Windows has taken a significant drop over the years, going from being used by over 90% of people to being dropped down to under 60%

205 points · 45 comments · view on lemmy.world

45 Comments

one_old_coder@piefed.social · 71 pts · 18h (14 replies)

60% is suspiciously low. Most companies use Windows, what is your source?

LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world · 51 pts · 18h (7 replies)

Last time this was posted it came down to many bots run on Linux. Thus if near 60% of all internet traffic is bots. These numbers show nearly nothing of value when it comes to figure out what humans are using anymore.

morto@piefed.social · 18 pts · 15h (3 replies)

The truth is that the data isn't transparent enough, and we have no idea about the causes. Everything is mere speculation

some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 15h (2 replies)

I wish more people would say things like this

daychilde@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 11h (1 reply)

Well, the fact of the matter is that the information provided isn't clear enough with its sources, so we must have doubts about the reasons. All of it is simply throwing shit at the wall to see what will stick.

(If you hadn't said "like this", I would have copypasted it… ;-) )

some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 9h

Yeppers. I just wish people could be more capable to say "we really don't know" instead of jumping to conclusions 🙃

anothermember@feddit.uk · 10 pts · 18h (2 replies)

This chart is for desktops, I imagine most bots aren't running on desktops, right? So if it's counting bots the methodology is wrong.

panda_abyss@lemmy.ca · 29 pts · 17h (1 reply)

They use desktop user agents if they don’t identify themselves with a known bot tag

LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 12h

Yeah, most bots purpose is to spoof what machine and browser they are using for access. So while the many bots are supposed to be spoofing Windows and such, who knows what percentages are getting detected as not. We don't have the data

Kyrias@lemmy.ca · 22 pts · 18h (1 reply)

Last time this, or something like this, was posted it was because fewer and fewer people are using PCs at home. They just have a smartphone or tablet and that's it.

In that case they're not using windows they're using MacOS or Android.

morto@piefed.social · 1 pts · 15h

Every time someone brings this, but that same statcounter site show desktop vs mobile somewhat stabilizing a few years ago, so that's not a plausible explanation for current trends. Also, we they're not transparent about their methods or anything, so we can't really know

Carl@anarchist.nexus · 8 pts · 15h

It’s because of the recent explosion in bot traffic. Bots are largely run on Linux, using basic desktop user agents. So when studies like this look at desktop traffic, they see a disproportionately high number of Linux desktop users. But in reality, the vast majority of those “users” are actually just bad bots and scrapers who aren’t properly flagging themselves as bots (because they know sites will block them for scraping content).

bytepursuits@programming.dev · 5 pts · 18h (2 replies)

this is from statcounter.
I mean - I like the numbers, but I doubt their validity:
https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/desktop/worldwide/#monthly-200901-202608

db_null@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 8 pts · 16h (1 reply)

lol, why post it then?

some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 15h

e n g a g e m e n t

eatCasserole@lemmy.world · 49 pts · 16h (3 replies)

Why is iOS listed under "desktop operating systems"?

BCsven@lemmy.ca · 12 pts · 15h (1 reply)

I assume they are including tablets as desktops

some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 15h

Ugh

ji59@hilariouschaos.com · 2 pts · 15h

It has only slight peek in 2012, maybe it is some iPad or iOS based laptop?

bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works · 19 pts · 18h (8 replies)

Newsflash: desktops are dead. We are absolute dinosaurs. Most people dont have one. They only use a phone.

Source: mostly every normie I know.

RaoulDook@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 17h (1 reply)

Sucks for them if they have to limit their Internet perspective to a shitty little phone screen. I'd still rather be the cool dinosaur with my gaming desktops with big screens and mechanical keyboards.

My kids love gaming on the desktop computers too - that's the Trojan horse (games) that gave me motivation to learn how to use computers in the first place. Gotta learn how to work the computer to get the games to work.

bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 16h

Yep I feel the same.

However, you can plug that little crappy phone into a DEX hub with a KB/mouse/monitor and play witcher 3 which is cool.

Not my jam though. I like to actually own my hardware, and be able to repair it. Something phones will never do.

A lot of it was due to how awful windows is, folks gave up trying to work around all the bullshit and said a phone is easier.

I totally feel you. Something to be said for our era where it took work to make games work and that gave me a baseline of computing knowledge. Kids today play on browser or hit download on steam and it works. Which is fine. But they get 0 learning from it. Hence why Young's are idiots at computers unless parents teach it outright.

morto@piefed.social · 7 pts · 15h (3 replies)

Both cloudflare stats and statcounter show desktops with roughly 46% of the marketshare. This is definitely not dead, definitely not an "absolute dinosaurs" thing.

I wonder why people are like that every time a post like this appears. Too much insecurity, perhaps?

Also, somehow, these days, people tend to act like everything below 50% is absolute zero when it comes to tech

bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 15h (1 reply)

Well, I have 4 desktops myself. And I assume other nerds have multiple, so that may skew it.

I'm not trying to downplay it but I am just stating that desktops largely dont matter and won't matter in 10 years. Show me a 13 year old using a desktop. There aren't any outside of nerd families.

highball@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 12h

Statcounter measures pageviews, not users or machines.

huey_m@piefed.social · 1 pts · 4h

Both cloudflare stats and statcounter show desktops with roughly 46% of the marketshare. This is definitely not dead, definitely not an “absolute dinosaurs” thing.

That would depend on the average age of a desktop owner. If it's all us oldies, I think it still qualifies.

No comment on whether it is true or not, I'm not in touch with trends, just saying that you could maybe find similar rates of ownership of disco records in the 80s, for example, but it was definitely dead as a trend by then...

onlinepersona@programming.dev · 4 pts · 4h

Because desktops are expensive. You people just can't afford them. You need to put at least 1k into the PC then another 200 into the screen, then mouse, keyboard, headset, webcam... They are cheaper off buying a phone.

Young people barely own stuff anymore. Their wealth is historically low as the tech barons, land barons, and so on own everything they want: homes, tech, uni debt, subscriptions, everything. And meanwhile the young are expected to work longer hours for less pay. In certain countries their pay is taxed up to 50%, but a wealthy person doesn't get a salary so they aren't taxed.

Their parents didn't do much better either, but they didn't have it as bad. But it was bad enough that daycare and childcare is fucking expensive, so they shove a phone into the child's face: now the children know phones from a very young age and are also conditioned to buy one asap because it's all they know.

So yeah, I don't blame young people for not owning PCs. Our society has fumbled, is fumbling, and will continue to fumble making it affordable. If we want young people to be more interested in computing beyond telling Claude to write shit for them, we should be worrying about the wealth gap and affordability crisis.

macaw_dean_settle@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 6h

Those people are peasants.

Philippe23@lemmy.ca · 15 pts · 15h (1 reply)

What is the "macOS" that apparently launched in 2025? 🤔

It's been called "macOS" since 2016: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacOS#Timeline_of_releases

grue@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 13h

And more importantly, it's the same thing as OS X. They shouldn't be separate lines.

spitfire@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 8h (2 replies)

And OS X has changed its name to macOS:)

craftrabbit@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 3h (1 reply)

Yes, in 2020, as part of a way to market a regular annual OS update. The distinction between OSX and MacOS makes zero sense here.

craftrabbit@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 3h

Oh nevermind it's 2016 actually

PlaidBaron@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 13h (1 reply)

I choose to believe that one of those 'others' datapoints is my copy of Freedos.

TexasDrunk@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 12h

Freedos and TempleOS

Soleos@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 18h

Market share =/= people

taiyang@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 13h (1 reply)

People who think 60% is too low haven't met a young person in a while, I think... virtually everyone in every class I teach uses Apple computers or tablets; I'm absolutely not surprised that's where most of the change has gone, at least for personal use. (And in the US specifically)

That said, I'd have thought the 30% mac share was earlier than 2010, this suggests that it's more recent? Apple might as well been running a psyop to get young people to use their products since the 90s. I remember when I was in middle school, they "generously" donated a lab full of those colorful iMacs to my school. Seems it might have been the first computer many of my peers had even touched, too.

daychilde@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 11h

People who think 60% is too low haven’t met a young person in a while, I think…

Since last year when it was still around 80%?

The severe drop is probably not permanent, while the gradual downturn probably is.

FreddiesLantern@leminal.space · 7 pts · 16h

I wonder how China ditching ms is gonna look like on this graph.

Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 4h

The fucking file system doesn't even work on windows.

Is delayed enough that is goddamn aggravating. All that fucking stupid onedrive shit, I'm guessing.

Adderbox76@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 14h

Sad that OSX is taking the lions share of that drop, but it's better than nothing, I suppose. One battle at a time. One tiger at a time.

HotsauceHurricane@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 15h (1 reply)

WOOOOO YEAR OF THE LINUX DESKTOP!

Sims@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 14h
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a_non_monotonic_function@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 16h (1 reply)

You can take Temple OS from me when you pry the laptop from my cold, dead hands.

tetrachromacy@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 16h

My body is a temple(os)

HubertManne@piefed.social · 2 pts · 17h

Im surprised honestly because for me apple kinda peaked in 2010ish. I would exect android to be the purple line and ios to be somewhat under it but up there. Not even sure why macos is listed when going from 2009 as I assume that means 9 and before. chrome is sorta wierd to. is that android or like netbooks? This kinda makes no sense.