Statcounter, a website that tracks the market share of web browsers, operating systems, and search engines, is reporting that Linux on the desktop has over 4% market share for the very first time (Statcounter records ChromeOS as a separate operating system despite being based on Linux). Statcounter doesn’t provide any explanation about why the market share has increased but we can speculate what’s going on.
Linux’s march to its 4.03% market share has been a steady process ever since the final months of 2020 when Linux held just 1.53% of desktop market share. One of the biggest contributors to the growth of Linux is likely the stringent hardware requirements of Windows 11.
I’d of thought steam and proton would of been a large contributing factor
I think the spotlight on KDE from Steam Deck definitely helps. It’s polished as shit, and it acts like Windows by default, and that is a good thing.
And the most of distros defaults to shitty gnome, slowing down Linux adoption. Steam finally showed that anybody can use Linux, with proper WM.
I much prefer Gnome. Sure other UIs are more “familiar” but I found Gnome had basically zero learning curve and makes a much cleaner and more modern workspace, and a better use of screen real estate, which is super important for multi-tasking.
I found the opposite with Gnome which is why I switched over to KDE.
And that’s the beauty, we are free to choose. I’m glad Gnome works well for you.
I’d of thought
would of been
Interesting grammar.
Where are you from?
Interesting good or interesting bad? I’m from UK Devon
I’m guessing he’s just pointing out that it is incorrect grammar and wondered if you were a native speaker.
Replace “of” with “have”, and you’re golden 👍
i would have gone the rest have my life using “of” instead have using “have”
It takes a lot have practice and a lot have commitment. But by the end have it, you’ll be much better havef
The Linux ecosystem has matured to the point where it can work well for the majority of people. Even the worst of Linux like Nvidia is still usable.
I’m doing my part!
Proton is what allowed me to make the switch. I do dual boot but almost never use my windows partition.
I’d guess every day someone gets fed up with some MS bullshit and goes looking for something else, for me it was the forced updates/restart and the following waiting to finish updates then 100% disk usage for a few minutes, then removing whatever bullshit that got reinstalled.
For me the infuriating things about Windows are the slowness of everything, the tendency of so many applications to turn white and “not responding” all the time, the coercive setup questions on installation and at random times after installation, the forced Microsoft account and tracking, and the fact that after 29 years the Start menu still doesn’t work about 50% of the time but comes up empty or not at all. Everything is fast and solid under Linux.
The insane requirements of Win11 (and the added Ai features) are definitely factors for me to switch to Linux
How was your experience? What information did you miss, to make this a smooth transition?
Right so I haven’t switched just yet, I’m waiting on Win10 EOL because there is still stuff I use that is windows only (Adobe suite [ I fucking hate gimp ] and some games)
However, I did look into distro stability, and what apps are avalabile. Everything else I use IS either Linux native or runs great on Linux.
Inevitably, when I switch, I will miss Photoshop and not having to tinker with making games work
You should look into Krita. Not a replacement for Photoshop but I find it more intuitive than GIMP, at least.
Oh yeah 100%, I’ve used Krita before on windows and it’s enough to cover most of my use cases, also it’s by the KDE community, which I adore <3
People often forget that they also often have to tinker with making games work in Windows, because they are more familiar with the OS and get it done faster. Also I think you’d be surprised how many games just run without any tinkering at all nowadays. But then there are some that don’t run at all, mostly due to invasive rootkit ‘anti-cheats’. That’s no real loss for me, I wouldn’t install something like that on a Windows machine either.
I think the largest extent I went with messing around was using a Locale Emulator for a Japanese game, never had to do more than run the exe.
On Linux it’s a bit of a “will it run under proton?” type game, but I’m not really thaaaaaaat bothered by it. Also fuck invasive anticheats, only shit games use it anyway.
Also the steam deck helped massively with game compatibility. The only game I had to tinker with (and didn’t get to work) so far is a closed alpha. I still run a dual boot setup, but only use the Windows partition for work (office suite needed). Fmstrat/Winapps (found on GitHub) is a good enough way to use Office for smaller tasks so I don’t always have to boot up the Windows partition.
