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Linux Market Share on Desktop

137 points by macco 10y ago

executesorder66 10y ago
I wonder what happened in June.
- hrnnnnnn 10y ago
  The positive trend starts in April, so maybe it's something to do with the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS release.
- DiThi 10y ago
  Windows 10 Anniversary Update?
  - theandrewbailey 10y ago
    That was in August.
- Lio 10y ago
  Apple's WWDC was in June. I wonder if that had any measurable effect? It seems very unlikely that a presentation from any company would cause a measurable change in such a short space of time but anecdotally I did personally try to find possible replacements for my Mac after this year's WWDC. :)
- sqeaky 10y ago
  People getting fed up with being forced to update to Win 10? Does seem a bit late though. Perhaps there was a delay from forced update to table flip in frustration.
singularity2001 10y ago
And 95% marketshare for servers?
- kalleboo 10y ago
  Less than that - there are more Windows server out there than you'd expect https://news.netcraft.com/archives/2016/09/19/september-2016-web-server-survey.html https://news.netcraft.com/archives/2016/09/19/september-2016...
  - marcosdumay 10y ago
    That is, Linux is on 90% (ok, 89.8%) of them unless you count the parked domains that MS was paying companies to park on Windows.
    - kalleboo 10y ago
      Are you sure half those nginx machines aren't running OpenBSD?
- illys 10y ago
  The first question is "What is a server nowadays?"... An OS install? Or a physical machine?
  - ianai 10y ago
    OS install.
4monthsnot3 10y ago
4 months not 3
- pathsjs 10y ago
  Did you really create an account just to say this?
  - 4monthsnot3 10y ago
    I did when I saw that the headline was 1/3 too low.
- illys 10y ago
  It could be that 4 dots delimit 3 months, if data are sampled on one specific day (let's say 15th) and are not full month value (average). June-July 15ths + July-August 15ths + August-September 15ths = 3 months
  - 4monthsnot3 10y ago
    In that case, you still have May-June which makes it 4.
XaYdEk 10y ago
That's nice but ... Will this year be the year of the Linux Desktop ? Nop ... How about next year ? Nop ... When will the Year of the Linux Desktop occur ? At our current trajectory I estimate that will occur somewhere around the time* of: a) The Apocalypse b) The Heat Death of the Universe *whichever comes first
- XaYdEk 10y ago
  Ok, don't get me wrong, I love Linux and I'm not trying to be an ass. I'm a Linux guy (Debian/Gentoo mostly), but you will never get average users to switch to Linux, the same way you will never get me to use anything after Windows7 for personal use, I have a rage fit with all the icons and no proper command line and they will have a rage fit (or at least have a feeling of angst) if they have to type 3 lines of commands in the terminal to fix or setup something. Where I see Linux as powerful, they see it as difficult. Where I see Windows and Apple as limited and inflexible, they see it as simple. So it seems people will go for easy 98% of the times.
  - berntb 10y ago
    >> you will never get average users to switch to Linux Last I looked, Linux (in Android) was leading BSD-alike (iOS) -- and those are probably the two most popular platforms around... :-) Especially for average users that are cost conscious. (At a minimum, place one and three of installed world wide base?)
    - XaYdEk 10y ago
      Desktop. Talking desktop. You will never get them to do it by themselves, you have to set it up for them. There is a resistence to switching to Linux, because of the image they have in their mind about it. Mint and Ubuntu are very user friendly and yes once I dropped them (Ubuntu & Lubuntu) on my familly computers the resistance vanished in a matter of minutes after using them. Biggest problem was "Why is the X on the left top of the window ?" So I'm saying: without some incentives or guidance, adoption of Linux desktop by average users will remain low because of perceived difficulty, existing familiarity with Windows and Mac OSes and general mental inertia.
ungzd 10y ago
Maybe user-agent values from Android somehow leaked into the data (i.e. "desktop mode" in browsers)? It includes "Linux" in Chrome https://developer.chrome.com/multidevice/user-agent https://developer.chrome.com/multidevice/user-agent and builtin browser.
- ac29 10y ago
  Yes, but it also includes "Android" in the string. Still, I question their methodology -- a ~50% increase in market share in 1 year is hard to believe. edit: Maybe ChromeOS is driving this?
bhouston 10y ago
We switched from Windows to Ubuntu for nearly all desktops here earlier this year. The pain wasn't that great even for those that haven't used Linux before as the main development machine. Ubuntu is great (except for installing NVIDIA drivers [1]) and it leads to better and more robust development experiences for the cloud when using lxc rather than VirtualBox for encapsulated environments. (Of course many of us still dual boot into Windows often for testing and for using special purpose applications.) [1] https://www.google.ca/search?q=nvidia+ubuntu+black+screen https://www.google.ca/search?q=nvidia+ubuntu+black+screen
- noonespecial 10y ago
  I managed a similar transition about 2 years ago. I expected failure like the many times I'd tried before. It went off without a hitch. The difference wasn't really the linux desktop itself. There never was a "year of the linux desktop". It seems to be everything else. The webification of everything slew the desktop native app and the ubiquity of a gazillion different smartphones primed people to accept new UI experiences. The business world is finally coming out of the place where everything it does has to be rammed through the Office/Excel/Powerpoint/Exchange funnel no matter how it distorts the outcome.
  - Brakenshire 10y ago
    > The difference wasn't really the linux desktop itself. There never was a "year of the linux desktop". It seems to be everything else. The webification of everything slew the desktop native app and the ubiquity of a gazillion different smartphones primed people to accept new UI experiences. Yes, I think the situation has changed now. I'm looking forward to good Linux-friendly ARM boxes being available for $100-$150, preinstalled with Ubuntu or Elementary OS. It won't be long until something like that would be satisfactory for most casual users. There are lots of people currently who are using XP or Vista, or old hardware which has worked fine up to now, but which periodically falls off the wagon. They have screens and keyboards, don't need perfect Office compatibility, mostly use the web, and don't particularly want to spend a lot of money for a replacement.
  - sqeaky 10y ago
seren 10y ago
Isn't netmarketshare looking at browser user agent ? So if you are using Linux in a VM this is counted as a desktop Linux user ? (which in a way might be true but still...)
- imglorp 10y ago
  There's some others in the opposite direction: using linux desktop but running windows in a vm, spoofing user agent to look like windows, or running ie in wine, pipelight/silverlight etc.
ryan-c 10y ago
https://www.netmarketshare.com/faq.aspx#Methodology https://www.netmarketshare.com/faq.aspx#Methodology There's nothing here to indicate that they make any effort to exclude bots/crawlers/scrapers/etc.
rkeene2 10y ago
The title is slightly misleading -- Linux is WAY above 2% of computing marketshare, it's really only on the desktop that it lags behind. Linux is running on more computers than almost any other OS. The only competition for most popular it has is VxWorks and QNX. EDIT: The title was updated to be more accurate, it didn't mention desktops initially.
- elcapitan 10y ago
  Maybe the old "the year of the Linux desktop" is obsolete because it's never going to be the "year of the desktop" for any operating system anymore.
- wink 10y ago
  If you're a Linux desktop user you probably would've known that it might be talking about desktop use :) Although I would've put the ballpark at 5% - and for developers even 10%.
  - rkeene2 10y ago
    I am a Linux desktop user. I use Slackware 14.2 on my current workstation (an Apple MacBookPro11,3 according to "dmidecode) and my first Linux desktop was Slackware 3.3.0 (on a 486DX2/50 Packard Bell). Additionally I used HP-UX on a Visualize C3000 and Solaris on a SPARCStation 20 as my workstation for periods of time. The title is still misleading.
- X86BSD 10y ago
  I'm not sure where you get your numbers from but I would disagree. I'll bet there is more BSD running embedded than Linux. And either of us will be hard put to actually show solid numbers. Everyone can point to their favorite vendors using X.
  - phkahler 10y ago
    A billion Android phones dwarfs BSD installations. I know this isn't really that important, as Android is mostly Google stuff sitting on top of a Linux kernel so they could probably dump Linux fairly easy if they had a decent alternative. Fuchsia anyone? Or better yet, Fuchsia on risc-v...
yann63 10y ago
Maybe windows users are abandonning their PC faster than Linux users? They are switching to tablets and smartphones. So in percentage, the increase of Linux market share for desktop could just be a decrease of windows (and Mac OS X).
ohstopitu 10y ago
I've always said this but Linux (Ubuntu on the desktop) needed a few applications to ensure that almost all devs didn't need anything else. In my opinion...those tools (which didn't exist) were: 1. GUI git client (a few exist, but nothing close to Tower or Sourcetree) 2. A nice UI/UX designer (Figma is awesome but you need the desktop client to upload .sketch files that require external fonts - which is almost always the case for most kits - and that desktop client is only available on Windows & MacOS) 3. Creator Applications (Tools that you don't really need, until you do - especially if you are a lone/indie dev). Initially I would have added MS Office to the top of the list, but Libreoffice has gotten a lot better (and people use/are not surprised by Google Docs now) But that said, as someone who's used Ubuntu almost exclusively for development for the last 5 years, it's been getting better and better.
- zython 10y ago
  what about gitkraken as an intuitive git client. better than sourcetree and tower by far IMO
  - ohstopitu 10y ago
    Gitkraken is pretty nice! That said, it seems to have some issues every now and then (for example, I had to increase an Inotify watch limit). * You can't seem to re-order the UI - which would have been great! * Auto save working copy as a stash when switching branches (Sourcetree does this) And finally, I had read an HN thread about it having some vague issues with it's agreement (but I have not read the agreement so I don't know about any specifics).
    - kevinherron 10y ago
      I've had to increase the watch limit for Intellij IDEA too. I think it's common for applications dealing with a lot of files at once.
- joshstrange 10y ago
  If you are working with code (re: git) I find the JetBrains products built in git to be all I really want out of a "GUI git client". I drop to the CLI for some more complex stuff but basic push/commit/merge I normally just stay in the IDE.
boozelclark 10y ago
Is this not the rise of ChromeOS? (http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/19/11711714/chromebooks-outsold-macs-us-idc-figures http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/19/11711714/chromebooks-outso...)
- Pigo 10y ago
  My Pixel 2 is the reason I got into Linux. Once I figured out how to run Ubuntu in Crouton, it's the only thing I want to use anymore.
  - boozelclark 10y ago
    I used a linux desktop but needed something a mobile without a hefty price tag. Got a HP Chromebook 13 and with crouton and it's brilliant. Beautiful hardware at a reasonable price. I just wish there was a crouton app launcher but its good enough anyway
    - AdmiralAsshat 10y ago
      Make some shell aliases to launch the programs in their own xiwi window.
HugoDaniel 10y ago
Can Android be considered Linux ? :)
- dx034 10y ago
  I would say so, it uses a Linux kernel after all.
- digi_owl 10y ago
  This is looking at browser useragent strings, and as such Android shows up under mobile, not desktop. Now ChromeOS on the other hand may be a interesting question.
angrygoat 10y ago
I wonder how many desktop Linux boxes are hidden behind corporate firewalls and thus hidden from these stats. My observation when I worked in oil & gas (at a company focussed on the exploration / geophysics side) was that they were almost exclusively Linux on the desktop, those machines being used for scientific visualisation and data analysis.
- drcross 10y ago
  Can't we still tell from browser fingerprints?
  - martiuk 10y ago
    Not if they're air-gapped.
- IMTDb 10y ago
  On the other hand, an individual that knows about linux, decides to download a distro, install it, and get to the internet probably is way more tech-savy than your average user. He is thus more likely to spend more time on the web and his browser / OS / hardware will be more "visible" in those charts.
  - pritambaral 10y ago
    Only a foolish "statistician" would count all visits towards population representation instead of unique visits
desireco42 10y ago
This is interesting for me as I am just in process to try how it would be to jump to linux. I did it several times before, didn't work. I run it in parallels on imac. I use i3wm and I am happy with that. Issue in the past was that it would take too long time to get it to work and configure properly and you constantly have to fiddle with it. This time, I managed to install good fonts, and as I am using barebones windows manager, there is very little that can be off. Yet, I had Firefox, which for a change was not super slow, get stuck twice, so I had to logout. I think that is the issue when Firefox can get so confused to be stuck. I wish I had more space on my desk, so I can have a dedicated machine and work on it. Oh yes, I like playing games, while not all are ported to linux, sufficient number is. So, that part is fine.
fermigier 10y ago
Cool, been waiting for this moment for the last, what, 15 years... The curve (https://www.netmarketshare.com/report.aspx?qprid=11&qpaf=&qpcustom=Linux&qpcustomb=0&qpsp=59&qpnp=12&qptimeframe=Q https://www.netmarketshare.com/report.aspx?qprid=11&qpaf=&qp...) unfortunately lacks some "hockey stick" characteristics. But if we wait, I don't know, 63 years, this will be the "year of the Linux desktop" at last ! (Of course, It's been "the year of the Linux smartphone" for a few years already, and "the year of the Linux supercomputer" for maybe 10 years).
iUsedToCode 10y ago
I've been using Linux since high school (late 20 here) and i cannot imagine going back to windows. I'm always surprised when a fellow programmer says they use windows at home. I couldn't live without command prompt. I love updating everything with one move. Now you can even use Steam on linux. Some apps are lacking, but most people don't edit videos or play with Photoshop. Especially now, since most of the desktop usage is internet and web browser, i see no reason to stick with Windows. But mostly, i just like being in control. Using some perl i can automate almost any menial task.
ris 10y ago
Quick reminder that Linux users are far more likely to be running Ad Blockers or NoScript or other blockers that prevent many analytics systems working properly (often just as a side effect, not intentionally).
awinter-py 10y ago
For me the adoption story is 100% about wifi drivers. There's pent-up demand for linux laptops but if you installed linux on your laptop 3 years ago, odds are the wifi didn't work. If broadcom decided today to follow intel/atheros and support linux, a huge class of devices would become linux-friendly overnight. I've bought and returned 5 different laptops this year and driver support has been the story every time. (even for hypothetically linux-based hardware like chromebooks -- the post-broadwell chromebooks have iffy linux support -- for new chromebooks, it's the graphics drivers that are most likely to give you trouble). Interface-wise, the feature stability of standard linux desktops (I use xfce) is probably a secret advantage over apple/msft/chrome. Every new version of windows/osx gets slower, more complicated, less keyboard-friendly and more notification-focused. A 2005-era windows user would probably be more comfortable on my mint xfce desktop than on a commercial alternative.
- CaptSpify 10y ago
  Don't forget video drivers! Those are still a flaky mess of closed-source and hacky solutions with unreadable errors. Personally I still have issues with sound-cards from time to time (I use debian, while ubuntu is much better about the OOTB experience), but getting rid of PA still fixes that.
  - pantalaimon 10y ago
    With which video drivers are you experiencing problems?
    - CaptSpify 10y ago
      nvidia
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
- sqeaky 10y ago
  I remember about 10 years ago this was a huge issue for me. Back then I would research and know which chip the wifi used before buying and carefully check versions. About 5 years ago I stopped when I saw that everything I looked up supported my stuff for at least 2 years. Since then every machine's wifi worked with a default Ubuntu install. It could also be a selection bias. Most of my machines are north of a thousand dollars and if you buy things in the price range of chromebooks then you are probably getting some low end stuff, maybe the drivers for cheap stuff are that much worse. Maybe the cheap stuff isn't up to spec and needs workarounds that are hidden inside the closed source drivers from the vendor which generally aren't used on Linux.
votr 10y ago
I've been using Ubuntu on my desktop for three years now. I love developing on it, but the consumer aspect has minor annoyances. - If I have a PDF with advanced features, then I need to use Windows. - Chrome, VS Code, and a few select applications flash repeatedly once up to a certain window size. Found out the problem has something to do with AMD graphics chips. - I think Libre Office is horrible. - Linux is still a second-class citizen for certain major apps such as Skype. I wouldn't mind ditching Skype altogether but some clients demand it. I've never used a Mac, but I can't help but think it's the best of both worlds...but Apple keeps making decisions which I feel sidelines developers.
FT_intern 10y ago
How does this compare to the rise of number of programmers?
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
jeena 10y ago
I was using Windows 2002, Linux from 2003-2006, OS X 2006-2013 and back to Linux since then. It really depends on what you're doing. I'm doing some desktop app deverlopement and a little webdevelopement in my free time, with git, Emacs, QtCreator, Thunderbird, Firefox, Gimp on Arch. I also record podcasts and master them with Ardour [1] on my Linux machine. I seldom play some game from Steam. I use Skype to call my parents. I also use it to manage my photos with Darktable [2] and RAWTherapee [3]. I listen to my music collection with Gnome Music and synchronize it between my computers with Syncthing. In my case I basically don't need to use anything which doesn't work on Linux, I bought a computer which was made for Linux [4], so I didn't have any driver problems. I don't do much with graphics. For me the values with which Linux comes are important, especialle freedom. I am aware that there might be more convinient applications out there but because they don't respect my freedom I don't have the desire to use them. I like that arrangement and it seems to improve a lot with time. [1] http://ardour.org/ http://ardour.org/ [2] http://www.darktable.org/ http://www.darktable.org/ [3] http://www.rawtherapee.com/ http://www.rawtherapee.com/ [4] http://www.tuxedocomputers.com/Linux-Hardware/Linux-Notebooks/10-14-Zoll/TUXEDO-InfinityBook-13-v3-13-Zoll-matt-Full-HD-IPS-Aluminiumgehaeuse-Intel-Core-i7-Energiespar-CPU-zwei-HDD/SSD-bis-16GB-RAM-bis-15h-Akku-Slim-Book.geek http://www.tuxedocomputers.com/Linux-Hardware/Linux-Notebook... [update] I forgot to write that at work, I work within the automobile industry and we do infotainment systems based on Linux (with yocto), in our company basically everyone uses Linux on the Desktop and we have gotten so far that a big portion of our customers moves over from Windows to Linux while they work together with us because they see how much easier and faster developement is when you develop for Linux and at the same time run Linux on your dev-machine. [http://www.pelagicore.com/ http://www.pelagicore.com/]
laacz 10y ago
One thing you can try is Windows Subsystem for Linux (Ubuntu on Windows). It works unexpectedly well, even with apps X server. For the sake of this comment I tried "sudo apt-get install gnome && DISPLAY=:0 gnome". It took 2 gigs and a while. Shame that doesn't work just like that.

137 points by macco 10y ago

executesorder66 10y ago

I wonder what happened in June.

hrnnnnnn 10y ago
The positive trend starts in April, so maybe it's something to do with the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS release.
DiThi 10y ago
Windows 10 Anniversary Update?
- theandrewbailey 10y ago
  That was in August.
Lio 10y ago
Apple's WWDC was in June. I wonder if that had any measurable effect? It seems very unlikely that a presentation from any company would cause a measurable change in such a short space of time but anecdotally I did personally try to find possible replacements for my Mac after this year's WWDC. :)
sqeaky 10y ago
People getting fed up with being forced to update to Win 10? Does seem a bit late though. Perhaps there was a delay from forced update to table flip in frustration.

singularity2001 10y ago

And 95% marketshare for servers?

kalleboo 10y ago
Less than that - there are more Windows server out there than you'd expect https://news.netcraft.com/archives/2016/09/19/september-2016-web-server-survey.html https://news.netcraft.com/archives/2016/09/19/september-2016...
- marcosdumay 10y ago
  That is, Linux is on 90% (ok, 89.8%) of them unless you count the parked domains that MS was paying companies to park on Windows.
  - kalleboo 10y ago
    Are you sure half those nginx machines aren't running OpenBSD?
illys 10y ago
The first question is "What is a server nowadays?"... An OS install? Or a physical machine?
- ianai 10y ago
  OS install.

4monthsnot3 10y ago

4 months not 3

pathsjs 10y ago
Did you really create an account just to say this?
- 4monthsnot3 10y ago
  I did when I saw that the headline was 1/3 too low.
illys 10y ago
It could be that 4 dots delimit 3 months, if data are sampled on one specific day (let's say 15th) and are not full month value (average). June-July 15ths + July-August 15ths + August-September 15ths = 3 months
- 4monthsnot3 10y ago
  In that case, you still have May-June which makes it 4.

XaYdEk 10y ago

That's nice but ... Will this year be the year of the Linux Desktop ? Nop ... How about next year ? Nop ... When will the Year of the Linux Desktop occur ? At our current trajectory I estimate that will occur somewhere around the time* of: a) The Apocalypse b) The Heat Death of the Universe *whichever comes first

XaYdEk 10y ago
Ok, don't get me wrong, I love Linux and I'm not trying to be an ass. I'm a Linux guy (Debian/Gentoo mostly), but you will never get average users to switch to Linux, the same way you will never get me to use anything after Windows7 for personal use, I have a rage fit with all the icons and no proper command line and they will have a rage fit (or at least have a feeling of angst) if they have to type 3 lines of commands in the terminal to fix or setup something. Where I see Linux as powerful, they see it as difficult. Where I see Windows and Apple as limited and inflexible, they see it as simple. So it seems people will go for easy 98% of the times.
- berntb 10y ago
  >> you will never get average users to switch to Linux Last I looked, Linux (in Android) was leading BSD-alike (iOS) -- and those are probably the two most popular platforms around... :-) Especially for average users that are cost conscious. (At a minimum, place one and three of installed world wide base?)
  - XaYdEk 10y ago
    Desktop. Talking desktop. You will never get them to do it by themselves, you have to set it up for them. There is a resistence to switching to Linux, because of the image they have in their mind about it. Mint and Ubuntu are very user friendly and yes once I dropped them (Ubuntu & Lubuntu) on my familly computers the resistance vanished in a matter of minutes after using them. Biggest problem was "Why is the X on the left top of the window ?" So I'm saying: without some incentives or guidance, adoption of Linux desktop by average users will remain low because of perceived difficulty, existing familiarity with Windows and Mac OSes and general mental inertia.

ungzd 10y ago

Maybe user-agent values from Android somehow leaked into the data (i.e. "desktop mode" in browsers)? It includes "Linux" in Chrome https://developer.chrome.com/multidevice/user-agent https://developer.chrome.com/multidevice/user-agent and builtin browser.

ac29 10y ago
Yes, but it also includes "Android" in the string. Still, I question their methodology -- a ~50% increase in market share in 1 year is hard to believe. edit: Maybe ChromeOS is driving this?

bhouston 10y ago

We switched from Windows to Ubuntu for nearly all desktops here earlier this year. The pain wasn't that great even for those that haven't used Linux before as the main development machine. Ubuntu is great (except for installing NVIDIA drivers [1]) and it leads to better and more robust development experiences for the cloud when using lxc rather than VirtualBox for encapsulated environments. (Of course many of us still dual boot into Windows often for testing and for using special purpose applications.) [1] https://www.google.ca/search?q=nvidia+ubuntu+black+screen https://www.google.ca/search?q=nvidia+ubuntu+black+screen

noonespecial 10y ago
I managed a similar transition about 2 years ago. I expected failure like the many times I'd tried before. It went off without a hitch. The difference wasn't really the linux desktop itself. There never was a "year of the linux desktop". It seems to be everything else. The webification of everything slew the desktop native app and the ubiquity of a gazillion different smartphones primed people to accept new UI experiences. The business world is finally coming out of the place where everything it does has to be rammed through the Office/Excel/Powerpoint/Exchange funnel no matter how it distorts the outcome.
- Brakenshire 10y ago
  > The difference wasn't really the linux desktop itself. There never was a "year of the linux desktop". It seems to be everything else. The webification of everything slew the desktop native app and the ubiquity of a gazillion different smartphones primed people to accept new UI experiences. Yes, I think the situation has changed now. I'm looking forward to good Linux-friendly ARM boxes being available for $100-$150, preinstalled with Ubuntu or Elementary OS. It won't be long until something like that would be satisfactory for most casual users. There are lots of people currently who are using XP or Vista, or old hardware which has worked fine up to now, but which periodically falls off the wagon. They have screens and keyboards, don't need perfect Office compatibility, mostly use the web, and don't particularly want to spend a lot of money for a replacement.
- sqeaky 10y ago

seren 10y ago

Isn't netmarketshare looking at browser user agent ? So if you are using Linux in a VM this is counted as a desktop Linux user ? (which in a way might be true but still...)

imglorp 10y ago
There's some others in the opposite direction: using linux desktop but running windows in a vm, spoofing user agent to look like windows, or running ie in wine, pipelight/silverlight etc.

ryan-c 10y ago

https://www.netmarketshare.com/faq.aspx#Methodology https://www.netmarketshare.com/faq.aspx#Methodology There's nothing here to indicate that they make any effort to exclude bots/crawlers/scrapers/etc.

rkeene2 10y ago

The title is slightly misleading -- Linux is WAY above 2% of computing marketshare, it's really only on the desktop that it lags behind. Linux is running on more computers than almost any other OS. The only competition for most popular it has is VxWorks and QNX. EDIT: The title was updated to be more accurate, it didn't mention desktops initially.

elcapitan 10y ago
Maybe the old "the year of the Linux desktop" is obsolete because it's never going to be the "year of the desktop" for any operating system anymore.
wink 10y ago
If you're a Linux desktop user you probably would've known that it might be talking about desktop use :) Although I would've put the ballpark at 5% - and for developers even 10%.
- rkeene2 10y ago
  I am a Linux desktop user. I use Slackware 14.2 on my current workstation (an Apple MacBookPro11,3 according to "dmidecode) and my first Linux desktop was Slackware 3.3.0 (on a 486DX2/50 Packard Bell). Additionally I used HP-UX on a Visualize C3000 and Solaris on a SPARCStation 20 as my workstation for periods of time. The title is still misleading.
X86BSD 10y ago
I'm not sure where you get your numbers from but I would disagree. I'll bet there is more BSD running embedded than Linux. And either of us will be hard put to actually show solid numbers. Everyone can point to their favorite vendors using X.
- phkahler 10y ago
  A billion Android phones dwarfs BSD installations. I know this isn't really that important, as Android is mostly Google stuff sitting on top of a Linux kernel so they could probably dump Linux fairly easy if they had a decent alternative. Fuchsia anyone? Or better yet, Fuchsia on risc-v...

yann63 10y ago

Maybe windows users are abandonning their PC faster than Linux users? They are switching to tablets and smartphones. So in percentage, the increase of Linux market share for desktop could just be a decrease of windows (and Mac OS X).

ohstopitu 10y ago

I've always said this but Linux (Ubuntu on the desktop) needed a few applications to ensure that almost all devs didn't need anything else. In my opinion...those tools (which didn't exist) were: 1. GUI git client (a few exist, but nothing close to Tower or Sourcetree) 2. A nice UI/UX designer (Figma is awesome but you need the desktop client to upload .sketch files that require external fonts - which is almost always the case for most kits - and that desktop client is only available on Windows & MacOS) 3. Creator Applications (Tools that you don't really need, until you do - especially if you are a lone/indie dev). Initially I would have added MS Office to the top of the list, but Libreoffice has gotten a lot better (and people use/are not surprised by Google Docs now) But that said, as someone who's used Ubuntu almost exclusively for development for the last 5 years, it's been getting better and better.

zython 10y ago
what about gitkraken as an intuitive git client. better than sourcetree and tower by far IMO
- ohstopitu 10y ago
  Gitkraken is pretty nice! That said, it seems to have some issues every now and then (for example, I had to increase an Inotify watch limit). * You can't seem to re-order the UI - which would have been great! * Auto save working copy as a stash when switching branches (Sourcetree does this) And finally, I had read an HN thread about it having some vague issues with it's agreement (but I have not read the agreement so I don't know about any specifics).
  - kevinherron 10y ago
    I've had to increase the watch limit for Intellij IDEA too. I think it's common for applications dealing with a lot of files at once.
joshstrange 10y ago
If you are working with code (re: git) I find the JetBrains products built in git to be all I really want out of a "GUI git client". I drop to the CLI for some more complex stuff but basic push/commit/merge I normally just stay in the IDE.

boozelclark 10y ago

Is this not the rise of ChromeOS? (http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/19/11711714/chromebooks-outsold-macs-us-idc-figures http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/19/11711714/chromebooks-outso...)

Pigo 10y ago
My Pixel 2 is the reason I got into Linux. Once I figured out how to run Ubuntu in Crouton, it's the only thing I want to use anymore.
- boozelclark 10y ago
  I used a linux desktop but needed something a mobile without a hefty price tag. Got a HP Chromebook 13 and with crouton and it's brilliant. Beautiful hardware at a reasonable price. I just wish there was a crouton app launcher but its good enough anyway
  - AdmiralAsshat 10y ago
    Make some shell aliases to launch the programs in their own xiwi window.

HugoDaniel 10y ago

Can Android be considered Linux ? :)

dx034 10y ago
I would say so, it uses a Linux kernel after all.
digi_owl 10y ago
This is looking at browser useragent strings, and as such Android shows up under mobile, not desktop. Now ChromeOS on the other hand may be a interesting question.

angrygoat 10y ago

I wonder how many desktop Linux boxes are hidden behind corporate firewalls and thus hidden from these stats. My observation when I worked in oil & gas (at a company focussed on the exploration / geophysics side) was that they were almost exclusively Linux on the desktop, those machines being used for scientific visualisation and data analysis.

drcross 10y ago
Can't we still tell from browser fingerprints?
- martiuk 10y ago
  Not if they're air-gapped.
IMTDb 10y ago
On the other hand, an individual that knows about linux, decides to download a distro, install it, and get to the internet probably is way more tech-savy than your average user. He is thus more likely to spend more time on the web and his browser / OS / hardware will be more "visible" in those charts.
- pritambaral 10y ago
  Only a foolish "statistician" would count all visits towards population representation instead of unique visits

desireco42 10y ago

This is interesting for me as I am just in process to try how it would be to jump to linux. I did it several times before, didn't work. I run it in parallels on imac. I use i3wm and I am happy with that. Issue in the past was that it would take too long time to get it to work and configure properly and you constantly have to fiddle with it. This time, I managed to install good fonts, and as I am using barebones windows manager, there is very little that can be off. Yet, I had Firefox, which for a change was not super slow, get stuck twice, so I had to logout. I think that is the issue when Firefox can get so confused to be stuck. I wish I had more space on my desk, so I can have a dedicated machine and work on it. Oh yes, I like playing games, while not all are ported to linux, sufficient number is. So, that part is fine.

fermigier 10y ago

Cool, been waiting for this moment for the last, what, 15 years... The curve (https://www.netmarketshare.com/report.aspx?qprid=11&qpaf=&qpcustom=Linux&qpcustomb=0&qpsp=59&qpnp=12&qptimeframe=Q https://www.netmarketshare.com/report.aspx?qprid=11&qpaf=&qp...) unfortunately lacks some "hockey stick" characteristics. But if we wait, I don't know, 63 years, this will be the "year of the Linux desktop" at last ! (Of course, It's been "the year of the Linux smartphone" for a few years already, and "the year of the Linux supercomputer" for maybe 10 years).

iUsedToCode 10y ago

I've been using Linux since high school (late 20 here) and i cannot imagine going back to windows. I'm always surprised when a fellow programmer says they use windows at home. I couldn't live without command prompt. I love updating everything with one move. Now you can even use Steam on linux. Some apps are lacking, but most people don't edit videos or play with Photoshop. Especially now, since most of the desktop usage is internet and web browser, i see no reason to stick with Windows. But mostly, i just like being in control. Using some perl i can automate almost any menial task.

ris 10y ago

Quick reminder that Linux users are far more likely to be running Ad Blockers or NoScript or other blockers that prevent many analytics systems working properly (often just as a side effect, not intentionally).

awinter-py 10y ago

For me the adoption story is 100% about wifi drivers. There's pent-up demand for linux laptops but if you installed linux on your laptop 3 years ago, odds are the wifi didn't work. If broadcom decided today to follow intel/atheros and support linux, a huge class of devices would become linux-friendly overnight. I've bought and returned 5 different laptops this year and driver support has been the story every time. (even for hypothetically linux-based hardware like chromebooks -- the post-broadwell chromebooks have iffy linux support -- for new chromebooks, it's the graphics drivers that are most likely to give you trouble). Interface-wise, the feature stability of standard linux desktops (I use xfce) is probably a secret advantage over apple/msft/chrome. Every new version of windows/osx gets slower, more complicated, less keyboard-friendly and more notification-focused. A 2005-era windows user would probably be more comfortable on my mint xfce desktop than on a commercial alternative.

CaptSpify 10y ago
Don't forget video drivers! Those are still a flaky mess of closed-source and hacky solutions with unreadable errors. Personally I still have issues with sound-cards from time to time (I use debian, while ubuntu is much better about the OOTB experience), but getting rid of PA still fixes that.
- pantalaimon 10y ago
  With which video drivers are you experiencing problems?
  - CaptSpify 10y ago
    nvidia
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
sqeaky 10y ago
I remember about 10 years ago this was a huge issue for me. Back then I would research and know which chip the wifi used before buying and carefully check versions. About 5 years ago I stopped when I saw that everything I looked up supported my stuff for at least 2 years. Since then every machine's wifi worked with a default Ubuntu install. It could also be a selection bias. Most of my machines are north of a thousand dollars and if you buy things in the price range of chromebooks then you are probably getting some low end stuff, maybe the drivers for cheap stuff are that much worse. Maybe the cheap stuff isn't up to spec and needs workarounds that are hidden inside the closed source drivers from the vendor which generally aren't used on Linux.

votr 10y ago

I've been using Ubuntu on my desktop for three years now. I love developing on it, but the consumer aspect has minor annoyances. - If I have a PDF with advanced features, then I need to use Windows. - Chrome, VS Code, and a few select applications flash repeatedly once up to a certain window size. Found out the problem has something to do with AMD graphics chips. - I think Libre Office is horrible. - Linux is still a second-class citizen for certain major apps such as Skype. I wouldn't mind ditching Skype altogether but some clients demand it. I've never used a Mac, but I can't help but think it's the best of both worlds...but Apple keeps making decisions which I feel sidelines developers.

FT_intern 10y ago

How does this compare to the rise of number of programmers?

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

jeena 10y ago

I was using Windows 2002, Linux from 2003-2006, OS X 2006-2013 and back to Linux since then. It really depends on what you're doing. I'm doing some desktop app deverlopement and a little webdevelopement in my free time, with git, Emacs, QtCreator, Thunderbird, Firefox, Gimp on Arch. I also record podcasts and master them with Ardour [1] on my Linux machine. I seldom play some game from Steam. I use Skype to call my parents. I also use it to manage my photos with Darktable [2] and RAWTherapee [3]. I listen to my music collection with Gnome Music and synchronize it between my computers with Syncthing. In my case I basically don't need to use anything which doesn't work on Linux, I bought a computer which was made for Linux [4], so I didn't have any driver problems. I don't do much with graphics. For me the values with which Linux comes are important, especialle freedom. I am aware that there might be more convinient applications out there but because they don't respect my freedom I don't have the desire to use them. I like that arrangement and it seems to improve a lot with time. [1] http://ardour.org/ http://ardour.org/ [2] http://www.darktable.org/ http://www.darktable.org/ [3] http://www.rawtherapee.com/ http://www.rawtherapee.com/ [4] http://www.tuxedocomputers.com/Linux-Hardware/Linux-Notebooks/10-14-Zoll/TUXEDO-InfinityBook-13-v3-13-Zoll-matt-Full-HD-IPS-Aluminiumgehaeuse-Intel-Core-i7-Energiespar-CPU-zwei-HDD/SSD-bis-16GB-RAM-bis-15h-Akku-Slim-Book.geek http://www.tuxedocomputers.com/Linux-Hardware/Linux-Notebook... [update] I forgot to write that at work, I work within the automobile industry and we do infotainment systems based on Linux (with yocto), in our company basically everyone uses Linux on the Desktop and we have gotten so far that a big portion of our customers moves over from Windows to Linux while they work together with us because they see how much easier and faster developement is when you develop for Linux and at the same time run Linux on your dev-machine. [http://www.pelagicore.com/ http://www.pelagicore.com/]

laacz 10y ago

One thing you can try is Windows Subsystem for Linux (Ubuntu on Windows). It works unexpectedly well, even with apps X server. For the sake of this comment I tried "sudo apt-get install gnome && DISPLAY=:0 gnome". It took 2 gigs and a while. Shame that doesn't work just like that.