Clickbaity title on the original article, but I think this is the most important point to consider from it:
After getting to 1% in approximately 2011, it took about a decade to double that to 2%. The jump from 2% to 3% took just over two years, and 3% to 4% took less than a year.
Get the picture? The Linux desktop is growing, and it’s growing fast.
Damn Linux becoming mainstream. How will I feel like a superior tech elite now?
Switch to BSD
Pretty sure BSD is dying, Netcraft confirmed that like 30 years ago.
Is it any good
I only installed it once for fun in a VM but didn’t really use it. It’s different to Linux but you could get used to it. As far as I know however the hardware that it properly runs on is quite limited, mainly older stuff. So I wouldn’t recommend it as a daily driver but I would recommend to try it out.
Delete all browsers. Only access the web using curl.
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Still rocking BeOS :)
One day Haiku will be ready
Guess it’s time to move to Gentoo ~ or Nix
You can still use arch (btw) and be a superior tech elite to me, who just uses bazzite because i don’t want to tinker in my free time
SteamOS, Bazzite, and the Plasma DE I think are what’s driving Linux to be more popular. They are all very streamlined experiences.
I tested Gnome and KDE Plasma5 in the last year. KDE Plasma is in my opinion the first DE which is comparable with Win/MacOS. It looks modern, is pretty much feature complete and as an average user its nice to have useful apps preinstalled (calculator, libreoffice, firefox and so on), but no bloatware.
Its just a bit more customizable than windows, which is perfect and also not fiddly and a pain. It certainly has a handful of quirks, like Windows does, but you get used to them.
If I have to set up elderly relatives with a computer, I’d strongly consider a KDE Plasma Desktop
I never got gnome, it’s like macOS, but I never enjoyed using it even after being a Mac user.
Plasma and cinnamon are my top desktop recommendations.
Well as someone who’s been using gnome since about 3.10 I might be able to explain my view:
Before that I’ve used plasma and Unity and a whole lot of Mate but then I started using Gnome for a pretty and smooth experience right out of the Box.
Now I’ve simply been using it for so long that it’s muscle memory all the way.
I don’t agree with everything the gnome devs decide and I definitely am annoyed that I have to use extension for small things that should just be a toogle in the settings but I’ve realized some time ago that if I did switch to plasma I would use all the customizability to make it work like Gnome … so I stay on Gnome.Short question because thats what made me swap to KDE: How do you quickly open an app, without navigating through the categories with your mouse?
Now make me look stupid :D
I never use the “App Menu” on my laptop I don’t even have any favorites.
I hit the super button (windows key) to open the app overview and type the first few letters and hit enter.
So e.g.
SUPER fi EnterFirefox opens with just 4 key strokes in 1 secondI instinctively do that as well, on Windows, Cinnamon and Plasma and it didnt work on Gnome, Superkey opened the Startmenu but then typing didnt search. Thats what I wanted to ask, if I miss something obvious or if Gnome doesnt offer that feature out of the box.
Debian probably changed the Key for the Spotlight-like search.
I think generally macos users would feel more at home in gnome where as windows users more in kde.
Very true in my limited experience
As more people learn bazzite just works, it’s going to grow. If I hadn’t rescued my son’s windows license he would have switched.
You should rescue your son now and switch him to Linux
Tried to persuade him. He’s an adult son, so I wouldn’t force it on him.
Grandma’s using it just fine though.
Chaotic Good Billionaire does a solid for Linux, Windows users devastated
A long time ago when Linux was around 2-3% someone said that macOS adoption by software companies happened when it got to 5% of the marketshare.
If Linux continues down the path, we might see real support from some of the holdouts.
Before anyone says to use an alternative, sometimes there are not workable alternatives.
When it gets to 7%, is that when there is more malware designed for Linux desktop ?
Yeah, unfortunate to rain in the parade but GNU/Linux definitely needs some attention sooner rather than later. Plenty of design benefits, but also plenty of pitfalls from an OS sec POV.
Average users aren’t installing SELinux or Qubes so I hope no-one was actually going to reply with what Linux can do as opposed to the everyday user experience.
A few years outdated, but relevant: https://madaidans-insecurities.github.io/linux.html
There is already plenty of malware targeting devs on Linux where is it’s strongest userbase.
Jumped to Bazzite never looked back. Let’s goooo
A king once summoned a wise man who had done him a great service and said, “Name your reward.” The wise man replied, “Your Majesty, I ask for a simple thing. Give me one percent Linux desktop market share for the first square of the chessboard, two percent for the second square, four percent for the third square, and so on, doubling the amount for each of the 64 squares.” The king, thinking this was a modest request, said, “Surely you jest! Such a small reward for such a great service? Ask for gold, land, or jewels instead.” But the wise man insisted, and the king agreed. The king ordered his treasurer to calculate the total. Starting with 1% for the first square, 2% for the second, 4% for the third, 8% for the fourth… by the time they reached the tenth square, they needed 512% of the desktop market. The treasurer, pale with realization, informed the king that by the 64th square, they would need more market share than could possibly exist in the entire universe of computing devices. The king then understood that what seemed like a humble request was actually impossible to fulfill, and he gained a new respect for the power of exponential growth.
It already goes over 100% market share after only 8 squares. 512% seems like a weird place to stop? How can you have more than 100% market share?
In the original it also supposedly amounts to more grain then there is in the kingdom.
Yeah, I appreciate the reference, it’s just that my brain got stuck on the comparison breaking due to using percentage instead of some absolute count.
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Wow it was 5% yesterday
at this point linux will have more than 100% market share by next week!!!
They used a different data source for this one and mentioned why they preferred this one over the one from the day before.
So what you’re saying is that if we just keep switching to different data sources, we could get above 50% in less than two months!
Does it count that I have four computers running Linux because I can’t help myself?
The avalanche has started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote.
Statcounter considers me a Win user due to the Win user agent I’m using, this is not a rare behavior in the Linux space…
I see you are using ethernet, welcome to Windows %user%!
Out of genuine curiosity, what is the reasoning for using the Win user agent?
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I thought this may be one of the considerations.
Some sites provide a different behaviour depending on the reported OS
I thought this may be a consideration too, but I would expect it to be a minority of websites that would do this, no?
It’s definitely a minority, but easy to fix if you encounter such a site even a single time. There are also some sites which refuse to load on Firefox but work fine if you change the user-agent to Chrome.
Thanks!
Because Linux +firefox is like a fingerprinting wet dream, I may be the only one in my locale. (maybe not anymore, but yeah)
Also Librewolf by default reports Win+Firefox.
Got it, thanks for explaining!
I went to CachyOS on my desktop full time this year. Already had Bazzite on a laptop.
There’s been a few hiccups here and there, but nothing insurmountable with a little patience and practice and reading.
And best part, those skills translate to most linux distros!
But it is only in the US and not globally. Anyway, competition is good.
wtf I love Norway now? Sweden is at like 2%.
But Norway’s Linux spiked up to almost 30% in July 2024 as well. So I don’t really trust these sites. My guess is that it’s due to Tesla’s web browser or something? Tesla is the most popular electric car brand in Norway: 77k Model Y and 50k Model 3 are registered, and the only model with higher numbers is the Nissan Leaf with 81k, but that’ll be taken over very shortly (so far in 2025, there have been over 11k Model Y registrations, with the next runner-up being the Toyota BZ4X with 4,6k)
Possibly, but it does explicitly state desktop operating systems and I don’t know if Tesla’s would count towards that.
Wow. Impressive. And in Sweden we are only 2% or something like that. Why so many in Norway. How did you do it?
Literally switched to Linux on my desktop yesterday.
Good job! And welcome :)
Exponential growth!
