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Linux overall market-share percentage falls on Steam in October

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You know the drill by now, it's up and down all the time and I don't think we should really pay much attention to the Steam Hardware Survey any more, regardless of it going up or down. A better measure is likely to keep talking to developers, and see how their actual sales are doing on Linux.

Anyway, for those who are still interested:
Linux Total: 0.89% - 0.04%
Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS 64 bit 0.33% - 0.01%
Linux 64 bit 0.10% 0.00%
Linux Mint 18 Sarah 64 bit 0.09% + 0.01%
Ubuntu 14.04.5 LTS 64 bit 0.05% - 0.01%

Even though Valve aren't currently counting anyone in Big Picture or SteamOS, I doubt it would change anything much. Our own survey suggests SteamOS use is pretty low (26 out of 1645 who answered it).

These results may change tomorrow or the day after, as it seems Valve sometimes adjust them a day or so after they put out the results, like we saw last month, and that's not the only time they have done that.

Make of it what you will. I'm not going to put the blame anywhere, as no one really knows apart from Valve, and apparently I'm always wrong according to a few people who think they know better.

What I will say, is don't get disheartened by figures like this, we can mostly ignore it until the change is much bigger. That goes for when it rises too. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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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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Tuxee Nov 2, 2016
We are talking about 0.04%. To put this into perspective: if say one million surveys were issued last month this makes a difference of 400 less for Linux.
Discussing such miniscule fluctuations is a waste of time (you are basically saying the same thing) but "Linux marketshare falls" in such a context sounds like clickbaiting.
badber Nov 2, 2016
One of my pet peeves about mainstream media is that they like to report on the results of polls as if ones that show changes that are within the margin of error have any significance at all. This article seems to guesstimate that it's 0.065 percentage points for the Steam hardware survey: http://cheesetalks.net/steamsurvey.php

If his assumptions are correct a change of 0.04% is completely meaningless like you're suggesting but his conclusion would seem to suggest that surprisingly small changes will be worth talking about.
reaVer Nov 2, 2016
The hardware survey is probably a little iffy. Because Linux users tend to keep their PCs running (and steam too) so they never get presented with a survey.
lucifertdark Nov 2, 2016
Send it to ALL Steam users at once & then we'll have an accurate number instead of this up & down nonsense every month, what percentage of the total users actually get the survey?
OLucasZanella Nov 2, 2016
Didn't get it.
[email protected] Nov 2, 2016
I have never gotten the survey on Linux, ever! And I'm sure many are in the same boat.
Liam Dawe Nov 2, 2016
Quoting: TuxeeWe are talking about 0.04%. To put this into perspective: if say one million surveys were issued last month this makes a difference of 400 less for Linux.
Discussing such miniscule fluctuations is a waste of time (you are basically saying the same thing) but "Linux marketshare falls" in such a context sounds like clickbaiting.
It is a small drop in the ocean yes, as specifically stated in the article:
Quote(...)we can mostly ignore it until the change is much bigger. That goes for when it rises too.
I am only providing this for people that care about it.

There's no clickbait here, we don't rely on advert clicks or any of that rubbish for our content.

If the results are properly correct, and Linux did drop by that 0.04%, the title is still factually correct. I said it fell, I didn't say anything further.
burnall Nov 2, 2016
I got a survey this time. After 6 months or something.


Last edited by burnall on 2 November 2016 at 12:32 pm UTC
Mountain Man Nov 2, 2016
I trust the Steam hardware survey about as much as I trust political polls. I wish Valve would just release the actual numbers so we can put an end to all of this guesswork and speculation.
MaCroX95 Nov 2, 2016
Statistics don't matter, as long as we have Ferap & similar guys we have nothing to worry about :P
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