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Update: This data has not yet actually been verified by Netmarketshare. When I first took the shot, it wasn't noted, but it's been pointed out in our comments they do now have a link at the top to say so. I fully expect this to be revised down to the current level.

Take this with a rather large bag of suspicion! Netmarketshare is reporting that Linux had 6.91% market share, which is higher than Mac for the first time.

Not only that, but it seems even FreeBSD actually registered on it this time too.

Honestly, it seems far too good to be true. Hold the partying and champagne popping for now. Other sites like StatCounter separate Chrome OS (which uses the Linux kernel), but I believe Netmarketshare does not. StatCounter also shows Linux overall at far less than what Netmarketshare shows.

With that said, both websites have reported Linux growth over the past year. It may not be as large as we want it to be, but it seems multiple sites statistics do report Linux market share is growing and that's the important thing here.

What do you think? A nonsense blip, or Linux really making gains?

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Tags: Misc
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Beamboom Oct 2, 2017
Quoting: GrazenHere's a worthwhile mental check (though admittedly anecdotal). Go to a local coffee shop. Look around. How many people are on Windows? How many on OSX or iOS? How many on Linux? Now, ChromeOS might bump it up a bit if it's counted as a Linux distro, but if Linux has surpassed OSX, the evidence would be all around us.

That's exactly it. This is a reality check a few of the commenters in this group needs to take.

The evidence is all around us if we bother to look. It's only in very specific communities where the Linux share is relatively high. Even in tech savvy groups, like my work in the IT industry, there's just a handful Linux desktops around.

... But it's rising! So much so that the employers are to a much higher extent than before making sure to use platform independent technologies. This has happened only over the last decade!
Linas Oct 2, 2017
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It says 4.83% now. Still all time high. Still not final.
dmantione Oct 2, 2017
The data is in all likelood not the right Linux market share, but also a real sample from lots of real websites. And... it's not just a single number that is off, there is a clear trend visible. Therefore we should consider this highly relevant, something very important is happening for Linux. Part of it migth be ChromeOS, but looking at sites that count both separately, traditional Linux is still bigger than ChromeOS. Might be some countries kicking out American products. Maybe we should try to contact Netmarketshare for an explanation.

Personally I encounter Linux desktops much more often than Mac desktops.
ison111 Oct 2, 2017
The slope of the graphs is even more interesting I think. Over a 2 month period GNU/Linux has a much larger growth than any other and windows has had negative growth for about half a year now (it's loss almost correlates with Linux's growth)

GNU/Linux: 1.150%
MacOS: 0.135%
Windows: -1.285%

It's not just the slopes either, they've also been accelerating in these directions. Linux has been accelerating upward (windows is accelerating downward) so I don't think the growth is going to die down, at least not for a few more months and who knows maybe it'll take off even more.
Nyamiou Oct 2, 2017
Quoting: Beamboom
Quoting: GrazenHere's a worthwhile mental check (though admittedly anecdotal). Go to a local coffee shop. Look around. How many people are on Windows? How many on OSX or iOS? How many on Linux? Now, ChromeOS might bump it up a bit if it's counted as a Linux distro, but if Linux has surpassed OSX, the evidence would be all around us.

That's exactly it. This is a reality check a few of the commenters in this group needs to take.

Here is your reality check: your local community probably represent less than 0.000001% of the overall world population, the US is one of the ~250 countries on the planet, your local coffee shop is irrevelant.
qptain Nemo Oct 2, 2017
Even if lower than originally stated, remaining in the 5% ballpark is still a big deal, it puts us on the same scale as Mac anyway.
3qET7rL9Bd Oct 2, 2017
Maybe it has always been higher then reported previous months and the difference is that for September they revised the way they identify the platforms because they analysed their data more closely and saw that Linux wasn't being correctly identified in some cases but the revised identification created a lot of false positives for Linux which is why the number went down later when they corrected again. This could also explain why FreeBSD suddenly showed up. They simply haven't been identifying it correctly previously.
Alm888 Oct 2, 2017
Meanwhile, on Steam Linux continues its journey down…
VinceNardelli Oct 2, 2017
We will have to wait and see what the next month says.

There have been good news for the linux community, from the Atari box announcement, the new Ubuntu, I would add the Librem5 phone running linux, Skype and a consistent dedication from the linux community.
I am for one NOT double booting with windows anymore. I m mainly buying linux compatible games and software.

I am sure I am not the only one.

Plus, many people have been disappointed with windows and Apple iosx and considering linux to say the least.

Let's wait and see next month. If the trend still gives hope to linux in terms of numbers, well then we can fully be happy for this true achievement
Kuduzkehpan Oct 2, 2017
Maybe Chine start pushing deepin linux usage in state computers. How ever we divide ubuntu debian redhat suse from linux they all is linux. So both chrome os and steam os and all linux derivatives is just linux with community or corporation's bundled softwares. All count as linux in my opinion. And linux attracting peoples and that is something good for all.


Last edited by Kuduzkehpan on 2 October 2017 at 10:38 am UTC
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