Every article tag can be clicked to get a list of all articles in that category. Every article tag also has an RSS feed! You can customize an RSS feed too!
We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

Steam's October Hardware Survey - Linux Still Holding Itself Up

By - | Views: 16,392
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 results for October 2013

Ubuntu 13.04 64 bit 0.35% -0.10%
Ubuntu 12.04.3 LTS 64 bit 0.18% 0.00%
Ubuntu 13.10 64 bit 0.15% +0.15%
Linux Mint 15 Olivia 64 bit 0.11% 0.00%
Linux 64 bit 0.10% 0.00%
Ubuntu 13.04 0.09% -0.03%
Ubuntu 12.04.3 LTS 0.08% +0.01%

Total: 1.06%
Last Month: 1.03%

My thoughts on it
So we increased by a total of 0.03%, not exactly much of an increase and could be put down to any number of reasons but it's good to see us hold steady at least!

I expect it to rise over the next year but very slowly, honestly by the end of 2014 if we aren't closing the gap with Mac OS X I will be surprised, it all depends on how SteamOS is shown in the surveys.

Things to note
The Other category may contain a few of the smaller Linux distro's like Fedora, Gentoo and Arch for example. 

0.66% -0.06%

Especially when before the main stats did contain quite a few more Linux distro's it's safe to assume some of the % is Linux as well.

There is this long bug report on Valve's github where a fair few users are stating they have never even seen the survey under Linux. I am one of them, yet I am logged in everyday.

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. Personally I am still yet to see it under Linux so it's not counting me that's for sure and I am logged in every day!

Also to note is that Linux is apparently only sitting at around 1.28% of the worldwide desktop share anyway according to Net Applications. Their reporting should also be taken lightly too since it's all using web-based counters.

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.

Lastly apologies for being so late on this, no one reminded me! Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Editorial
0 Likes
About the author -
author picture
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.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
18 comments
Page: «2/2
  Go to:

Znurre Nov 18, 2013
I also got my survey for the first time this month.
Twinkles Nov 18, 2013
I also noticed that Arch is overrepresented in support forums regarding Linux. Is it more popular than I am aware of, or does it have problems in regard to gaming?
intok Nov 18, 2013
Quoting: Quote from QantouriscAlso on top of the not-getting-survey: how accurate are these tests ? Are they accurate to 0.03% ?!?
In your Steam client go to

Help > System Information

This is the data sent to Valve for these surveys. Why they don't just gather this data at login I'll never understand.
Lord Avallon Nov 18, 2013
Quoting: Quote from richie442another month and no survey for me :( ....ah.
It´s the same to me.
FutureSuture Nov 18, 2013
Quoting: Quote from intok
Quoting: Quote from QantouriscAlso on top of the not-getting-survey: how accurate are these tests ? Are they accurate to 0.03% ?!?
In your Steam client go to

Help > System Information

This is the data sent to Valve for these surveys. Why they don't just gather this data at login I'll never understand.
I would like that as well. It should be opt out instead of opt in and should be for everybody, not a random sample.
kabamaru Nov 19, 2013
I'm not sure the survey thing is a bug. Maybe you've just been unlucky. I've been asked to take the survey on my Linux, Mac, and Windows system (in that order). Although I only took the survey on my Linux ;-)
Ba7a7chy Nov 20, 2013
I got the survey on ARCH 64bit, the OS was shown as "Linux 64bit"
Aaron Dec 1, 2013
How will the HW part of the survey count someone on a laptop using a vidock? Or will the survey explode?
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
The comments on this article are closed.