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Steam Hardware Survey For July 2014, Linux Dips

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Here is the latest instalment of Steam's Hardware Survey, as usual we do our monthly thing and compare it and talk about it and make sure you know not to use it as a hard figure.

Linux-only results for July 2014
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 64 bit 32.77% -3.75%
Linux 3.10 64 bit 7.75% +0.66%
Linux Mint 17 Qiana 64 bit 7.45% +2.04%
Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 5.57% -0.46%
Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS 64 bit 5.26% +5.26%
Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS 64 bit 5.05% -0.39%
Other 36.15% +0.71%

Linux Overall Total: 1.11%, so we lost 0.09%
Last Month: 1.20%

My thoughts on it
As expected small movements that don't really mean much! I do wonder what distribution "Linux 3.10 64 bit" is as it's now the second most popular around. Any thoughts to share?

Things to note
Distro-hoppers will mess up the statistics, Linux users are far more likely to switch between different distributions than say a Windows user due to how many we have. So, the Linux-only stats will be quite turbulent.

Just be aware these results will probably not be that accurate as we don't know how they do their percentage results, they could be rounding up, rounding down or truncating the percentages. So a 0.5% could actually be nearly 0.6% as it could be 0.59% but they could do no rounding and simply truncate it.

Also it won't be every Steam user (it's a survey not a full statistic), so it can be as simple as not actually showing the survey to many Linux people.
Let's face it we know they don't survey 100% of their user base, only a small fraction of it, so bear that in mind as well.

Linux users typically shy away from any form of DRM, so you can bet there is a large bunch of Linux users who just simply refuse to use Steam.

Final Note: Look at it this way, Steam has around 75 million active users, 1% of 75 million is about 750,000 people. What developer wouldn't want to hook into a market that big? We are still under-represented in my eyes.

We will continue to be under-represented until we have more developers talking up Linux, and while this survey doesn't really mean that much having it rise to Mac levels would be a big breakthrough for us. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Editorial, Steam
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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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Xpander Aug 3, 2014
Linux 3.10 is the distro that doesnt have LSB package installed.
at least thats how it reported for me when i uninstalled lsb-release package

without lsb package:

Operating System Version:
    Linux 3.10 (64 bit)
    Kernel Name:  Linux
    Kernel Version:  3.15.7-1-ARCH
    X Server Vendor:  The X.Org Foundation
    X Server Release:  11600000
    X Window Manager:  Xfwm4
    Steam Runtime Version:  steam-runtime-release_2014-07-22


With lsb-release installed:
Operating System Version:
    "Arch Linux" (64 bit)
    Kernel Name:  Linux
    Kernel Version:  3.15.7-1-ARCH
    X Server Vendor:  The X.Org Foundation
    X Server Release:  11600000
    X Window Manager:  Xfwm4
    Steam Runtime Version:  steam-runtime-release_2014-07-22


Arch by default doesnt come with this package..
Liam Dawe Aug 3, 2014
Wow, so Arch could possibly be Steam's number 2 distro right now. That's a lot of users.
Xpander Aug 3, 2014
Quoting: liamdaweWow, so Arch could possibly be Steam's number 2 distro right now. That's a lot of users.

i dont think its only arch, its probably any distro that doesnt come default with lsb package installed. probably manjaro, fedora and similar as well
Gamewitch Aug 3, 2014
There are many Linux users that are likely not to do the survey, plus in addition to the fact man distributions do not ship with lsb by default makes it even more skewed this way and that. In the end any kind of opt-in survey is going to be inaccurate, sadly.
seven Aug 3, 2014
its summer, pretty normal it dips
Segata Sanshiro Aug 3, 2014
As per last month, I still think it would be cool to do a monthly GOL survey, see how many people dual boot, switch distros, use services other than Steam, etc.
Xseba360 Aug 3, 2014
Didn't get the survey this month either... :S:
aironeous Aug 3, 2014
I switched to linux mint 17 this month. I finally got the money to replace my busted desktop graphics card (GTX 460) and found out quickly that whoever installed the cpu cooler at ibuypower stripped the threads on 2 out of the four mounts so the cooler was cracked and bent at an angle only partially touching the CPU. Probably it over a period of time slowly worked its way into that position from heating and cooling down until the 2 loose mounts got more and more loose until it busted shortly after warranty.
Also they stuck some sort of second filter in the inside by the power supply which I found full of lint/dust which most likely contributed to the graphics card and cpu cooler heating up too high and failing.
I replaced the cpu cooler and now I'm a very happy camper. Got a GTX 750 from amazon.
I used to use the Mex distro but I got tired of getting confused with all the different desktops and their updates and which ones may conflict, it was just getting complicated for me so I just switched to linux mint with kde and plan to stay there.

This desktop has been out of commission for 8 months.
FutureSuture Aug 3, 2014
Quoting: Xpander
Quoting: liamdaweWow, so Arch could possibly be Steam's number 2 distro right now. That's a lot of users.
i dont think its only arch, its probably any distro that doesnt come default with lsb package installed. probably manjaro, fedora and similar as well
Manjaro comes with lsb-release installed.
Mohandevir Aug 4, 2014
Linux 3.10... My memory could fool me, but it's the Debian Kernel, isn't it?
Could'nt it be SteamOS?
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