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The last few times this stuff has appeared here and elsewhere, most assumptions are Chromebooks and school year are accounting for a big part of it. Technicall

The last few times this stuff has appeared here and elsewhere, most assumptions are Chromebooks and school year are accounting for a big part of it. Technically Chromebooks are Linux, but it doesn't seem right to combine them with Linux when doing broad charts or data like this. It would be better to separate it out. A smaller part could be headless Chrome being fully unleashed. Though I'm not so sure about this.

giancarlostoro 9y ago
I would wager its a mixture of people frustrated with both Microsoft and Apple recently going all in on Linux maybe, but it's hard to prove that I suppose?
- dlp211 9y ago
  I'd take that wager every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
- charlesdm 9y ago
  I've never seen anyone aside from devs running a linux desktop device, so while I'm not saying this can't be right, I am a bit sceptical. For an average user, Linux can still be quite challenging to use as their main OS.
  - jdright 9y ago
    There is nothing challenging to my father. 67 years. Internet browsing is exactly the same and he feel safer.
  - giancarlostoro 9y ago
    A few months ago, I saw one of my dads friends (my dad is 59) share a product that you plug in via the USB port on an "old laptop" and it brings life to it. It was no doubt a Linux distort on a USB stick. The product claims to bring life back to old slow laptops. If he can get excited about it without understanding what it does, and we know once you have a USB stick running Linux you're pretty much golden depending on how much you want to do, well he would probably enjoy running Linux off that USB stick and not know the difference. Just tell him where the "Internet" icon is. Also many older people adopted iOS and Android and I never had to stand by and explain it all to neither of my parents despite them not being Windows based devices. People adapt. Just hard to say what caused this Linux spike.
    - chris_wot 9y ago
      That’s actually a brilliant idea. State what it does, not what it is...
  - DSMan195276 9y ago
    I would add, I think it's a bit simpler then that - practically nobody sells computers with a Linux distro preinstalled, and that's the only way an average user is going to get one.
  - gerdesj 9y ago
    My wife uses Arch on her laptop - she doesn't really know what it is and doesn't really care. She does know that she has less down time than with Windows when updates happen. She uses Facebook (the internet sigh) very heavily, email (Evolution to an account on my office Exchange server) heavily plus a fair few other things - basic word processing and spreadsheets via LO. I'm a KDE aficionado for good reason. I put a few large icons (KDE allows you to scale your icons really well) on the desktop, with a pretty wallpaper, that have easily understandable functions, that are locked in place. The ability to lock the desktop layout is a killer feature that I do not see available on Windows or Mac or most Linux WMs. Obviously, it does help that I'm an IT Consultant but "For an average user, Linux can still be quite challenging to use as their main OS." No it doesn't need to be so. The KDE Plasma UI can be made very simple or unbelievably complex to suit the required UX.
    - domenukk 9y ago
      I've installed Linux on family member's computers before just to get calls when an update broke the graphics driver. Just try and let your wife install and update Arch herself, I'm sure she'd give up quickly. That being said, most users just need some icons and a web browser, almost any OS works for that.
  - bdcravens 9y ago
    Chromebooks are Linux.
- skinnymuch 9y ago
  Hah. I just responded to your other comment here. As I said there, I have a hard time believing people's collective frustration with those OSes would manifest itself within 1-2 months now. Also unless there's some data about people's frustrations, I find it hard to believe ~4% of computer users previously with Mac and Windows got frustrated enough to switch to Linux. Are people but a tiny minority on sites like this frustrated with either OS? Anecdotally, I don't know anyone in my life who has switched to Linux this year or last year. I know people on Linux but they were already on it. Again completely anecdotal, but I go out to coffee shops, Barnes Noble, libraries, student centers, and co-working spots frequently in various cities in the east and west coast. I rarely if ever, see Linux being used.
  - giancarlostoro 9y ago
    Fair enough, just trying to understand it just as everyone else. My only other thought is maybe with all the recent ransomware news some have switched (companies maybe?). Hard to say really, but I hear you. I work in a all Linux shop, and one of my coworkers who works on Linux all day keeps Windows on his home laptop and doesn't care to switch out the OS cause it just works for him.
    - skinnymuch 9y ago
      I'd think Red Hat would be impacted by that happening. Not all shops would pay Red Hat, but certainly a percentage would. Red Hat made no indication of such things happening in the past few months nor impacting their immediate and near future in their latest earnings report.
  - gerdesj 9y ago
    "Anecdotally" - that there is your problem. You obviously do have a pretty wide ranging experience but you have probably seen less that a few (say) 10,000s systems in your life - maybe 100,000s. Most of those you will not remember what they run OS-wise or even remember them. I'm not totally convinced by the report either but mainly because I can't get at the data, sampling methods etc. To be honest I didn't try too hard. That said, I would never rely on anecdote - there is a damn good reason why we both automatically mention the word whenever we spout off in a forum such as HN.
pianom4n 9y ago
Chromebooks in schools are definitely huge. At the ed-tech company I worked for they accounted for ~35% of users. That only explains this trend if they just started counting Chromebooks though, because there was no drop during the summer.
NiveaGeForce 9y ago
http://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/desktop/worldwide http://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/desktop/worldwide
- skinnymuch 9y ago
  Nice. Separates out Chrome OS. I like Free BSD getting separated out too. Sadly it's at [a rounded] 0% :p.
listic 9y ago
Chromebooks are only big in the US.
- jacksmith21006 9y ago
  Actually CBs have now gained traction in Australia and NZ.
em3rgent0rdr 9y ago
Hard to make the distinction between Chrome OS vs Linux, especially considering you are just a crouton away from being a full linux desktop.

giancarlostoro 9y ago

I would wager its a mixture of people frustrated with both Microsoft and Apple recently going all in on Linux maybe, but it's hard to prove that I suppose?

dlp211 9y ago
I'd take that wager every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
charlesdm 9y ago
I've never seen anyone aside from devs running a linux desktop device, so while I'm not saying this can't be right, I am a bit sceptical. For an average user, Linux can still be quite challenging to use as their main OS.
- jdright 9y ago
  There is nothing challenging to my father. 67 years. Internet browsing is exactly the same and he feel safer.
- giancarlostoro 9y ago
  A few months ago, I saw one of my dads friends (my dad is 59) share a product that you plug in via the USB port on an "old laptop" and it brings life to it. It was no doubt a Linux distort on a USB stick. The product claims to bring life back to old slow laptops. If he can get excited about it without understanding what it does, and we know once you have a USB stick running Linux you're pretty much golden depending on how much you want to do, well he would probably enjoy running Linux off that USB stick and not know the difference. Just tell him where the "Internet" icon is. Also many older people adopted iOS and Android and I never had to stand by and explain it all to neither of my parents despite them not being Windows based devices. People adapt. Just hard to say what caused this Linux spike.
  - chris_wot 9y ago
    That’s actually a brilliant idea. State what it does, not what it is...
- DSMan195276 9y ago
  I would add, I think it's a bit simpler then that - practically nobody sells computers with a Linux distro preinstalled, and that's the only way an average user is going to get one.
- gerdesj 9y ago
  My wife uses Arch on her laptop - she doesn't really know what it is and doesn't really care. She does know that she has less down time than with Windows when updates happen. She uses Facebook (the internet sigh) very heavily, email (Evolution to an account on my office Exchange server) heavily plus a fair few other things - basic word processing and spreadsheets via LO. I'm a KDE aficionado for good reason. I put a few large icons (KDE allows you to scale your icons really well) on the desktop, with a pretty wallpaper, that have easily understandable functions, that are locked in place. The ability to lock the desktop layout is a killer feature that I do not see available on Windows or Mac or most Linux WMs. Obviously, it does help that I'm an IT Consultant but "For an average user, Linux can still be quite challenging to use as their main OS." No it doesn't need to be so. The KDE Plasma UI can be made very simple or unbelievably complex to suit the required UX.
  - domenukk 9y ago
    I've installed Linux on family member's computers before just to get calls when an update broke the graphics driver. Just try and let your wife install and update Arch herself, I'm sure she'd give up quickly. That being said, most users just need some icons and a web browser, almost any OS works for that.
- bdcravens 9y ago
  Chromebooks are Linux.
skinnymuch 9y ago
Hah. I just responded to your other comment here. As I said there, I have a hard time believing people's collective frustration with those OSes would manifest itself within 1-2 months now. Also unless there's some data about people's frustrations, I find it hard to believe ~4% of computer users previously with Mac and Windows got frustrated enough to switch to Linux. Are people but a tiny minority on sites like this frustrated with either OS? Anecdotally, I don't know anyone in my life who has switched to Linux this year or last year. I know people on Linux but they were already on it. Again completely anecdotal, but I go out to coffee shops, Barnes Noble, libraries, student centers, and co-working spots frequently in various cities in the east and west coast. I rarely if ever, see Linux being used.
- giancarlostoro 9y ago
  Fair enough, just trying to understand it just as everyone else. My only other thought is maybe with all the recent ransomware news some have switched (companies maybe?). Hard to say really, but I hear you. I work in a all Linux shop, and one of my coworkers who works on Linux all day keeps Windows on his home laptop and doesn't care to switch out the OS cause it just works for him.
  - skinnymuch 9y ago
    I'd think Red Hat would be impacted by that happening. Not all shops would pay Red Hat, but certainly a percentage would. Red Hat made no indication of such things happening in the past few months nor impacting their immediate and near future in their latest earnings report.
- gerdesj 9y ago
  "Anecdotally" - that there is your problem. You obviously do have a pretty wide ranging experience but you have probably seen less that a few (say) 10,000s systems in your life - maybe 100,000s. Most of those you will not remember what they run OS-wise or even remember them. I'm not totally convinced by the report either but mainly because I can't get at the data, sampling methods etc. To be honest I didn't try too hard. That said, I would never rely on anecdote - there is a damn good reason why we both automatically mention the word whenever we spout off in a forum such as HN.

pianom4n 9y ago

Chromebooks in schools are definitely huge. At the ed-tech company I worked for they accounted for ~35% of users. That only explains this trend if they just started counting Chromebooks though, because there was no drop during the summer.

NiveaGeForce 9y ago

http://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/desktop/worldwide http://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/desktop/worldwide

skinnymuch 9y ago
Nice. Separates out Chrome OS. I like Free BSD getting separated out too. Sadly it's at [a rounded] 0% :p.

listic 9y ago

Chromebooks are only big in the US.

jacksmith21006 9y ago
Actually CBs have now gained traction in Australia and NZ.

em3rgent0rdr 9y ago

Hard to make the distinction between Chrome OS vs Linux, especially considering you are just a crouton away from being a full linux desktop.