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Linux Hits All-Time High of 3% of Desktop PC Share After 30 Years
- mattl 3y agoYear of the Linux desktop was the year a lot of people were given Chromebooks.
- chaimanmeow 3y agoIf people help spread the red hate we'll be at 4% in a few years. Now I wonder if notebooks are counted in "desktop PC category" assuming they are x86 notebooks (x86 ~ PC).
- pjmlp 3y agoExcept not all Chromebooks expose a GNU/Linux userspace, and the few that do, that is actually sandboxed, WSL style. So maybe Windows 10/11 also count.
- mattl 3y agohttps://www.theregister.com/2023/07/18/linux_desktop_debate/ https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/18/linux_desktop_debate/
- pjmlp 3y agoThe usual pat in the back to count anything with Linux kernel as GNU/Linux, except Google can exchange Linux kernel with Fuchsia's zircon and no one on userspace would notice it.
- simonblack 3y agoThe Year of the Linux Desktop was 2001. Before that the Year of the UNIX Desktop was 1991.
- liamwestray 3y agoFrom this data it seems the Year of the Unix desktop is 2023 with macOS at 21.38%...
- anemoiac 3y ago*unix-like
- Vecr 3y agoIt actually is Unix, depending on your definition. If you define it as meeting the standard, it is. If you define it as being the same changed code base, it's not.
- kodah 3y agoFun fact, there is only one group who decides what's a unix and what's not: https://www.opengroup.org/openbrand/register/ https://www.opengroup.org/openbrand/register/
- howinteresting 3y agoThere is one group which owns an artificial, government-created construct: the trademark to "UNIX". That is far from the final word on what constitutes a Unix. The social meaning of words goes well beyond whoever owns a government-granted monopoly on them.
- kodah 3y agoOpenGroup manages that social construct, the government stuff is just there to protect against misidentification and encroachment. The standards for Unix, Sockets, and LDAP were all transferred to OpenGroup to manage and they've done so.
- howinteresting 3y ago
- nubinetwork 3y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36676103 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36676103 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36691787 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36691787 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36716671 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36716671
- whalesalad 3y agoI just finished a new build today. I’ve been daily driving macOS since about 2006 but tomorrow morning my main dev rig is a fresh Debian 12 workstation running KDE :)
- c0l0 3y agoCongrats! I am certain you will enjoy it! :) It's a GREAT time to choose KDE Plasma 5 on Debian 12 - the desktop is at its peak in terms of polish after many years of incremental refinements, and the non-free-firmware-choice Debian made for the 12/"bookworm"-release rendered it much easier to use for most people.
- GenericDev 3y agoAll hail Steam Deck!
- Theofrastus 3y agoMy thought as well. I'd suspect Valve's work with SteamOS and Proton has a noticable effect on Linux adoption rates
- netule 3y agoThe only reason I still have a Windows partition at all is for games that I can’t run on Linux yet like Valorant. Nearly everything else runs perfectly on Ubuntu thanks to Proton. This, and the occasional firmware flash utility that only has a Windows or MacOS build.
- _8j50 3y agoI am all for a great linux desktop experience but I don't think getting very popular can happen without making a lot of changes that erode the very reason we migrated to a Linux desktop. I speculate that many of the most controversial changes in GNU/Linux were rooted in chasing after this goal.
- NovaDudely 3y agoI think it was the developer of Krita who said, it cannot just be open source/Libre - the software has to actually be good. There is a lot of truth to that. FLOSS stuff is good at bringing in the folks that see the point of view of Richard Stallman but that will only go so far... well like 1% of user share far. I feel there is a moderate middle path when it is possible to get Linux desktop to a state that many can use it but without compromising on the flexibility it can provide. Distro's like Linux Mint are so close nowadays, in a way it is very boring. But boring is what you want. It doesn't just tumble over for like... reasons, but it also it really easy to use if very predictable.
- _8j50 3y agoListening to existing instead of potential users (market share chasing), not screwing over users and unix design philosophy are what are important to me. What you said can be acheived while sticking to those. If I want windows or macos I can use those.
- kodah 3y agoI've been using systemd for a while, which I'm surmising is what you're referring to when you say controversial, and it's frankly not a diminished experience for someone that wants a consistently working desktop. The amount of things I used to have to hack into my OS were substantial, these days they're nearly nil and applications have common interfaces to plug into. I'm not sure what, if anything, I materially gave up other than that all of those components have a contracted API now so all future components will need to adhere to that API.
- _8j50 3y ago
- hgh 3y agoTimely but I dare ask: I need to rework my thinkpad, still in good shape but with an older ubuntu distro. Reasonably fluent linux user but not expert, primarily dev workflows - what's the recommendation?
- hiyer 3y agoYou can continue to use Ubuntu (upgrade to 23.04) unless you have an aversion to snaps, in which case you can go with Linux Mint - https://www.linuxmint.com/rel_victoria_mate_whatsnew.php https://www.linuxmint.com/rel_victoria_mate_whatsnew.php
- preisschild 3y agoI can recommend Fedora Workstation for development
- kiwijamo 3y agoDebian works brilliantly on two ThinkPads. My old X1 Carbon and my current X390.
- lawn 3y agoI've never liked Ubuntu or Debian. Arch Linux is a great alternative. I use Void Linux mostly out of habit.
- monero-xmr 3y agoSystem76 and PopOS. It just works (hardware and peripherals), is based on Ubuntu, and is a solid build.
- izoow 3y agoI love my Kubuntu 22.04. Hands down the best Linux desktop experience I've ever had.
- jeswin 3y agoMy preferences over the years: - Before 30: many distros - Before 35: Mostly ubuntu, latest version (install after a couple of months of general availability) - After 35: ubuntu LTS versions (install after a couple of months of general availability). Since 16.04 I've been on LTS only; should have done that earlier.
- vander_elst 3y agoWhy isn't Chrome OS counted as Linux? It runs on a Linux kernel.
- NovaDudely 3y agoIt is more the spirit of it and how it is used by the users rather than the technicality of it. I mean Android has a Linux kernel but it is not used in the same way as a desktop computer.
- charcircuit 3y agoAndroid isn't there because it's a mobile operating system which is why it isn't there. Chrome OS is a desktop operating system built on top of Linux. The idea that some of the Linux community has that anything that makes Linux actually user friendly or gives it wider appeal and gets popular no longer counts as "Linux" is a self defeating mindset.
- pjmlp 3y agoChrome OS is a desktop operating system built on top of Chrome, using the Linux kernel to jungle Chrome processes. On some selected models, one is able to start a sandbox version of a GNU/Linux distribution, just like WSL on Windows. Android Tablet with keyboard and mouse do provide a desktop experience, which doesn't matter for Linux desktop, as the userspace is Java/Kotlin, ISO C, ISO C++ and Android specific native APIs, zero POSIX.
- glimshe 3y agoChrome OS "is" Linux, but it's like the Borg assimilating the good guys... It's a giant spyware machine reusing open source and doesn't feel "free as in Freedom" irrespective of the license details.
- pjmlp 3y agoBecause the userspace is a browser, and only selected models expose a GNU/Linux experience, running on their own sandbox, WSL style.
- stodor89 3y agoRejoice, brothers, for the year of the Linux desktop is upon us!
- monero-xmr 3y agoI switched to Linux for work because docker for macOS always uses 100% of every core given to it. I wonder how much electricity is wasted on macOS docker for every dev using it.
- kylehotchkiss 3y agoI haven't had that experience myself, I can run Docker for Mac on my M2 Air without issues. Is your actual workload using 100% of the virtualized CPU?
- monero-xmr 3y agoSomehow it’s always at 100%, battery draining, laptop hot as hell. Quitting docker always solves it. It isn’t the workload. All devs have same issue. Maybe something with Postgres / redis containers (?)
- sundvor 3y agoDocker on WSL2 runs incredibly well. I love their Terminal as well, it's perfect for Ubuntu things. So yeah I'm on Windows, but I'm also on Linux. :D
- osivertsson 3y agoI’ve been using the Moby packages from Microsoft in WSL2 and it works great. I followed https://gist.github.com/noelbundick/fa8a4ddec573b00f10f3b472ac2150df https://gist.github.com/noelbundick/fa8a4ddec573b00f10f3b472... No need for the commercial Docker parts that drain all performance.
- sundvor 3y agoOh thanks! I will check this out, cheers.
- happymellon 3y ago
- avan1 3y agomay we consider the other 3% (3.23) as linux as well ? if so linux total market share is about 10% (including chromeos since you can install linux apps on them as well)
- ykonstant 3y agoLinux distros never cease to amaze me; the fact that communities come together and coordinate to tame the eldritch horrors of package dependencies, kernel versions, system layers etc is nothing short of a marvel. From the bonkers stability and reliability guarantees of Debian to the tightrope-walking offerings of Arch, we are truly spoiled for choices.
- lyu07282 3y agoI've been using Linux for over two decades, it has gotten so much easier over the years. I think the biggest consistent issues I still have is wayland/nvidia/amd, capture cards, modern suspend (modern standby/S0ix) and non-existent professional 2d/video/audio authoring (no real photoshop/illustrator/premiere/avid etc. replacement). But there is so much else that just works nowadays that was a nightmare 20 years ago, the blutooth stack has gotten way better, audio is crazy good at this point (pipewire), gaming is incredible (all thanks to valve/proton), blender of course and moving so much stuff to the modern web (as well as electron) has opened up so much for linux by accident (like video conferencing, finally a decent office suite with google docs, figma, etc.). Of course the development/sysops story has always been better than anywhere else since everything is Linux on the server already anyway so its always been very friction less.
- mdhb 3y agoI can realistically see that changing in the next few years with the arrival of WASM/WASI as it effectively provides a new set of compile targets for many of those apps to run in new contexts. Photoshop is already moving to become a web based application as a result of it for example.
- lyu07282 3y agoYes absolutely that's going to be great for Linux, like adobe et al is never going to support Linux of course, but once they target wasm on the web we get it. Now we just have to figure out a way to trick Nvidia and AMD to give us proper Linux drivers.
- jtriangle 3y agoFor photoshop/illustrator, windows vm's work just fine. I will say though, I snagged affinity's photo/designer bundle last black friday and have been very, very impressed at how performant they are. Shame they don't have native linux support really.
- lyu07282 3y ago
- oneshtein 3y agoAndroid/Linux and ChromeOS/Linux pave the way for the GNU/Linux to desktop. It's much easier to find a linux-compatible hardware today.
- pjmlp 3y agoNot really, as OEMs hardly push their Linux kernel forks upstream, and both of them use their own driver model anyway.
- cykros 3y agoJust to pour some water on this otherwise joyful news, the ratio of desktop computers to average people is in decline as mobile devices and smart tv's render them redundant for the casual users for whom even Windows was always too complicated. Linux users are just less prone to jumping ship, because on average, we actually USE our devices more, as something other than a simple appliance. I expect this percentage to grow, but not because the world has suddenly decided to adopt Linux; rather, because it has largely decided to ditch desktops.