Linux Breaks 5% Desktop Share in U.S., Signaling Open-Source Surge Against Windows and macOS

Looking forward, analysts predict Linux could hit 7% by 2027 if trends continue, driven by AI integrations in distributions like those from Canonical
Sure. That must be the reason.
- Gotta shove AI into everything to prevent the bubble from collapsing.
- certainly not like I specifically switched over to avoid having an AI automatically launch on start-up without my permission.
- Glad they mentioned distros to avoid for their AI integration.
- People gagging so hard on the AI dick that they try to reason that people going to open source are doing it for AI... What a world
- Yeah Windows better hurry up and get some AI integration!

Is it... dare I say it... the year of the Linux desktop?
- Well it's fucked now, I thought we all agreed not to say it and see if it made any difference
- Shhhhhh! You’ll jinx it!
  
  The year of the linux desktop will only happen if no one said that year is the year of the linux desktop
- 🌎👨‍🚀🔫👨‍🚀
- We’ll see at the end of the year. Don’t celebrate too soon.
- Always has been! 🚀🔫

I just made the switch on my daily driver yesterday to Endeavor OS! Am I allowed to say I use Arch btw?
- Yes. It is arch with a calamaris installer.
- It's based on arch, so technically sure, but be prepared for the pedantry. Ran arch for years, switched to endeavor because it allowed for a basic sway install to rice on pretty easily without having to configure every little thing. Arch is great, but maintenance can get old after a while.
  
  And I thought technically correct was the best kind of correct. I chose it because SteamOS is an Arch fork so I thought there would be less finagling for games.
- I just switched to Garuda Dr460onized as my daily driver. Fucking love it! Am I also allowed to say I use Arch btw?
- No forks allowed, sorry

I’m just removed, but I had to put windows on one of my machines for the first time in just over 10 years (since I was a kid) and I absolutely fucking hate it. slow ass, bloated, clunky ass OS. garbage software.
- Just a tip: If you installed Pro or better you can use Group Policies (gpedit.msc) to strip the OS bloat down slightly more than the Home versions. Education and Enterprise also have the telemetry spyware completely removed. But they have a few extra things you'll probably never use and you'll want to disable (like their terrible Remote Desktop stuff, Work Folders, etc.)
  (I dual boot for gaming. So I know the pain.)
  
  im sure most of yall know but it was new to me that you can use some terminal commands while installing to activate pro edition and ms office pro and other stuff fairly easily https://github.com/massgravel/Microsoft-Activation-Scripts
  
  as soon as I’m done taking the cysa+ exam I’m going back to arch. I can not stand this. but thank you for the info! I’ll dig around and see what more I can do to make it a bit more bearable.
- Use the IoT LTSC version and install it using Rufus. Zero bloat, very fast, no clunk.
- Linux Mint runs so fast on my laptop that was struggling to boot into Windows 11. Also, no driver issues yet! Whew.

This is really market share against Microsoft, not Mac. For good reason too, Microsoft is working very hard to ruin their company. They’re losing a lot of ground to Mac as well, especially in the small business sector where many things are web based now anyways. Run an MSP and we’ve had quite a few clients get fed up with inconsistent updates and repeated dumb problems.. looking at you WSD and printing.
- where many things are web based now anyways
  https://xkcd.com/934/
  
  Wait, Randall knows about xmonad?
- Oh don’t worry. Apple has been working very hard on enshitifyjng their OS. They just don’t get reported on as much as Microsoft.
  
  I worked for an MSP that supported an all-Mac environment. Got real tired of telling people that their problem was a well-known bug in Mac that Apple has ignored for over 10 years and would probably never be fixed. I had to give that explanation a lot, for many different issues.
  At least with Windows people expect problems like that. Mac people refuse to believe anything could possibly be Apple's fault.

Looking forward, analysts predict Linux could hit 7% by 2027 if trends continue, driven by AI integrations in distributions like those from Canonical
Or rather, by their optionality. Some people want those tools, some don't want to touch them with a 3m pole; Linux can appease to both, unlike Windows is doing.

Thanks Microsoft!

Dozens of us!!
...but this is actually good news. I'm glad to hear it.
- I am the 5%!!

Okay Linux users, no snark about this distro is better than that one. We're all just one happy family.
- It really could be more if the linux user community could agree on things and stop gatekeeping - which seems to be the only thing most online active linux users can agree on "ermagerd eternal september" 🙄
  Anti Commercial-AI license
  
  Anti Commercial-AI license
  You know they steal books by the library right? How is this line supposed to do anything? It reminds me of the Facebook copy and paste spam like "Don't make my photos publicly available" after the person already uploaded a million photos on their page

Can we also have an open source surge against Android, with valid providers in all countries?
- No, because the "surge" in market share is almost certainly driven not by the average user's love of open source software, but by the average user simply letting their laptop die as they switch to phones and tablets as their sole computing devices. Windows users aren't becoming Linux users. They are becoming Android users.
- I personally like Android
  What we need is better AOSP
- We totally can, but not yet. Postmarket is trying hard AF.
  The whole Voice/SMS/VoLTE/DataLTE side of things is proprietary, so they're reverse engineering it, but it's painfully slow. Probably once they crack it open, the industry will try to protect it behind encryption and DRM.
- The year of the Linux desktop isn't as interesting anymore. It all sort of works good enough for most people not to need to care now.
  What we need is the year of the Linux phone. And it think that we will have to still wait a long time for it. And no, Google/Linux does not count.

I wonder if SteamDeck counts toward desktop share here? It kinda is a desktop OS, even though it's mainly used on a handheld device. Either way, I think that contributes a lot to normalization and stability of the ecosystem, if not device count.
The big factor though is probably just a shrinking market. For people that aren't computer nerds or businesses, it's getting less likely they own a laptop or desktop, and more likely they think their phone is good enough.
- Only if Steam Decks are being counted by StatCounter
- They count by website traffic so probably not, no.

Here is as close as I could find to the source data. Unfortunately, everything is listed in terms of "market share" which is great for "back slaps for the boys", but less great for generating hypotheses for actual causes. What I would like is the raw numbers - what were the total devices for each OS?
My bets for what are driving this change, from least to most likely:
Least likely: the average user, who is a lazy dumbass and knows nothing about OS's, has educated themselves on open source operating systems and has decided to throw off the shackles of their corporate, closed-source overlords, and installed a complicated operating system they've never used before onto their home desktop/laptop (which they never use) using a flash drive (which is hidden in the junk drawer where they haven't seen it for 7 years).
Some small tech-based businesses switched from windows to unix-based systems for their desktops. Mostly, this means now everyone is using MacBooks, but they gave in to a few developers who wanted linux-based machines.
Existing Linux users are finding the platform more stable for a daily driver, and are letting their windows machines go dark as the need to use them diminishes.
Steam deck (caveat - does this count as a desktop OS? I kinda doubt it.)
This has nothing to do with Linux. Windows users aren't switching to open source operating systems. They are switching to mobile devices. The average user is simply leaving their windows home laptop in the closet somewhere, and without even noticing, has transitioned to using phones and tablets as their sole devices for day to day computing. Windows isn't really losing market share to Linux - it is losing market share to Android and iOS. Usage of windows machines drops off because windows is an operating system for average users, who don't care about computers that much. Linux users, on the other hand, are much more likely to be "computer people" who like to do things like develop software - a task which can only really be accomplished in a desktop environment. So the total number of Linux desktops stays stable, while the number of windows machines drops off -> "increased" Linux market share.
- Here is a different (in my opinion probably better) source: https://analytics.usa.gov/
  It also shows Linux above 5%. I agree that most people are switching to phone and/or tablet, but: the total devices are increasing AND the total number of phone/tablet devices are increasing AND the linux share is increasing
  I would expect that as the denominator (all devices which includes an ever increasing number of phone/tablet) increases that Windows, mac and linux would decrease. I am surprised (and happy) that Linux is increasing!
  
  Hmmm.... Interesting! Maybe I'm mistaken

I think a big part of this is PC builders choosing an OS. There is so much content on YouTube about switching to Linux, and people have experience with the Steam Deck as well, which also factors in.

I was wondering if Linux would break 5% in global stats. Can I expect that? I am still not sure.

Yup! Just installed it on my laptop after several tries running into bugs during install. My desktop is next, but I'm not ready for the headaches of figuring out a dual-boot yet. I'm mentally preparing for it, though, so fingers crossed.
So I might as well ask beforehand: Does anyone have a preferred tutorial for it? I prefer a recommendation to going in blind.
- Hello. Not really a tutorial but a bit of advice: get a new internal SSD from Amazon and install it on that, leaving your Windows drive alone. It is a lot less of a headache if Linux is on a dedicated drive.

Are they counting Steamdecks?
Or what is the scope?
- They count based on useragent info from accesses to websites using statcounter analytics.
  
  Presumably steamdecks are heavily underrepresented in that, because I can't imagine more than a quarter of steamdeck users are even going into desktop mode, much less launching a browser
- Unless they track Steam Deck specific fingerprints the OS may be classified as Arch, but either way: yes, every Steam Deck counts as a Linux system out of the box.

That's me now! Yayyy!