Sounds more like: Windows users upgraded to 11 during the holiday season. If Windows 10 and 11 count separately vs “Linux”, then some of the “increase” is probably just double counting.
Windows 11 surges among PC gamers on Steam as Linux stalls
41–50 of 59 posts
Re: Windows 11 surges among PC gamers on Steam as Linux stalls
#42The only thing holding me back is nvidia drivers. I want people talking about how good they are before I switch over my gaming laptop. A company that bet the farm on gamers back in the '90s needs to embrace their bread and butter. AI is cool, but don't forget what got you here.
NVIDIA is more than happy to forget about gaming.
Re: Windows 11 surges among PC gamers on Steam as Linux stalls
#43The way that Microsoft counts a Windows install is really the question, but they have never disclosed their methodology for exactly what constitutes an install. If I have a laptop, it boots and contacts Microsoft, but I wipe it and install Linux, does that count? Microsoft doesn’t say.
Not relevant, since this article is about results from the Steam Hardware Survey.
Re: Windows 11 surges among PC gamers on Steam as Linux stalls
#44I've been a Windows user since 3.0 came out. Windows the last 5 years has been annoying the ** out of me, even more than normal. I'll see what 12 looks like, but looks like I'll be Linux user in the future.
I saw the writing on the wall back when Windows 7 went EOL. I'm now 100% Linux in my home, and insist on Linux with employers. I don't regret a thing; instead I laugh at people who have masochist tendencies with Microsoft. Switch to Linux today. Unless you're working with a shit company, chances are pretty good that all of your software and workflows will work on Linux too, and possibly even work better . Plus, you'l…
> Unless you're working with a shit company, chances are pretty good that all of your software and workflows will work on Linux too, and possibly even work better.
I wouldn't call the company where I work shit, but in Germany many big companies are deeply entrenched in the whole Microsoft ecosystem, and some sectors are even more entranched. So, I am very certain that a lot of insanely business-critical software at the company where I work at (which is about a market where easily billions of EUR/USD are moved) will not work in a GNU/Linux ecosystem.
Over many, many years, many parts of the (often custom-built) software was developed to work together with the existing big ecosystem of existing (also often custom-built) software. Some parts of the programs that I work on are deeply intertwined with various products from Microsoft - if they weren't, the users would not be able to work so productively with these programs (i.e. the workflows would take a lot more time for the (highly qualified) users, which would cost the company a big load of money).
Re: Windows 11 surges among PC gamers on Steam as Linux stalls
#45I've been a Windows user since 3.0 came out. Windows the last 5 years has been annoying the ** out of me, even more than normal. I'll see what 12 looks like, but looks like I'll be Linux user in the future.
I saw the writing on the wall back when Windows 7 went EOL. I'm now 100% Linux in my home, and insist on Linux with employers. I don't regret a thing; instead I laugh at people who have masochist tendencies with Microsoft. Switch to Linux today. Unless you're working with a shit company, chances are pretty good that all of your software and workflows will work on Linux too, and possibly even work better . Plus, you'l…
I've had another annoying problem with some gigs recently where the employer insisted on MacOS for developer workstations.
While I (generally) like the hardware, I don't like the UX in MacOS but more than that I have a strong distaste for having my runtime deployment environment be entirely different from my working environment. I prefer to eat my own dogfood and have Linux all the way through, and I really like my own tooling and configuration I've set up over the years.
I had a job recently where the whole deployment stack was NixOS (to Aarch64) but the issued devices were Mac laptops, and you couldn't even build the software on MacOS (not even Nix Darwin) so had to do everything inside Parallells etc and it was a giant PITA.
I've never understood why .. if you're going to pay people six figure salaries for their time why would you slow them down with process and tooling that makes them less efficient...
Re: Windows 11 surges among PC gamers on Steam as Linux stalls
#46> That increase is likely being driven by users migrating away from Windows 10 as its end-of-life occurs, but could also be a surge of new users from devices like the Xbox Ally or other Windows handhelds. My kneejerk says it is more likely the first explanation as it’s either leave windows (unlikely) or finally go to 11 whereas the latter is about making a deliberate, pricey purchase. But I don’t have a lick of data…
The last reported monthly active user count for Steam by Valve puts it at 132 million users per month. Since this was in 2021, it’s a conservative estimate now. But based on that conservative figure and if my numbers are correct, Steam added roughly 7 million Windows 11 users in December 2025. Meanwhile, the most recent estimates show the Steam Deck, the most popular handheld gaming PC by far, having sold around 4 mi…
You did my homework just to bolster my point! Much obliged
Re: Windows 11 surges among PC gamers on Steam as Linux stalls
#47[deleted]
Re: Windows 11 surges among PC gamers on Steam as Linux stalls
#48Lets wait for the steam box, steam deck 2...
Re: Windows 11 surges among PC gamers on Steam as Linux stalls
#49Sounds more like: Windows users upgraded to 11 during the holiday season. If Windows 10 and 11 count separately vs “Linux”, then some of the “increase” is probably just double counting.
Also, since these are expressed in percentages of the total install base, the presumed month to month growth in total Steam users means that a static Linux percentage is still a growing number. Add in the likely Win 10/11 double counting and the Linux proportion probably actually grew as well.
Re: Windows 11 surges among PC gamers on Steam as Linux stalls
#50It brings a nostalgic tear to my eye to see the OS flame wars heating up like it's 2002 again. Time to re-download some of those 1024x768 3D render wallpapers of Tux smashing a Windows computer Edit: Here we go: https://wallpaper-house.com/data/out/9/wallpaper2you_359831....
The user pjmlp seems to have a vested interest in protecting Microsoft's reputation.