According to the StatCounter, Linux on the desktop has continued to rise and remains above 4%, with this being the healthiest it's ever looked on the desktop.
First hitting over 4% in February, their March data is now in showing not just staying above 4% but rising a little once again showing the trend is clear that Linux use is rising. Slow and steady wins the race as they say.
Here's how things have looked over the last year+
- January 23 - 2.91%
- February 23 - 2.94%
- March 23 - 2.85%
- April 23 - 2.83%
- May 23 - 2.7%
- June 23 - 3.07%
- July 23 - 3.12%
- August 23 - 3.18%
- September 23 - 3.02%
- October 23 - 2.92%
- November 23 - 3.22%
- December 23 - 3.82%
- January 24 - 3.77%
- February 24 - 4.03%
- March 24 - 4.05%
Technically, ChromeOS is also Linux, and while people like to debate that if you do include Linux and ChromeOS together it would actually be 6.32%. A number that is getting steadily harder for developers of all kinds to ignore. It terms of overall percentage, it's still relatively small but when you think about how many people that actually is, it's a lot.
Another look since 2009:
For those thinking it may be due to Steam Deck with SteamOS, it's unlikely, at least not directly. StatCounter gather their info from web traffic across over 1.5 million sites globally. I doubt all that many browse the web regularly on Deck. However, indirectly? Possible, I've seen lots and lots of posts about people enjoying Linux thanks to the Desktop Mode on the Steam Deck. There's going to be various other bigger factors at play here though, like Linux nowadays actually being properly good on the desktop.
See the stats on StatCounter.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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rustigsmed Apr 9
with win10 support ending for home users late next year combined with win11 high system requirements we could see a continued or slight jump. anyone want to predict Jan 2026? will 6% or higher be possible? It will be interesting and fun to watch.
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Quoting: rustigsmedwith win10 support ending for home users late next year combined with win11 high system requirements we could see a continued or slight jump. anyone want to predict Jan 2026? will 6% or higher be possible? It will be interesting and fun to watch.
4% in 2024, 6% in 2026, 80% in 2300.
Last edited by pb on 9 April 2024 at 1:16 pm UTC
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It turns out life is beatiful in Canada. :D
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Slow and steady wins the race. Go, Linux, Go! 
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pleasereadthemanual Apr 9
QuoteTechnically, ChromeOS is also Linux, and while people like to debate that if you do include Linux and ChromeOS together it would actually be 6.32%. A number that is getting steadily harder for developers of all kinds to ignore.If I remember correctly from last time we had a market share thread, more knowledgeable users than me pointed out that ChromeOS does not run Linux binaries (without installing Linux containers); it only runs webapps. That adds pressure for developers like Adobe to release webapps and hopefully make them good substitutes for native programs, but it doesn't mean anything for making Native Linux programs.
Wine still can't run Adobe Creative Cloud, but hey, at least you have a few more options today...
Quoting: rustigsmedwith win10 support ending for home users late next year combined with win11 high system requirements we could see a continued or slight jump. anyone want to predict Jan 2026? will 6% or higher be possible? It will be interesting and fun to watch.I'm curious how many people will pay for extended support. For business users, it starts at $60 per year, then $120 for the next year, and $240 for the last year. Extended support for home users will likely be cheaper...
By 2025, I think Wayland will be a good experience for everyone. STF's funding for GNOME runs out at the end of 2024, and hopefully the accessibility stack will be up to snuff. v1 of the Color Management/HDR protocol will hopefully be finalized this year. Wine 10.0 will probably have the Wayland driver exposed by default. Noveau + Zink + NVK will have had more time to mature. GIMP 3.0 will be out with so many improvements. So it'll probably be a good time to switch!
In some ways, I'm glad Fedora 40 is forcibly cutting ties with X11 next week (although a KDE developer maintains X11 packages for Fedora, they aren't installed by default) as it will give more users more time to live on Wayland, which gives user-facing programs like Steam, Discord, and Krita (after CM...) more time to switch to Wayland. I just worry about Linux Mint's Wayland project.
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15 years to get to 3% and 6 months to reach 4%. That is a 25% increase in 6 months.
That is an exponential increase and a very positive outlook. Is Linux about to go mainstream?
The next quarter will be interesting.
That is an exponential increase and a very positive outlook. Is Linux about to go mainstream?
The next quarter will be interesting.
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> A number that is getting steadily
> harder for developers of all kinds
> to ignore.
On the other side, it seems we can grow even without all of them :)
> harder for developers of all kinds
> to ignore.
On the other side, it seems we can grow even without all of them :)
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Quoting: kokoko3k> A number that is getting steadilyWell, one thing I've increasingly noticed about Linux is the software ecosystem is for a lot of things actually pretty decent now . . . and free, and available right in the distro's software centre thingie. On Mac, I suspect open source software is quite hard to run. And on Windows you can do it, but you have to be aware of it and go searching for each individual piece. So on both, there's a tendency to just go with the expensive stuff which these days is often crappy subscription services. For people without big budgets, you can actually be limited in what you can use your computer for just because you don't want to buy (or bloody rent!) the software and you don't know there's another way. On Linux, if I suddenly find that I need to do Z, I may look on the menus and find that something for Z is already installed, but if not I go to the distro's software centre thingie and type in a search term and download and now I can do Z.
> harder for developers of all kinds
> to ignore.
On the other side, it seems we can grow even without all of them :)
So although it's technically true that the Windows software ecosystem is still bigger and for some use-cases better, functionally for a lot of people it's probably the other way around. That wasn't true back in the 2000s.
Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 9 April 2024 at 6:23 pm UTC
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Quoting: liamdI doubt all that many browse the web regularly on Deck. However, indirectly? Possible, I've seen lots and lots of posts about people enjoying Linux thanks to the Desktop Mode on the Steam Deck.
That's a good point. The overlap is probably quite small.
I really think all of the growth with Linux will come from the spill over. Tech dad installs Linux, sees it works just fine. Kids computers don't support Win11 and require hardware upgrade. Doesn't want to replace perfectly working hardware for Win11 support. Installs Linux on kidos computers. For every 1 tech dad, you get an average of 2-3 bonus Linux installs. Normally tech dad would have had to stick with Windows on the kids computers so they can play games or they needed Windows for school. But that's been flipped on its head.
The question I have, how long will the spill over last. Once the machines have to be replaced, then what happens?
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