In all seriousness it’s very exciting, I just don’t need to see the same information worded 20 different ways from random clickbait sites lol
Look…I use Linux. I love Linux. But let’s be honest. That 4 percent is largely due to the steam deck; a gaming handheld where the vast majority of users don’t know (or care) what operating system it uses as long as they can play their steam games on the go.
That’s not “year of the Linux desktop”, because it’s not a desktop. It just has one hidden under the hood if you want to dig past the steam layer (which, as I said…the vast majority of users never will)
The year of the Linux desktop won’t arrive until there is sufficient market share that software manufacturers are inclined to support us natively. That won’t happen with a gaming handheld because no one would want to use a gaming handheld as a daily driver.
Sorry to be a wet blanket, folks. Downvote away…
Thats like calling MacOS and Playstation rises the “year of the BSD desktop”
Change my mind.
Hard truth right there
Android devices are the true year of the Linux desktop.
Ok, compile some code on your PlayStation
Folding at home?
I agree Steam Deck played a role, but they didn’t sell enough to make that large of an increase. That’d be insane. However, it did cause the appearance of gaming on Linux to change, which is the thing that was holding back a large number of users.
I had used Linux several times over the past decade or so. It was never my main OS, and I had actually stopped using it completely for probably 5 years, maybe more. This is exclusively because gaming on Linux was an issue and I didn’t want to swap OSs just to play a game. Last year I went 100% Linux. I know I’m not the only one, and I’m extremely confident that the increase is mostly this, not the Steam Deck. The number of Steam Decks sold seems to be maybe 6m on the high end of estimates, which is not enough.
The Steam Deck was a catalyst, but it is not the source of the change.
Only 1.63% of Steam users were using Linux in 2023. Since pretty much all Steam Deck users are going to be using Steam, we can’t attribute Linux’s increase in market share to the Steam Deck alone.
That doesnt have any correlation to number of non steamdeck linux users. So 1.63% of steam users could represent a number larger than linux users. And we know steam users is a large number.
due to the steam deck
You sure? Not proton?
It did take like 20 years to reach 3 percent and now we’re at 4 so I think it’s alright to be excited.
Turning of the hockey stick. Invest now.
Ah yes, invest in Linux…
well, you can always donate to open source projects…
Linux Mint checking in!
We got it? Nice… Gotta go and make a meme about it.
Contrary to the idea that most of these new users come from steam decks, I’ve had 3 of my friends switch to or at least partially use linux. We are certainly growing.
I’m just waiting for windows 12. If reports are to be believed, it’s going to be a subscription cloud OS, probably with a thin client. If they really go through with that, then I can imagine linux gaining some ground in 2026 when windows 11 hits EOL.
I doubt Microsoft is that dumb, though.
Yeah, probably they aren’t, but who knows. Unity thought they were infallible and went for their “pay the installation fee or else” that gave power to engines like Godot.
