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Linux market share approaching 4.5% for first time, could hit 5% by 1Q25

tomshardware.com

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Re: Linux market share approaching 4.5% for first time, could hit 5% by 1Q25

#21

Post by vlovich123 »

Desktop and laptop sales have been declining worldwide for years and while laptops have dipped up in 2023 desktops continued their downward trend.

My hunch it’s less that people have suddenly discovered Linux and more that desktop sales have been slipping for a long long time so either it’s shifted to Apple or people stick with just phones and tablets. Thus it’s not necessarily that Linux market share has increased because of increasing numbers vs a dedicated minority sticking with a dying market segment.

Re: Linux market share approaching 4.5% for first time, could hit 5% by 1Q25

#23

Post by john2x »

hsdropout wrote: post #9
ashvardanian wrote: post #5

Are those mostly tech people or is it the general public?

Do non tech people run Linux? I've not seen this.

Thanks to Valve and Steam, it is a viable option and apparently a pretty good one at that

Re: Linux market share approaching 4.5% for first time, could hit 5% by 1Q25

#24

Post by littlestymaar »

massysett wrote: post #19
monero-xmr wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For people who never use anything except macOS / Linux, I challenge you to install Windows and experience it for yourself. The entire OS is like surfing the internet without ad block on. The nags, the pop ups, the malware you can’t remove. It’s truly incredible how awful Windows is. They are just milking the aging demographic who still uses Windows and squeezing as many clicks out of them as they can before Windows i…

I use Mac as my personal system and used Linux for many years. Yet all this Mac and Linux experience is part of the reason I didn’t hesitate to have two Windows machines: one for work, one for light gaming. Windows isn’t that bad. I use it the way most folks probably do: just a way to get to the application I need. I don’t notice most of the ads. It works. Its auto-update mechanism is better than the Mac’s. I don’t l…

> its auto-update mechanism is better than the Mac’s.

Wow, what can a Mac auto-update do that is worse than Windows blocking your screen for 10 minutes during a Powerpoint presentation because the OS is «updating itself». (The only auto-update I know to be worse than Windows is Telsa's, bricking your car in the middle of the road for 45 minutes if you missclick on the touchscreen in traffic)

Re: Linux market share approaching 4.5% for first time, could hit 5% by 1Q25

#25

Post by littlestymaar »

ThrowawayR2 wrote: post #8
7thpower wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fusion or ubiquitous Linux desktops (wsl does not count), which happens first?

WSL does count. The average Linux user doesn't know squat about how the kernel, drivers, or services work; they just like the CLI. If MS can give them enough of the Linux CLI and functioning packages to do their job, it's game over.

Looks like the upward trend shows that it is not in fact “game over”.

Steam making sure than the vast majority of games run fine on Linux at the first try is much more impactful than WSL in the grand scheme of things.

Re: Linux market share approaching 4.5% for first time, could hit 5% by 1Q25

#26

Post by nightski »

monero-xmr wrote: post #10
cebert wrote: post #4

Microsoft seems determined to push people away from Windows with its user-hostile tactics—built-in ads, constant nagging about Edge, and forced OneDrive backups. It's really soured my experience. I’m done with Windows personally. While I have to use Win11 at work, I won't use it anywhere I have a choice.

For people who never use anything except macOS / Linux, I challenge you to install Windows and experience it for yourself. The entire OS is like surfing the internet without ad block on. The nags, the pop ups, the malware you can’t remove. It’s truly incredible how awful Windows is. They are just milking the aging demographic who still uses Windows and squeezing as many clicks out of them as they can before Windows i…

I do hate the direction Windows is going. That said as someone who also uses Linux / macOS I just use group policy to disable all of this and do not notice any of it, even across major version updates.

Re: Linux market share approaching 4.5% for first time, could hit 5% by 1Q25

#27

Post by Andrex »

ClassyJacket wrote: post #16

I truly believe that once Linux solves its app packaging problem it could go mainstream for casual use on home laptops. (Office machines obviously are a different beast, needing Microsoft Office\365 support, etc). We're 99% of the way to being able to hand an everyday person a laptop with Linux on it and have them have a decent experience - but they need to be able to go to a website and download a program without sc…

Flatpak is winning and will ultimately win. Flathub is really good and has momentum behind it.

Re: Linux market share approaching 4.5% for first time, could hit 5% by 1Q25

#28

Post by SoftTalker »

jdlyga wrote: post #13

It comes down to the fact that Linux is just so damn easy nowadays.

It is, until it isn't. If you deal with people in the mainstream business, legal, healthcare, etc. worlds you'll run into issues. If you work in one of those mainstream fields, you'll find yourself quite limited if you're running anything but Windows. None of your corporate/enterprise software will work unless it's web-based (which is more and more the case, but certainly not always).

Re: Linux market share approaching 4.5% for first time, could hit 5% by 1Q25

#30

Post by sergiotapia »

ThrowawayR2 wrote: post #8
7thpower wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fusion or ubiquitous Linux desktops (wsl does not count), which happens first?

WSL does count. The average Linux user doesn't know squat about how the kernel, drivers, or services work; they just like the CLI. If MS can give them enough of the Linux CLI and functioning packages to do their job, it's game over.

Can confirm. I've been working with a VMWare Linux Mint machine for two years, and very recently installed Windows 11, and decided to try WSL2. It's seamless, and literally Linux. I installed asdf and all the stuff I would normally do with zero headaches. No more vms for me.
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