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.
I hope this growth snowballs from now on; larger market share → developers release Linux versions for their software → users have less reasons to keep Windows → larger market share. Basically, a network-like effect.
If Linux reaches ~25% we basically won; the only advantage Windows has at its disposal is that network-like effect - Linux is cheaper (literally free), less encumbered by anti-user restrictions, and you can run it even in a potato.
I just installed Mint the other day. I was pussy footing around with trying to create a persistent USB drive but the bootloader was fighting me. I finally just hovered over the “wipe drive and install” button for a while before I finally clicked and let it rip. Never again M$.
With recent articles claiming some games run better on Linux, I could see this sort of jump actually being possible
Let’s all set our user-agent to 2001 WinXP running IE
Is that because Linux run on more desktop computers, or just that there’s less desktop computers (and laptops) overall? When everybody switches to smartphones and AR/VR, and there’s bunch of geeks running Linux on their old rusty desktop setups, is that really something that should be celebrated?
There aren’t less laptops and desktops. Sure, there are more smartphones and tablets, and laptops are being used more than desktops. But desktop, keyboards, laptops, mice, monitors, etc. Manufacturing hasn’t slowed down, it keeps accelerating steadily. IT spending has grown year over year steadily for more than a decade. Last year alone there were more than 240 million desktops shipped, a growth from the previous year. The AI bubble caused a spike in PC production that had been previously declining slowly.
Yeah but we also NEED & I emphasize NEED to teach the newcomers the way of the Libre/FOSS/LinuxJutsu in the most welcoming way as possible.
Not like those ArchLinux clowns
Article doesn’t actually explain what distribution people are downloading and installing. How do we know it isn’t the growth of SteamOS and the Steam Deck driving this?
Developers best we can do is exe or dmg