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Here's a bit of positivity for you today! According to the statistics gathered by the netmarketshare website, in July the percentage of people using Linux on the desktop hit an all time high.

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In June of 2016, Linux market share on the desktop according to their statistics hit over 2% for the first time. People were sceptical, but it seems it has mostly stayed above that 2% mark. In May of this year it did dip down to 1.99%, but as of July it recorded the highest yet at 2.53%.

Going by their statistics, Linux's share of the desktop market has nearly doubled since early 2013. I hope this upwards trend continues over the next few years. Going by their statistics, if it does continue as it is, we may hit ~3% (and hopefully stay above it) by the end of 2018.

Small victories eh?

We still have a long road ahead, but I've personally never been more happy with how Linux has progressed as an operating system and as a gaming platform. Our drivers perform well, we have a lot of great games and a lot of people invested in seeing us here at GOL continue too.

Sure we don't get the latest "AAA" rehash sequel number 4, and there are a number of titles I would personally like to see ported to Linux, but we do have an expanding list of high quality titles. Admittedly we get a lot of trash too, but thankfully there's a lot of great indie developers out there supporting Linux and some bigger developers too (hello Feral, Aspyr, VP etc). Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Editorial
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About the author -
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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mindplague Aug 4, 2017
Quotethere's a lot of great indie developers out there supporting Linux and some bigger developers too (hello Feral, Aspyr, VP etc).

^This. Thank you, devs! Really appreciate all your hard work.
Grimfist Aug 4, 2017
Quoting: Asu
Quoting: GrimfistI already converted 2 off my friends, the rest is hesitant, but I am more resiliant :D

Also very important if you convert someone, please support them.
Oh I do, but the funny thing is, their are pretty normal office PC users, so the need to support them is actually lower then when they were using Windows. ;)
Wendigo Aug 4, 2017
Quoting: De1m0sBut, my xbox360 controller does not work with newest games.
I don't own a xbox controller but I got my ps3 controller to run without installing any drivers just by starting steam in big picture mode with my controller attached. steam detects the hardware automatically. it also works for non steam games if you manually add them to your steam library.
Maybe this helps with your controller issue.
Beamboom Aug 4, 2017
If you need to compile a regular program on a Linux desktop system today, you're doing it wrong. There's guaranteed to be a better way or you've stumbled across an extreme edge case.
I've not compiled a source code package on my Ubuntu system in what must be ten years now,and I use my machine for gaming, music production and all general use. Most of the time you just use software from the default repositories. It's way, waaaaaaay easier than on Windows - it's literally just a command to install.
Pompesdesky Aug 4, 2017
Quoting: GuestSince capitalism is the current global economic system it is fitting that the OS's of large corporations takes the largest market share. It is thus impossible for community-driven OS's to take up larger share than what is shown in the statistics, I think.

In a pure socialist economy, all software would be open source and have a community-based development.

US citizen ?

I don't get how the OS market share would relate so much on politics. In a capitalist market if a product is good it would be adopted so an open source software could compete with a closed source one as long as it offers a good service. Also Linux is not only community driven, it is also backed by large corporations. And go apply your logic to the server side of computing, where's the largest market share of the said large corporation ? See, no need for evil communism for Linux to succeed :D
De1m0s Aug 4, 2017
Quoting: Wendigo
Quoting: De1m0sBut, my xbox360 controller does not work with newest games.
I don't own a xbox controller but I got my ps3 controller to run without installing any drivers just by starting steam in big picture mode with my controller attached. steam detects the hardware automatically. it also works for non steam games if you manually add them to your steam library.
Maybe this helps with your controller issue.

I have that trick in mind; did not tried it so far. Problem is, the big-picture mode does (on my pc) not work under wine (PlayOnLinux). So, i had to start nativ steam, and add a link to "PlayOnLinux->steam->NierAutomata" ....
I´m not so convinced this will work properly and without performance-problems.
Arnaudk Aug 4, 2017
Recently, 3 families switched from Windows 7 to OpenSUSE and 1 from Windows 8 to Fedora. While they are happy with their new OS, the lack of tools such as ADOBE and some missing AAA games annoyed them a little bit
calfret Aug 4, 2017
tuubi, with all due respect you are way off base here. To clarify, you are absolutely correct. Now throw all that logic out and insert the human factor. We are talking about market share here, and billions of users don't care about fair comparisons or specifics. They only care about one thing: does this object do what I want it to do?

If we want to see an increase in market share, then users need to feel confident that Linux will do what they need it to do (and it does, plus so much more). All it takes to turn away thousands of users is one program that doesn't work. I almost had my brother sold on Linux, then Marvel doesn't work on it. He went that day and dropped $120 for a new copy of Windows. I almost had my friend and his whole coterie sold on Linux, then ARMA 3 doesn't work.

Should users expect everything to work? No, of course not. Should Linux users and developers do their best to make things work? Yes, and I see evidence everyday of that happening. Every day or two a new release comes out that fixes some kind of compatibility issue somewhere. It would be smart to focus on the big issues first though. It's great that shadows now work finally on Game XYZ part 2. Now can we get the most common peripherals that millions of users own working properly?
Kuduzkehpan Aug 4, 2017
QuoteI don't get how the OS market share would relate so much on politics. In a capitalist market if a product is good it would be adopted so an open source software could compete with a closed source one as long as it offers a good service. Also Linux is not only community driven, it is also backed by large corporations. And go apply your logic to the server side of computing, where's the largest market share of the said large corporation ? See, no need for evil communism for Linux to succeed

Basicly windows is a product of microsoft with copyright bullshits license which exactly protects Bosses rights not owner of codes. While its backed with software monopoly of microsoft. So what is microsoft and windows then= developer slavery with capitalist laws. Monopoly with alongside. Also people doesnt benefit. No security no crystal clear product. No privacy. No speed at all. Directx port of arma3 almost has same performance under linux. Imagine if linux was more mature as a gaming platform.
And if communism evil so the ideas of it too as linux.
STiAT Aug 4, 2017
I did convert my grandmother to Linux. Her needs the OS and Applications fit perfectly well, so ye, that worked out (my grandmother is good in adopting to things too, and she's over 80).

I am fairily confident I could do the same with my Parents. I certainly couldn't with my Sister, my best friend (she's graphics designer) and a few other persons in my Family, because I know they use tools they'd miss.

We are not, and will not in the near future be anywhere close to taking a market share as Apple does, because yes, the users are using those tools and they'd miss it. It's not about the OS, the regular user couldn't care less. It's all about the applications.


Last edited by STiAT on 4 August 2017 at 3:02 pm UTC
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