breaking dual boot. Working around sheer hostility at every level, and for what? Basically just to play pirated games since steam games work on Linux now. I never bothered trying to prop it back up and have been only better off for it
Genius@lemmy.zip · 20 pts · 347d
You can use Lutris to play pirated games on Linux
Hond@piefed.social · 11 pts · 347d
I was dualbooting of two seperate nvme drives for each os. Worked pretty well for almost a year until i distro hopped. But for some reason my windows boot partition was located on my linux drive which i purged entirely while installing the new OS. Because why would be there any windows component on my linux drive, right?
Recreating the windows boot partition on the correct drive was more complicated than anything i ever encountered on linux so far. Took like 5 hours and funnily enough was only doable via a terminal.
Also there isnt a reason left for me to put up with microsofts bullshit. A few weeks ago i got a racing game with VR and wheel support running in an afternoon. The title is even abandonware so i had to grab some repack with a windows only installer.
WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 347d
that's strange, what filesystem was that? windows cannot handle linux filesystems, by itself.
wasn't that /boot/efi? if so windows uses that too, it's a designated fat32 partition for uefi bootables.
Hond@piefed.social · 5 pts · 347d
Uuh, could have been /boot/efi ? I dont know anymore. It was a few weeks ago and in an adhd induced rush to fix that problem now and now was until 3am.
cm0002@piefed.world · 27 pts · 347d
Do I dare say it?
fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net · 27 pts · 347d
YEAR
Barbarian@sh.itjust.works · 25 pts · 347d
Of?
fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net · 25 pts · 347d
THE
threeonefour@piefed.ca · 36 pts · 347d
SNAKE 🐍
Barbarian@sh.itjust.works · 25 pts · 347d
DESKTOP! Wait, snake desktop? How'd that get in the script?
technohacker@programming.dev · 18 pts · 347d
Hisssssss
fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net · 14 pts · 347d
Lemminary@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 347d
Goodbye
namingthingsiseasy@programming.dev · 6 pts · 347d
Badgers Badgers Badgers Badgers
drmoose@lemmy.world · 25 pts · 347d
All my extended family has been converted to linux because all they need is a browser, libre office and rustdesk for me to tech support them. The only issue is still printers but tbh they are equally awful on all platforms these days.
Sunshine@piefed.ca · 15 pts · 347d
I thought Linux had decent printer support compared to windows.
Zink@programming.dev · 11 pts · 347d
It does, in my experience. At least in Linux Mint.
At home, my old Brother laser is tucked off in a far corner of the house connected to wifi, and my wired home PC as well as my wifi work laptop both see it and can print to it just fine.
At work even those big printers show up and function.
NeilBru@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 347d
Kubuntu LTS works pretty damn near out-of-the-box as well.
Zink@programming.dev · 1 pts · 346d
Mint is based on ubuntu so that makes sense to me!
_donnadie_@feddit.cl · 2 pts · 346d
Depends on the brand really. Some like HP and Epson haven't worked as good in my own experience compared to Brother.
schnurrito@discuss.tchncs.de · 2 pts · 346d
I think they are comparable in that regard honestly?
Printer manufacturers obviously try their best to make their printers work well with Windows.
Printer support on Linux is provided by CUPS, which is developed by Apple. Apple wants its Mac (and maybe also iPhone and iPad?) customers to have good printer support, so they try their best to make CUPS work well.
Alaknar@sopuli.xyz · 4 pts · 346d
As a guy who's worked in IT for around 20 years: LOL.
hayvan@feddit.nl · 1 pts · 346d
Decent printers yes, some demons from ninth circle of hell somehow are more problematic on anything non-windows.
gnufuu@infosec.pub · 5 pts · 346d
What a rude way to invoke cupsd
herseycokguzelolacak@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 347d
I did not know about rustdesk. It looks to be very promising, I will give it a try!
carotte@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 23 pts · 347d
The Quiet Revolution?
is this implying that windows is catholicism and we’re mass secularizing our computers?
cause hell yea
Yerbouti@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 347d
I thought the quiet revolution was a specific thing to Quebec.
BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 347d
Otherwise it’s just Sparkling Nonverbal Civil Disobedience.
stevedice@sh.itjust.works · 19 pts · 346d
Is Linux desktop marketshare increasing or is desktop marketshare decreasing as a whole, though?
God damn it. This is how you scare people away from Linux.
fading_person@lemmy.zip · 9 pts · 346d
Linux market share is increasing even in the charts with all OSes, desktop and mobile.
StopSpazzing@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 346d
Yes
ClassyHatter@sopuli.xyz · 19 pts · 347d
Once again, someone misreports the number. It's not 6% of desktop OS market share. It's 6% of all OS market share. There's about 50-50 split between desktop and mobile OSes, which means the correct desktop market share of Linux, according to that site, is 12%.
Ferk@programming.dev · 12 pts · 347d
source: https://analytics.usa.gov/
This is the result currently (last 7 days):
If we exclude Android and iOS (which make for 29.6 + 15.9 = 45.5%), then the contribution of each of the others would increase (by 100/45.5 = 2.19), leading to 11.388% (5.2 * 2.19).
Zink@programming.dev · 5 pts · 347d
Linux being in double digits: you love to see it
Windows 2000 having a larger market share than 8: you also love to see it, lol. I had some fun years where I was mostly using UNIX for school stuff and Win2k for games.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 347d
thanks for the breakdown. i was going to ask if they were counting android as linux and using other shoddy methodologies, but this looks good to me
jsomae@lemmy.ml · 14 pts · 347d
Who is using Linux, though? Like, 6% (or 11.3% as others have pointed out) means tens or hundreds of millions of people. But where are they?
How do we know these numbers indicate real people?
TeddE@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 346d
I've been advocating for Linux for decades. People who have historically just dismissed me have been trying and many have converted.
Also (credit where it's due) behind the scenes Valve has been greasing the wheels on a transition to Linux gaming … which has quite often been the biggest fiction point in the past.
I'vs seen several content creators outside the traditional Linux bubble try Linux, notably including PewDiePie.
Copilot has shaken many small businesses out of complacency, often into modern self-hosted turn-key Linux solutions.
I have friends on Windows 10 who tell me they will not move to 11 - they're hoping Microsoft folds, but they're beginning to build a Linux-shaped parachute.
herseycokguzelolacak@lemmy.ml · 12 pts · 347d
My parents, both of whom are 70+, are using Linux laptops. I installed it for them.
AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.net · 8 pts · 346d
Algleymir@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 347d
Hi, I'm here. Been using Linux Desktop for years, not solely nor religiously, since I usually have more than one machines at a time. Work, personal, family and such.
Also, does it exactly matter? Hundred of thousands, millions probably, of devices run Windows and they're not desktop machines. Think info screens, ATMs, Kiosk devices, Industrial Machines and the list goes on.
jsomae@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 347d
It doesn't surprise me that someone (a) on lemmy and (b) in the Linux community would respond with this comment though. But the number of people on lemmy is only a few digits.
It does matter -- when I think "Desktop Market Share," I'm already excluding the type of windows devices you just mentioned.
Algleymir@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 346d
I mean you asked. There is nothing special about me, I'm not a basement dweller, I have a job and a family, pay taxes and whatever. I'm not in the US if that matters. And I prefer to use other operating systems than windows or macos.
jsomae@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 346d
I know, I know. I appreciate your response. But it's just an anecdote, not really a broad answer IMO.
MrEff@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 346d
I use windows and have been since I was a kid in a very computer savvy home. Build my first computer at 8 or 9 years old with surplus 80's parts, ISO slots and all. First OS install was dos with a shell GUI and have had every major windows iteration starting g with 3.1 and up. Of the more modern ones that followed the windows 95 esthetic, I loved windows 2000 pro, hated xp, then loved 7 pro, hated 8, and accepted windows 8.1. When it came to windows 10 I was already getting frustrated with the excessive bloat and OS level Spyware. Now with eindows 11 BIOS level Spyware and so much bloat even the most modern CPUs lag, this is now a bridge too far for me. I will not be upgrading to 11 and will instead be jumping over to Linux. I played around with Linux in the 2000's and a bit with server stuff, but never took it seriously as a desktop replacement OS until now.
So who are the 'real' people switching over? People like me. I don't work in IT. 99% of my computer usage is for things I can do through a web browser, office suit, or gaming through steam, all of which is now very accessible through Linux. If this was Linux from 10 or 15 years ago, I don't think you would have seen the shift happen, but where it is at now is more accessible for the common user than ever before.
ThisGuyThat@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 346d
I've been using it for over 2 decades as a main OS. I loathe using windows now. Their ads, including web results, and privacy issues. It's just become cumbersome. You have multiple choices of desktop environments in linux. Don't like your current DE? Switch to another gnome, kde, cinnimon, mint, etc. You need a program? Install it from the package manager. Remote mount a drive? sure, you don't have to jump through hoops like windows.
W3dd1e@lemmy.zip · 13 pts · 346d
The year of Linux is finally here. Let’s go!
Harbinger01173430@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 347d
I use Ubuntu btw in my old and new computers.
Fuck You, Macrohard
BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 347d
Canonical is rather evil these days. They aren’t anywhere near Murdersoft levels of evil, but there are still more ethical options.
Evotech@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 347d
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good
Harbinger01173430@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 346d
I don't care about any of that shit.
As long as my PC works out of the box and it's the default distro with most support, I'll use it
BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 346d
Debian is love. It sounds like you need more love in your life.
Harbinger01173430@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 346d
Uwuntu ftw!
Uwu
VitoRobles@lemmy.today · 5 pts · 347d
It took a long time, but my company is fully off Windows.
Most of our workstations are on Linux. Unfortunately, the programmers and designers are still on Mac.
thingsiplay@beehaw.org · 13 pts · 347d
I understand why Android is not counted as GNU/Linux desktop, but why is ChromeOS not counted as such?
Truscape@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 36 pts · 347d
1: It's being phased out by google, to be replaced with Android.
2: ChromeOS, unless being dualbooted with another, more full-fledged operating system, is little more than a web interface.
Fizz@lemmy.nz · 15 pts · 347d
I think the reason is because chromeOS is not open source and goes against the ethos of what people consider a linux distro. ChromeOS markets itself as its own standalone thing. "linux" as we refer to it is more than just a kernel otherwise we'd count pretty much everything as Linux.
thingsiplay@beehaw.org · 8 pts · 347d
Even if its mostly a web interface, the underlying technology is a GNU/Linux desktop and can run native Linux applications.
henfredemars@infosec.pub · 14 pts · 347d
ChromeOS barely uses GNU and specifically goes out of its way to use alternatives to GNU wherever possible. It doesn't use the GNU C library, doesn't use the GNU compiler collection. Is it GNU/Linux? Maybe, just barely. Most the GNU stuff is relegated to containers.
No strong feelings either way, but I think there's a point to be made about their avoidance of GNU tooling.
grue@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 347d
It's not GNU enough.
Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 346d
Android is not GNU, full stop. It's not about "enough". GNU isn't something one can do partially.
Android is uses some GNU tools but so does Mac OS. Neither are consider GNU.
Even Windows has GNU tools but no one would say it's not GNU enough.
morto@piefed.social · 6 pts · 347d
I think the reason is much simpler. Browsers on chromeos use a different user agent than when running on linux distros and then it gets counted as a separate category. I don't know for the first source linked, but statcounter uses data from user agent strings.
thingsiplay@beehaw.org · -1 pts · 347d
The point is, if they know its ChromeOS, why don't the put it into the general Linux category? Like all Windows versions are counted as one Windows entry. I mean if Windows 2000 is in the same stats as Windows 11, then you have to include ChromeOS as Linux.
I also wonder if any Steam Deck user browsing in desktop mode had any impact on these data.
Feathercrown@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 347d
I mean they don't have to do anything. Chrome OS is pretty distinct from a typical Linux distro; I prefer having it separated out like this for stats purposes
possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 347d
Chrome OS is its own beast. It is closer to Android under the hood.
HubertManne@piefed.social · 12 pts · 347d
Its honestly one of the easiest things people can do to reject the messed up corporate dystopia we have. Especially if you do it with both computers and phones.
fading_person@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 346d
And not only an easy thing to do, but something that bothers the big tech a lot! If it didn't bother, they wouldn't care to invest so much in making it harder for us, and if it bothers them, it means we're on the right track.
grrgyle@slrpnk.net · 12 pts · 346d
🐧🌊
Sunshine@piefed.ca · 9 pts · 346d
Antarctica rises!
Sunshine@piefed.ca · 12 pts · 347d
What a handsome bovine!
Electricd@lemmybefree.net · 12 pts · 347d
*For the USA government only
pot_belly_mole@slrpnk.net · 9 pts · 346d
I love to cheer for linux (Fedora user here 😎) but the math and logic in the blog post is off. Firstly, the linux desktop-share for US government websites is much higher, because to calculate it, you have to exclude iOS and Android. But then again, the data may be skewed and linux-users may just be much more prominent visitors of US government websites. I think this sounds credible as many linux users are technically apt and active citizens.
Nevertheless, if the trend is true it is encouraging! Cannot verify because analytics.usa.gov only provides data a calendar year into the past by default and I can't be bothered to get an api key to see if more can be fetched.
The real desktop linux share for the last 30 days can be calculated:
zaemz@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 346d
So that's 13% of desktop users being on Linux. That's much more than I anticipated.
illusionist@lemmy.zip · 7 pts · 346d
If the average tech nerd uses linux and uses two computers every day and the average non tech nerd has only one device and uses his computer only once a week.
Could this distort such a usage report?
xvertigox@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 346d
Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 346d
Or 1 tech need has containerised 100,000 instances of Linux and is turning them on and off.
Yerbouti@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 347d
The next revolution will be digitalized.
ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online · 6 pts · 347d
I am on linux mint on both my laptop and my desktop. I only need my phone to be degoogled and I will be all set.
Sunshine@piefed.ca · 3 pts · 347d
Check out the supported device lists of Graphene OS, Postmarket OS and Ubuntu Touch.
lmuel@sopuli.xyz · 4 pts · 347d
As a long time Ubuntu touch supporter and tester, I unfortunately have to say that it simply isn't ready for a lot of users at the moment :(
Even if you're willing to put up with most of its shortcomings, VoLTE device support is extremely limited.
But don't get me wrong, I REALLY want this stuff to be the future, I think it just needs a bit more time.
ArmchairAce1944@discuss.online · 1 pts · 347d
Yes. I wanted to do that, but when my last phone broke it was a damn emergency. I was distrustful of phone protection because I remember getting a phone that was armored up in a case and had a tempered glass screen but... it once (first time) fell flat from my shirt pocket onto the ground flat on its front screen and it immediately went black. I had it fixed. New screen, new protector, but the protector made it possible to plug it into charge... so I had to remove it in and out of the case to do so, but the screen was broken from the pressing (like fucking how? A new changed screen AND another tempered glass cover and it was still broken just a stronger finger press?) It just kept breaking. I then refused to use protection for years after that.
But the new one I got? I think it is protection that actually works.
I got a Samsung S23. Before I get a new phone I need to remove 2fa from a lot of shit so they dont have my new phone.
I want to ask a hell of a lot more questions about this, but later.
fading_person@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 346d
My advice is to always go in short steps, proving the ground and getting to know the alternatives. I'd recommend installing f-droid and having fun testing all the free apps you can, removing google stuff one by one, then, after feeling comfortable, trying a custom rom, and when you eventually need a new phone, looking for a model more friendly to degoogling.
lmuel@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 347d
grrgyle@slrpnk.net · 5 pts · 346d
Penguin wave
tim@infosec.pub · 5 pts · 346d
I'm already using Debian 13 on my work PC. It's a self-issued work PC, but still.
markstos@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 347d
5% is 1-20 users.
I doubt in my city that 1 in 20 people are using desktop Linux, which means there must be higher concentrations somewhere else, maybe in some corporate fleets or university labs.
So where are the big concentrations of desktop Linux in the US? I’m not hearing more stories of big migrations happening outside of ChromeOS.
drmoose@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 347d
Steamdeck and other linux gaming consoles maybe?
herseycokguzelolacak@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 346d
Steamdeck is great, but there are not enough of them to change statistics like this.
markstos@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 346d
I think that’s part of it.
fading_person@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 347d
So, if we consider a classroom, it's roughly 1 or 2 students using linux in each class. I don't think it's too far off from real life experience.
herseycokguzelolacak@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 347d
Linux usage is very non-uniform. I think the important clusters are:
ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 346d
People fed up with windows' shit
Privacy advocates
[Coming Soon] People who can't upgrade to 11 due to hardware who can't afford a new PC.
VITecNet@programming.dev · 1 pts · 346d
They'll stay in Windows 10 and ignore security risks.
ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 346d
Some, and some will learn a better way. And the more the poor security starts to affect people, the more will either bite the bullet and upgrade, or switch. And switching becomes more likely if they know someone else in one of the above categories, too.
Vanilla_PuddinFudge@infosec.pub · 3 pts · 346d
I wonder if it isn't still just a piss in the wind. All Microsoft has to do is require something propretary and the US government and their customers will just roll it out. I don't fee like we have the ability to choose with our wallets anymore. If they can't win fairly, Microsoft will cheat and collude with other companies to make them your only option.
SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org · 2 pts · 346d
That is what they have always done. Embrace, extend, extinguish.
Alaknar@sopuli.xyz · 0 pts · 346d
Jesus, way to advertise your age, dude. This hasn't been the case for over 20 years. MS was the largest contributor to the Linux repos in around 2010 resulting in WSL. Nothing got extinguished, but we got a bunch of nice compatibility layers from it, not to mention people trying it out and then switching full-time to Linux.
hoppolito@mander.xyz · 2 pts · 346d
embrace
Alaknar@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 346d
Buddy, it's been 15 years...
elvith@feddit.org · 2 pts · 347d
It is Setting Orange 26 Bureaucracy 3191 YOLD (Year Of the Linux Desktop)
vivalapivo@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 346d
While gaming is still 2.64%, meaning that the Chromebooks and discounted PCs without windows contribute massively to the stat
BCsven@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 346d
Is gaming stat based on steam survey? If so that shows wild variation, and also has a flawed metric collection. From a steam article they measure your game play of a title during the first 2 weeks of purchase, so if you dualboort and play more time on Windows for that period, that is the stat, negating if you then played months or years on Linux after it.
Statcounter has an other category, and when Linux drops or raises % there is a symmetrically opposite change in the Other %. To me this Other probably includes the machines you mention.
QuadDamage@kbin.earth · -7 pts · 347d
Very nice to see, only worry is that Linux will get enshittified (primarily by the GNOME people).
whosepoopisonmybutt@sh.itjust.works · 17 pts · 347d
Is it even possible for Linux to get enshitified? Wouldn't the open source community just go back and fork from before the enshitification began? Surely, enshitified versions could be made but people would simply not use them unless there was some proprietary component they wanted.
traceur201@piefed.social · 10 pts · 347d
If there were a single corporate controlled entry point all these people were funneling into there would be posential for enshittification. Even if a single free vertically integrated project like debian suddenly had the majority of all PC users it would probably be impossible for them to avoid the corruption of money. But the linux ecosystem appears to currently be growing in a manner that preserves its diversity and organic nature and thus seems able to remain quite healthy in doing so
BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 347d
Embrace, extend, extinguish.
I would be incredibly weary if someone like Meta, Google, or Microsoft started their own distro. Make a solid distro with lots of bells and whistles few distros have, pre-install it on the hottest gear, poach the best devs away from open-source projects, exert more and more influence over kernel development, wait for a majority to get locked in and then start making parts of the OS proprietary so open-source can't keep up, and the dominoes fall from there.
QuadDamage@kbin.earth · 2 pts · 346d
Obviously not blatant money/data harvesting like with big tech companies, but corporate strong-arming has been done on Linux (systemD) and can be done again. Granted it's much harder on Linux (in the case of my SystemD example there are distros like Void or Artix) but there is still a risk imo.
DmMacniel@feddit.org · 12 pts · 347d
Oh no! An opionated desktop environment, what should we do?!
QuadDamage@kbin.earth · 2 pts · 346d
In the case of GNOME they take their whole toolkit with them. Obviously you can switch DEs but it's still sad and annoying to see. From 5 years ago but still holds up: https://ubuntu-mate.community/t/horrible-gtk3-gnome-ui-design-is-leaking-into-ubuntu-mate-applications-in-20-04/22028/58.
Hexagon@feddit.it · -1 pts · 347d
The problem is that they have bad opinions. Very, very bad ones
clot27@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 347d
The fix is on most of the distros you can switch easily without losing data
DmMacniel@feddit.org · 3 pts · 347d
And which would that be?
Hexagon@feddit.it · 3 pts · 347d
Warning: long read
https://woltman.com/gnome-bad/
AdamBomb@lemmy.sdf.org · 3 pts · 346d
Speaking as someone who never used Gnome, has only ever used Cinnamon, I was recently shopping for distros to try on an old work laptop. My only real awareness of Gnome was via the Gnome Terminal that ships with Linux Mint, which I've replaced with Konsole because Gnome Terminal has really minimal functionality and feels like Baby's First Terminal. I browsed the Gnome org's website to try to see why I should choose Gnome, in their words. I noped out as soon as they started trying to sell Gnome as being a phone-like experience on my desktop. This article confirms that that instinct was correct. It was both tragically hilarious and informative. Thanks for sharing!
DmMacniel@feddit.org · 0 pts · 347d
okay finished, as the first sentence literally said that the writer doesn't care, and why should I?
Kimplul@programming.dev · 4 pts · 347d
"don't care for" is just a polite way to say "don't like". The author does care, at least enough to write a fairly lengthy blog post, they just don't like Gnome and expressed in in a somewhat dated manner. You of course don't have to care, and as the blog says, if you like Gnome, you do you.
Out of curiosity, was there anything in the post that resonated with you? "Oh yeah, that could be better" or "that does annoy me", something along those lines?
DmMacniel@feddit.org · 2 pts · 347d
There are only two things that resonate with me/that annoys me.
What do I mean with that? Take a look at the outdated tour section. The tour nowadays says not just super key, but super (windows) key. And you use that key to open up overview. The next screen tells about how to type anywhere when you in the overview. The author tries to play dumb and writes that writing anywhere on the tour doesn't do anything. The user was literally told how to access the overview 1 second ago! The only good thing about that section is, that yes gnome-tour should detect when there is a touchscreen device so instead of offering the super (windows) key way it should offer the gesture way.
Then another one in the "Double-click to Maximize: Challange Mode". The user could just rightclick and then choose Maximize. Or double click on the Files text. Why Gnome and derivatives (looking at you ElementaryOS) choose to hide Minimize and Maximize from Window Controls I don't know, but its okay, as I just drag the Window to the border or use the double/right click or use Super Arrow Keys to manage my windows.
Then another one when it comes to the Display settings. The author fails to play dumb and immediately knows what those Rotation Icons mean on the KDE settingspage, maybe because their Screen has a stand (mine does not its mounted). So why do they give gnome flack for using text? Landscape is Landscape mode, everyone knows how that looks like. Portrait Left / Right. Yeah I guess the author never hold a Phone or a Photo in their hand?
I could go on and on... but I don't wanna.
ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net · 12 pts · 347d
The gnome people have no profit motive to encourage enshittification.
Gnome 3 was sluggish when it came out, but it's perfectly fine nowadays. Just avoid it if you don't like the workflow.
Bluewing@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 347d
I don't and I do. Cinnamon is a better Gnome experience now.
vga@sopuli.xyz · 6 pts · 347d
Fortunately on Linux you can easily switch to another shit
Sxan@piefed.zip · 0 pts · 347d
You misspelled "systemd".
QuadDamage@kbin.earth · 2 pts · 346d
Just mentioned SystemD in another post of mine.