I’m doing my part! Switched to Linux earlier this year because Microsoft started showing ads in the start menu. I tried Nobara but ran into some glitches that I didn’t want to troubleshoot so I switched to Bazzite. So far so good.
They’ve been showing ads in the start menu for years now. Since windows 8 honestly.
As pointed out on hackernews, this is likely attributed to (a) decrease in desktop usage by non-linux-users, and (b) the gaming hardware industry embracing linux (steam deck etc.)
I’d honestly be curious to see what percentage of Linux is steam decks now
This doesn’t give a complete answer, but according to Steam’s Hardware and Software Survey, 31% of Steam’s Linux users are using “SteamOS Holo”. It’s the name of SteamOS 3, used by Steam Decks. 2.57% of Steam users are using some Linux distro.
Iine go up diamond hands
I think the fastest way for Linux to spread is for there to be a cheap gross dirty disgusting commercial version pushed at bestbuy/walmart…etc where people can become familiar enough with it to switch to other distros and out still feel familiar.
Im a long time Mac user but recently got a steamdeck. Desktop mode uses a version of kde and I really like it, if I had to switch from Mac I would definitely go with linux instead of windows. I think the steam deck will introduce a lot of people to linux.
Do you think ChromeOS could fit that role? At least it shows that an alternative to Windows exists.
Google will merge Android and ChromeOS.
I hopped on the Linux train when Microsoft began pushing hard for AI integration and Microsoft accounts. I fucking hate AI and I don’t need some corpo cunt looking over my shoulder and taking notes while I use my computer.
Welcome! Because we Linux aficionados are incorrigibly nosy and passionate, which distro did you pick and how are you liking it so far?
I made the switch recently for probably the strangest reason.
I’ve been running win 11 for over a year using a shell tool that allowed me to move my task bar to the top of the screen and some other win 10 functionality.
However win 11 removed the ability to move the task bar and my shell program lost most of its functionality. After that I was done.
I’ve Linux off and on since 2002ish so it’s not scary to me and I’m pretty happy with Arch and KDE right now. Still the occasional crash that appears to happen sometimes when watching YouTube.
Hey, don’t knock customization as a reason. A couple of decades ago, I was sold on Linux by silly Beryl/Compiz videos such as this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=038RHEGu4OYIf anyone is stuck on windows and not able to switch there’s a program called wind hawk that will let you download customizations in windows 11 including moving the bar
From my reading all ways to move the task bar have been removed.
This is working currently on windows 11 23h2. There are other mods for the top too I just prefer a right side vertical.
idk how you stayed on windows so long, had I tried linux sooner I wouldve dumped it faster, no software support or piracy for said software if it does have support is rough tho like houdinifx is hard to pirate if not impossible, davinci is easy tho, adobe has no support (no idea if it works well with wine pirated)
I use arch btw
This guy uses arch btw
It wasn’t immediately clear, I think you need to change your username to IUseArchBtw so we all know off the bat.
Real men and women run Slack. Tarballs Yum!
To head off the zealots-- ./././
Gentoo with allllllllll the custom cflags while hanging a 20 lb weight off your scrotum
That’s not even close to a proper test of Linux womanhood/manhood.
Wow, that’s excluding Chrome OS, which has 2.71% on it’s own. So you could say Linux is at over 7%, but glad they split it so we know.
ChromeOS is going to the Google graveyard, to be replaced by android
(Maybe this is a good thing as Chromebooks have an expiration date averaging 3-5 years where they stop getting Chrome updates, when if it’s android can get updates to the browser for a much longer time AND have Firefox as default)
Android is also Linux though
I have an old Chromebook that I used for D&D sessions that is now collecting dust because they stopped supporting the model and use security hardware to prevent overwriting the drive that I have neither the tools or skills to circumvent.
Google can blow me where the pampers is.
Well yes, but Android now has a Debian container option. If they expose some Wayland/X interface to it for displaying stuff on Android, for a load of stuff, maybe that is good enough for a lot of stuff?
Linux as an OS is generally meant as Desktop Linux, and it most definitely is in this context that is about desktop marketshare, Desktop Linux is mostly following freedesktop guidelines, which has traditionally helped standards on Linux a lot to streamline developments. So for instance XFCE/Gnome/KDE desktop apps can be run in all the different desktop environments. For instance also standardizing things like how tray icons work. Freedesktop is part of X.Org Foundation, and Chrome OS does not use X.org or Free Desktop standards at all. The newer Wayland to replace X is also an X.org standard.
So while Chrome OS is based on the Linux kernel, it is NOT a Linux OS in the original sense, a term that became popular decades before Chrome OS or Android became a thing.
If you include Chrome OS you might as well include Android too. As it can run on for instance Raspberry Pi and other mini systems, and could be used as a desktop system.
Chrome OS is a Linux kernel based OS, and not much more than that.
It’s somewhat confusing in some situations that Linux as a desktop OS doesn’t have a unique name, but it wasn’t a problem originally, as what some prefer to call GNU/Linux was made 100% for desktop use originally.The Linux kernel is way way more widespread and successful than what we usually term Desktop Linux or GNU/Linux.
TLDR:
Linux OS, Desktop Linux, GNU/Linux are generally meant as the same thing.
Chrome OS and Android do not belong in that category. They are Linux based as in the Linux kernel only, but do not follow the standards of Desktop Linux.This isn’t entirely right because Chrome OS is using a lot more of normal desktop Linux than Android does, which basically uses none.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChromeOS
Android is this completely different thing (built round OpenBinder) that ended up using the Linux kernel for good hardware support. It’s basically got nothing to do with desktop Linux, bar needed it to actually build Android. You can argue that Google basically tried forking Linux for Binder and control.
Oh so you can install KDE/Gnome/XFCE apps on Chrome OS and they will work?
You know the “desktop” in Desktop Linux means compatibility is on the desktop apps,and that goes way beyond terminal commands right?Yes you can, but they are actually in a LXC container with Wayland/X from outside (I think it is also in a KVM/QEmu). (Interesting project : https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromiumos/platform2/+/HEAD/vm_tools/sommelier/README.md)
If you look at the architecture it looks more normal than Android.
https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/chromiumos-design-docs/software-architecture/
Others note this:
It’s made of lots of FOSS, but it is a dystopian version of a Linux desktop.
Every year Linux fans:
👐 It’s happening! 👐
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I’m not in the US, but here in the UK I made the switch too.
I went from Windows PC + Windows laptop ~2 years ago to now having a Linux PC (ZorinOS), Samsung tablet and a home server running Proxmox with an Ubuntu VM for Docker.
Never been happier with my setup. The grass truly is greener over here.
I couldn’t find it is in the article, is this new purchases, or how is this measured. If a computer ships with windows and I install mint on it, how do they know where that tally goes?
The stats are from StatCounter which has this in their FAQ:
What methodology is used to calculate Statcounter Global Stats? Statcounter is a web analytics service. Our tracking code is installed on more than 1.5 million sites globally. These sites cover various activities and geographic locations. Every month, we record billions of page views to these sites. For each page view, we analyse the browser/operating system/screen resolution used and we establish if the page view is from a mobile device.
So it’s the percentage if web traffic (to sites that use this analytics service)
Ah so that should be pretty accurate then, because the amount of users spoofing their OS is likely fairly low, and I would assume would mostly be Linux users as well, meaning it wouldn’t sell the data as being higher than it is, but rather possibly lower.
Also someone who uses Linux is more likely to use adblock and telemetry blocking features. The actual count is definitely slightly higher.
Does telemetry block that? If you go to a site like this, does it get your OS correct? I figured you’d have to use the spoof features like in Firefox to get it to say something different. (Like telling it your chrome so it doesn’t block your browser on certain pages)
I know in Cromite I can do some of it from here:
You can get the browser version. But as per OP StatCounter says this
Statcounter is a web analytics service. Our tracking code is installed on more than 1.5 million sites globally.
I am assuming these are some extra js files or external scripts that the website will try to load, it won’t be part of the native website itself. Adblocker will completely prevent those file or websites from loading in the first place.
My initial point might not be quite right though, in the sense of Linux might be higher by pure numbers but not by percentage. The sheer number of people using Windows, even if a small portion use adblocker could outnumber the Linux users.
My first guess is the author is aggregating the numbers from either the distros download data directly or they are getting the numbers from some place like Distro Watch. You can even get a crude sense of the increase in new users if you hang out in a distro help forum. I check the r/Fedora sub on reddit a few times a week, (I run Fedora 42 BTW), and there has been enough of an increase in new users posting “OMG, I just ditched Windows and look at my shiny new Gnome/KDE desktop!” to be annoying to some people. It can be hard to find those posts from people looking for help with a problem sometimes.
What no one can say is just how long those shiny new users will stick with Linux or run back to Windows at a later date. My gut feeling is, if half of this new 5% sticks it’s a major, major victory for all the distros.
A lot of it kicks back to companies as well. If every time someone interviews for a new job they are telling users they need to run their programs or even just the application for the interview from a Windows machine it pressures users into going back. I always see shit like that for stuff that is even just browser based. I prefer not to install zoom, teams, and such and just open in the browser, but ive run into companies saying their typing tests and other pre employment material only run on Windows. It’s usually false, as I never actually have needed it to install Windows, but it sows doubt in people who don’t want to take chances when they are already in a potentially tight spot.
I switched to mint like a month before PewDiePie lol
My main issue is that I kinda need actual Excel every so often because I require things like power query. I tried installing it using Wine, but it needs to authenticate with Microsofts servers, even the older versions.
I switched over to EndeavourOS around the same time. I relegated my old windows install to a virtual image, which I boot into for specific games and Excel. 10/10 recommend.
You can spin up a virtual machine running Tiny10 and install office on that. Should work fine.
Have you tried OnlyOffice? It has better compatibility with MS formats than LibreOffice.
OnlyOffice is worse (and not because of the security breach implications), but because it misses the Ctrl+D shortcut (copies the cell above to the current cell). Which is something I use A LOT for data entry.
Wait, what security breach implications?
I still use windows because of Visual Studio. I used to use Mac OSX because of XCode and I honestly don’t understand people today who still use Windows or Mac for anything other than Development.
If there was an alternative to Visual Studio for Linux I wouldn’t think twice.
If it’s for C#, I’m doing pretty well with VSCode/VSCodium on Linux.
WPF and Forms does not work but I also have a Rider license from work which I use occasionally to maintain one of our old WPF applications, which we converted to Avalonia XPF. It works great and we now also have a Mac and Linux version.
Without knowing what you are working on in Visual Studio, I would suggest checking out Jetbrains IDEs. I’ve used Rider for .NET quite successfully, and most of their other IDEs. I havent spent nearly as much time with CLion, but its supposed to be good. I haven’t used VS since like 2015, so I really don’t know how they compare these days. But I also haven’t missed it.
People who use windows or Mac for anything but development do so for the same reasons as you, they are locked into some features. For example, at home I need a local music library manager with local sync to my phone music app and smart playlists. Mac is still the only platform with this.
At work I need MS exchange integration and all the features of native office. Even the Mac version isn’t good enough for my workflow.
My only hope would be to turn to emulators or something like that, but at that point I’m not really running Linux anyway. I’m just running something else in a container inside Linux.
MPD works pretty well for the music thing, and, I don’t know if this is would be an option for you, but I programmed my own smart-paylist-generator in rust as a hobby project to get control of my 500Gb (around 10,000 100% legally acquired tracks cough, cough) library. The additional control over the algo meant I got something that works waaaay better than pretty much anything else I’ve tried (including Spotify suggestions, etc. — the only thing I still use is Bandcamp for new artist suggestions); if you have the time, I highly recommend a homemade solution like that. It is a lot of work though.
Can you send me the details on your smart playlist generator? What does it do, comb the music and create a static playlist from the library music based on defined parameters?
As far as I can tell from an initial look, MPD doesn’t have local playback and sync which are the main features I’m looking for. Does MPD have a mobile app that I can locally sync the whole library to?
The only thing I really miss about visual studio is the automatic profiler. Everything else just felt archaic, bloated, slow, and unintuitive. Adding one line in cmake often does the same thing as clicking through five submenus which never once got updated since 2012.
In short, you want a .Net developement platform for Linux? And i assume something like VScode is not enough? The thing with .exe compilers in Linux ususally using Mingw/Msys2 because MS having their own proprietary compiler thing?
Visual Studio is a relic of the past. Does anyone still use it?
This question is a comment to its answer 🤔
Everything is online.
Who even needs to run local apps anymore?Edit: My point is -native linux versions don’t exist in many/most cases. I was making a point that a web version of some app accessible to Linux users is better than nothing at all.
I seriously don’t want everything to be a god damn webpage.
The funny thing for me is that my job is like 80% webpages in LibreWolf on my Linux machine. But that’s because the company uses M365 and Github.
I use various different programs for different reasons just like anybody, but I bet browser + vscode + terminal covers 95% of my work day.
It’s better than an app without Linux version comrade
Just write a linux version, then. Programming isn’t hard.
What? Lmao. I was using Linux for many years - I assure you no one was writing Linux apps bro.
So I’ll gladly take a webpage as a service. Windows /Mac devs can keep doing what they were doing, I don’t care as long there is a web version.
Anyone who wants to own what they create and doesn’t want their work stolen for some startup’s plagiarism engine. Anyone who is interested in privacy. Anyone who wants a consistent user experience. Anyone who wants to be exempt from sinister targeted advertising. Anyone who is worried about censorship.
Me, who uses low end hardware and can’t spend several gigabytes for simple web apps that I can run locally for 10% of the hardware resources of the web equivalent.
But native linux versions don’t exist on most cases. I was making a point that a web version accessible to Linux user is better than nothing at all.
That’s true. Your first comment was a bit confusing, sorry.
I would say that most people who own a computer use local apps, and that the experience, and long-term costs, of using a local program is often better than doing something completely cloud-based.
They use data from webtraffic to make their charts, so talking about local apps doesn’t really have much to do with this website.
Video editors, photo editors, 3d modelers , animators, gamedevs, djs, etc.
I’m just waiting for double digits so that the FiveM devs can’t ignore Linux gamers anymore and actually allow for GTAV online playability. I mean, you can run a server on Linux but can’t play? Dumb.
Despite not being a gamer myself, Gamers are or should be a hotly contested demographic for Linux to chase and capture. And thanks to Steam, there is a shift happening as gaming gets easier.
Agreed. Gamers are probably one of the demographics which are most likely to care about the enshittification of their operating system, while most other users who only want Microsoft Office and their Web browser could not care less. The former can be swayed to endure a small amount of temporary inconvenience to switch while the latter will not.
