4 ms·

This is desktop market share! Overall Linux market share is like what nowadays? EDIT: Depending on how you count, its more around 50% according to Wikipedia.

This is desktop market share! Overall Linux market share is like what nowadays? EDIT: Depending on how you count, its more around 50% according to Wikipedia. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_systems https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_operating_sys... Interestingly the highest market share is in supercomputing with 100% of the top 500 since 2017. This is followed by the server market. "Big Iron" Linus said and the biggest iron it was.

goenning 3y ago
100% if you exclude Microsoft’s cloud? :-)
- smartmic 3y ago
  Doesn't Azure Cloud also rely on Linux in the majority of its VMs?
- Zobat 3y ago
  "More than 60 percent of customer cores in Azure run Linux workloads" https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/virtual-machines/linux https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/virtual-machines/... So the Linux share would actually decrease if you exclude Azure ;)
  - p4bl0 3y ago
    > So the Linux share would actually decrease if you exclude Azure ;) I think it wouldn't, because that would imply 40+% of windows market share outside Azure, which I strongly doubt is even close to true. But your point that even on Azure, Linux has a large majority is still valid!
- fragmede 3y ago
  Depends on if you want to file the servers running Office 365 under Azure, which Microsoft does to juice revenue to make Azure look bigger.
gsich 3y ago
Desktop market share is the only important metric.
- vincentkriek 3y ago
  How so? I find it very interesting to see how many servers use windows or what software is used in embedded applications
  - gsich 3y ago
    True, but this is probably not what was meant (mobile). The issue with mobile is that there is way less incentive to switch browsers. iOS is a locked down prison, not making it a fair market.
silisili 3y ago
I don't understand why they even split ChromeOS out. Especially with their VM system, a good number are probably reporting as 'proper Linux.' I can't speak for worldwide usage, but I've lived in 4 school districts in the last 5 years and all required Chromebooks. I imagine actual usage is higher than reported.
- umbra07 3y ago
  In practical terms, ChromeOS is radically different from every other Linux (desktop) distro. The usecase is very different, and the day to day handling of the system is also very different. It makes sense to track ChromeOS in it's own category.
  - silisili 3y ago
    Howso? I use Brave. If I install Brave in their Linux system, it appears like a native app. It runs and reports as Linux. It doesn't even know it's on ChromeOS. I imagine Firefox is the same.
    - umbra07 3y ago
      What i meant is that ChromeOS is primarily an OS for (young) students/kids. The primary usecase is in an education environment, and that is the angle from with which they compete against Windows and MacOS. Furthermore, ChromeOS is arguably much more of a threat to Windows/Office than traditional desktop Linux is. Hence why it makes sense to track it seperately.
  - akvadrako 3y ago
    It's not so different than a modern immutable distro with Wayland and Flatpak apps, like Fedora Silverblue. Sure, some of the daemons are different, like upstart instead of systemd. And out of the box it supports Android apps and doesn't allow shell access outside a container. But I don't see what's fundamentally different.
    - philistine 3y ago
blowski 3y ago
The whole server metric is meaningless. Do VMs count? Containers? Serverless?
7e 3y ago
The kernel running within Android is meaningless. It's not the GUI or the runtime. It performs commodity functions. It's like saying that PEX has 50% of all indoor plumbing share. It doesn't provide any distinguishing, features and the user doesn't care about it. It's cheap, that's its value.
- charcircuit 3y ago
  I would agree that the average consumer does not really need to concern themselves with what kernel their operating system. For developers though it does mean that you know your code is written for linux then you know it will work on any operating system using the linux kernel. You can even take your compiled library and reuse it between the operating systems. For people who care about the success of the Linux kernel then keeping track of its market share is nice to know.
BerislavLopac 3y ago
I prefer to look at it this way: every fifth desktop/laptop runs a Unix OS.

goenning 3y ago

100% if you exclude Microsoft’s cloud? :-)

smartmic 3y ago
Doesn't Azure Cloud also rely on Linux in the majority of its VMs?
Zobat 3y ago
"More than 60 percent of customer cores in Azure run Linux workloads" https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/virtual-machines/linux https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/products/virtual-machines/... So the Linux share would actually decrease if you exclude Azure ;)
- p4bl0 3y ago
  > So the Linux share would actually decrease if you exclude Azure ;) I think it wouldn't, because that would imply 40+% of windows market share outside Azure, which I strongly doubt is even close to true. But your point that even on Azure, Linux has a large majority is still valid!
fragmede 3y ago
Depends on if you want to file the servers running Office 365 under Azure, which Microsoft does to juice revenue to make Azure look bigger.

gsich 3y ago

Desktop market share is the only important metric.

vincentkriek 3y ago
How so? I find it very interesting to see how many servers use windows or what software is used in embedded applications
- gsich 3y ago
  True, but this is probably not what was meant (mobile). The issue with mobile is that there is way less incentive to switch browsers. iOS is a locked down prison, not making it a fair market.

silisili 3y ago

I don't understand why they even split ChromeOS out. Especially with their VM system, a good number are probably reporting as 'proper Linux.' I can't speak for worldwide usage, but I've lived in 4 school districts in the last 5 years and all required Chromebooks. I imagine actual usage is higher than reported.

umbra07 3y ago
In practical terms, ChromeOS is radically different from every other Linux (desktop) distro. The usecase is very different, and the day to day handling of the system is also very different. It makes sense to track ChromeOS in it's own category.
- silisili 3y ago
  Howso? I use Brave. If I install Brave in their Linux system, it appears like a native app. It runs and reports as Linux. It doesn't even know it's on ChromeOS. I imagine Firefox is the same.
  - umbra07 3y ago
    What i meant is that ChromeOS is primarily an OS for (young) students/kids. The primary usecase is in an education environment, and that is the angle from with which they compete against Windows and MacOS. Furthermore, ChromeOS is arguably much more of a threat to Windows/Office than traditional desktop Linux is. Hence why it makes sense to track it seperately.
- akvadrako 3y ago
  It's not so different than a modern immutable distro with Wayland and Flatpak apps, like Fedora Silverblue. Sure, some of the daemons are different, like upstart instead of systemd. And out of the box it supports Android apps and doesn't allow shell access outside a container. But I don't see what's fundamentally different.
  - philistine 3y ago

blowski 3y ago

The whole server metric is meaningless. Do VMs count? Containers? Serverless?

7e 3y ago

The kernel running within Android is meaningless. It's not the GUI or the runtime. It performs commodity functions. It's like saying that PEX has 50% of all indoor plumbing share. It doesn't provide any distinguishing, features and the user doesn't care about it. It's cheap, that's its value.

charcircuit 3y ago
I would agree that the average consumer does not really need to concern themselves with what kernel their operating system. For developers though it does mean that you know your code is written for linux then you know it will work on any operating system using the linux kernel. You can even take your compiled library and reuse it between the operating systems. For people who care about the success of the Linux kernel then keeping track of its market share is nice to know.

BerislavLopac 3y ago

I prefer to look at it this way: every fifth desktop/laptop runs a Unix OS.