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Multiple statistics have shown Linux market-share doing better than ever

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Good news for Linux fans, as multiple big websites showing off statistics have shown Linux is on the rise!

Note: These should always been taken with a pinch of salt. Even with that said, multiple places are reporting a rise in Linux market-share, which is a good sign when put together.

Netmarketshare statistics reports that Linux has seen a marketshare of over 2% for 7 months in a row now. This means that Linux in the space of a year jumped 0.55%. This may not sound like much, but that can represent a lot of people. This is pretty damn good, since for years we were stuck well below 2%.

The site w3counter has seen something similar, as Linux didn't even register in their top 10 operating systems in September 2016, but suddenly in October 2016 it number 10 with 2.72%, then in November 2016 3.14% and December 2016 3.80%.

The case with w3schools stats is a bit different, but still trending towards something good for us. In 2003 Linux was just hitting 2.6%, but fast forward to 2016 and Linux is hitting around 5.6%.

Finally, pornhub (NSFW obviously), a popular porn website has seen a 14% increase in traffic from Linux in the space of a year.

Looks like things are going pretty nicely for Linux in general right now. This is good news for us, as more people using Linux means more people are likely to look into gaming on Linux too.

Keep it going Linux users and gamers! Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Editorial
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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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razing32 Jan 8, 2017
TBH , considering the NSFW site and that the top search is ....in relation to a certain Greek island known for its wine....I might be a good chunk of that 14% increase.
Pompesdesky Jan 9, 2017
I think that if by the end of Windows 7 support we have reliable graphics drivers and a little more games from big publishers we might see a spike of users switching to Linux rather than going to Windows 10, if they've been avoiding Windows 10 until the end there's a good chance they'll be tempted by another alternative :)
MayeulC Jan 9, 2017
Quoting: liamdaweI would say Steam is pretty accurate also. As mentioned, Steam is growing and quite quickly in certain markets which is likely dwarfing Linux growth.

Remeber it's a ratio, so a lower % doesn't mean the overall number is lower. Considering how it has been holding with Steam's growing userbase it means our overall number is likely a lot higher than 2 years ago.

Yup. Plus, the survey seems to be in line with the occasional developer sales figures we have (once adjusted for over representation if necessary).
Cybolic Jan 9, 2017
Quoting: Guest
Quoting: runeHowever, I have to disagree when it comes to older games. If it's obvious that a game will never be ported to Linux, then there's only one way to play it.

None of the stat sources discussed here distinguish the age of the games of the subject. [...]
None of the stat sources are about games or Wine either, so maybe this discussion is something best kept to the forum?
sarmad Jan 9, 2017
Quoting: Purple Library GuySo . . . to point out the simple and obvious, among all those sites the lowest figure is over 2%.
We have 2.2%, 3.8%, 5.6%, 3%. All in all, the 1% figure can maybe be put to bed.
So either there's something odd about Steam statistics, or Linux is used more for everything else but gaming.

It's the latter. Linux is used more for everything else but gaming and that's simply because Linux graphics stack was in a bad condition for the past 20 years and only started to get resolved very recently. It will be years before the changes in the graphics stack gets reflected on market numbers.


Last edited by sarmad on 9 January 2017 at 6:59 pm UTC
Trump Jan 10, 2017
So basically linux users are interested in code and porn, sounds about right.
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