And still we’re at 4% market share. They don’t seem to be doing a very good job.
Obviously, it's Microsoft what did you expect? A job well done?
Its 3.88%, not 4%.
But I think we are hitting 4% quite soon.
https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/desktop/worldwide/
When i first got here we hadn't even hit 1% yet. Open source scares Microsoft because if they fuck up they are done but we have a million distributions with a million different mutations its perfect evolution we cannot get worse only better.
Oh, it can get worse. If Windows market share should really plummet, it won't be replaced by a heterogenous distro utopia but some company like Canonical or Red Hat or a new one will get their distribution to fill the gap. And call me a cynic but I doubt this will be immune to enshittification.
But even that scenario is better than what we have with Microsoft and Apple. The FOSS world would still benefit like it does from the Steam Deck developments.
Thats a very cool perspective. I hadnt considered this. Everyone seems to be hating on linux‘s fracturization but it does remind me of evolution now that you mention it.
Not the best job, but I guarantee it’s having an effect.
I say this as someone who finally gave Linux another chance about a month ago (due to annoyances with Microsoft) and it’s going really well!
Even a noob like me can just install KDE and learn a few “launch through steam” tricks and I’ve had very minimal issues!
I think a lot of the casuals like me still think Linux is all terminals and command lines, but it’s clear it doesn’t have to be now. And Microsoft’s campaign is what pushed me to come look again!
Market share is going to be a pretty bad metric for this kind of thing because businesses and government are going to stick with even old ass windowsnl installs long after any normal user would have at least upgraded, if not moved to Linux.
Just in my office alone there's got to be at least 50 PCs running windows, and I bet half of the people here don't even have a machine at home, so that's 75 PCs or so amongst just me and my co-workers, and even if every assumed worker went Linux today we'd still be at over 50% windows market share of people who work at my office.
So like, unless multiple businesses and governments that have shown to not care already suddenly decide to were never going to see 50% adoption
Unless we stop including businesses and similar in that share stat.
You may be right, but I think, that in the long term it is possible for Linux to overcome Windows in market share. Also,Germany(the Government of Schleswig Hstein to be Accurate) recently decided on switching to Linux and other Foss Software for their offices. This means, 30.000 workers not using Microsofts bullshit.
I guess a better metric might be the Steam Hardware Survey?
And rising
You must be joking. 4% is kind of huge. We are talking about hundreds of thousands of users
And it's been less than a year since we passed the 3% mark. Linux adoption is accelerating rapidly, and that's only going to increase as its market share continues to grow and more vendors start supporting it.
It's more than that, this is why such a small percent number can be so misleading. There are billions of computers active in the world, even if we limit ourselves to only desktops and laptops, nearly half a billion personal computers are made and sold each year (Lenovo alone sells over 80 million every year). Under 4% we are talking about roughly a hundred million devices running Linux desktop.
We aren't at 4% yet. Linux is currently sitting at about 3.88%. Its not that far till 4%,but it still isn't 4%.
https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/desktop/worldwide/
Be glad that it's actually growing. It used to be so much lower.
And we're gonna make it grow so much more.
Got any sources? I like following that but I never remember to bookmark
2025 year of the Linux desktop gooooo brrrrrr
Now we just need proper Linux phones as well.
I WANT TO INSTALL FLATPAKS ON MY ANDROID TABLET. ITS ALL I ASK.
Fair phone needs support for Graphene
Fairphone needs to take security seriously and add support for hardware security features, in order for that to happen. https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/112320854846225341
It would be a much taller order but support for PostMarketOS (a Linux distro meant for mobile) would be huge.
*Valve
True that, OP did Gabe dirty, Gabe tried selling Linux before it became mainstream
but, and correct me if I'm wrong, steam still does not support good graphics on linux. It still only runs on X11 and has no wayland support. So many linux users switch temporarily to windows for gaming only. Valve needs to make the adoption happen faster. They're the ones still holding gamers from switching from windows, not promote linux as you say. Not to mention tons of top games that still can only run on windows without any way around it (proton compatibility does not work on all games)
Honestly, I love windows 10 and windows 7 even more. I have had very little complaints with them and I miss 7 every day. But when support runs out for Windows 10 I'm switching. It seems every single day they come up with another stupid plan or "feature." Whether it's AI that's barely helpful or forcing me to use their software and services, I'm exhausted with the obnoxiously aggressive tactics to get me to use them.
Didn't Linus say once something like: the OS should not get in the way of the User and just launch there Programs and Manage Resources. This is my Main issue with Windows: all the popups, non scipable settings, and the New "features" are on by default
Or their current debacle where they are having constant screenshots of a person's computer
True this was my story. I never had in my mind any idea what linux was and never had the slightest desire to change from windows. I considered myself tech savy and able to do and change anything in windows until they forced my laptop hardware to find out that this can't be the only OS that works as a PC. With W10 end-of-life and after seeing what W11 has become, it's inevitable that the majority of the whole world will soon shift away from them to linux flavors such as POP OS or mint.
I feel like they could even manage to be a salesperson for OpenIndiana at this point
I literally only play games on my windows PC, so far there's been no reason for me to switch to Linux. I'll probably only use it when I get a steam deck
Ironically I play on Linux and have felt no need to switch back to Windows. The games that refuse to have their anticheat function in Proton are games I'm not playing anyway and so far the only thing that requires significant tinkering is modding Skyrim, but that's something I'm not planning on doing any time soon.
I'll take the faster and more responsive OS thank you very much.
I can't tell if you folks don't realize this is true, not because Windows is bad, but because Windows + WSL is so good lol.
WSL is kind of a pain to use. I would prefer to use either native Linux or Virtualbox
Can you tell me how? WSL1 isn't a true VM and breaks all the time on me and as far as I can tell WSL2 doesn't have any proper PCIE or USB passthrough. If I could solve those problems things would be better.
This is just the second phase. Denial.
WSL is slower than a snail on a hot summer day
WSL is so garbage and an admittance from Microsoft that developers only put up with Windows due to corporate mandate. Nobody enjoys developing on Windows.
It's insane what a little bubble some of you folks live in. Someone told me the other day that storing pii on SharePoint in the EU was illegal and nobody was doing it. Plenty of developers LOVE Windows + WSL.
