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People keep flocking to Linux, not just to escape Windows
- driggs 11mo ago"By my count"... Which means pretending that every single "unknown" desktop, which is a larger percentage than the Linux desktops, are Linux. And also by considering ChromeBooks, which also have a larger percentage than Linux, are Linux.
- gpm 11mo agoChromebooks are quite literally linux...
- tpetry 11mo agoThey are built on Linux fundamentals but are miles away from being a _Linux desktop_.
- NewJazz 11mo agoOh right they are a Linux laptop.
- ahartmetz 11mo agoThey are another somewhat closed ecosystem and becoming more closed over time. Better than a TV that runs Linux, (so far still) better than Android, worse than any "real" Linux distribution. They are mostly on the wrong side in the war on general-purpose computing.
- rossy 11mo ago> They are mostly on the wrong side in the war on general-purpose computing. All modern Chromebooks can be put into developer mode without opening the case, which gives you root access.
- NewJazz 11mo agoAnd until very recently you could install whatever apk you wanted on your android phone.
- Max-Limelihood 11mo agoYou still can.
- NewJazz 11mo agoThat's changing though.
- Dylan16807 11mo agoThey're pretty hostile to it though. With normal developer mode, every boot it actively prompts the user to factory wipe it!
- aucisson_masque 11mo agoHonestly we could consider Chromebook just as Android. Yes technically they run on Linux kernel but there is so much going wrong. It's far from what everyone think when saying Linux desktop.
- autochthoid 11mo ago[dead]
- estimator7292 11mo agoChromOS is Linux in the way that Android is linux. Technically it has a Linux kernel, but that's it. It is not a Linux desktop under your control. It's a strictly proprietary OS you have very little control of. It's not Linux in the way that literally everyone else means the word.
- gpm 11mo agoAs pointed out downthread this isn't true. It is under your control. All modern chromebooks let you enable developer mode which gives you root access, at which point is is a linux desktop in the way literally everyone means the word.
- orwin 11mo agoUntil ChromeOS get its own OS (wasn't it supposed to be in 2019?), it's still a Linux.
- NewJazz 11mo agoI think aluminum OS is next. Still Linux based.
- Max-Limelihood 11mo agoAluminum isn't an OS, it's a project to replace ChromeOS with Android.
- NewJazz 11mo agoNot according to what I read.
- skissane 11mo agoGoogle has been working on Fuchsia, a new open source OS which in theory can replace Linux as the base of ChromeOS and Android But it is unclear how committed they still are to this. Some suggest it was just a “keep our options open” project or a “stop smart people from doing it for our competitors” project. They are actually using it in anger on their Nest Hub devices, but we don’t know if they still plan to take it any further than that
- driggs 11mo agoPS: Someone changed the title of this submission after my comment. It was originally something like "By my count, Linux has over 11% of the desktop market." This statistic is obviously clickbait and false, even if you count ChromeBooks, though ChromeBooks are not what people mean when they say "Linux desktop".
- xadhominemx 11mo agoFeels at least an order of magnitude too high!
- Animats 11mo agoThe year of Linux on the desktop, at last. What may make this happen is political risk. The rest of the world outside the US doesn't like the excessive dependency of Microsoft systems on servers in the US, especially when that may mean snooping or disconnection. This used to be just a theoretical objection, but under the Trump administration it's a practical one.
- mvdtnz 11mo agoWhat on earth are you talking about? There is no "excessive dependency of Microsoft systems on servers in the US", and even if there is typial consumers are not aware and do not care. And if they did what does server software have to do with end user OS choices?
- tacticus 11mo agoevery single government use of it is being looked at with that view courtesy of the recent attacks on bodies like the ICC
- chickensong 11mo agoWhat on earth are you talking about? Digital sovereignty is a growing concern, and Microsoft (as well as most corp/proprietary tech) is ever increasing online dependencies, to servers that they control. Even typical end users are starting to notice a bad smell.
- BLKNSLVR 11mo agoI think it's the "servers in the US" part. I think Microsoft has plenty of servers outside the US. However the main point is not the location of the servers but the fact that Microsoft as the operating system / service provider is under the thumb of US law no matter where the servers happen to reside. Which is, as you say, an issue of digital (data) sovereignty.
- breve 11mo agoThey care. When the US government acts in an erratic, unreliable, and untrustworthy manner, large organisations naturally look to de-risk their infrastructure and supply chains by removing American products and services from them: https://dub.uu.nl/en/news/can-dutch-universities-do-without-microsoft https://dub.uu.nl/en/news/can-dutch-universities-do-without-... It's the same reason many countries don't want Chinese products in their telecommunications infrastructure. They don't trust what the Chinese government will do, or rather they do trust that the Chinese government will do things that aren't in their best interests: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63764450 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63764450
- JumpCrisscross 11mo ago“Microsoft president Pavan Davulur tweeted on Nov. 10 that ‘Windows is evolving into an agentic OS, connecting devices, cloud, and AI to unlock intelligent productivity and secure work anywhere” Apple could probably run a Mac vs PC billboard on this tweet alone.
- runjake 11mo agoApple could, but this is more or less their tagline[1], as well. Granted, I think Apple has slightly better execution, but that's pretty subjective, I suppose. 1. https://www.apple.com/os/macos/ https://www.apple.com/os/macos/
- Angostura 11mo agoThere a single toggle setting for Apple Intelligence in MacOS (currently toggled as 'off' on my machine)
- daveguy 11mo agoAnd I bet Apple doesn't conveniently change settings in favor of data collection on a regular basis. I switched back to Linux after a few decades on Windows for work. Been back on Linux for a few months now, and haven't had any problems. My computer doesn't randomly restart (most updates don't require restart at all). No one is trying to push telemetry, half-assed AI, or OS ads on me either. So much better now on Linux.
- Nextgrid 11mo ago> I bet Apple doesn't conveniently change settings in favor of data collection on a regular basis Not to the level of Microsoft, but initially Apple Intelligence would default to on and you'd have to disable it (thankfully it needs to download gigabytes worth of ML models, which gives you a few minutes after initial OS install to toggle it off before it activates). For a while after every OS update you'd also have an onboarding screen that would try to pitch it to you with an option to "skip" in the fine print (I don't want to "skip", I want a "fuck off forever" option personally).
- fantasizr 11mo agomade a it holiday weekend project to install omarchy. It does what I need it to so far, web apps and basic dev stuff
- AndrewDucker 11mo agoWhat I want is some hardware that, if Linux stops working on it, it's someone's job to fix that. Which is why I'm strongly considering a Steam Cube.
- kylec 11mo agoWhat about a Mac? macOS isn't exactly Linux, but you can run a lot of Linux command line things just fine on it, and Apple will always make sure macOS works 100% on the Macs they sell.
- AndrewDucker 11mo agoHow are they at running all of the games I own on Steam?
- egypturnash 11mo agomeh, there's gotta be a specific Mac port, and there's not much love put into keeping those working when Apple makes breaking changes like "killing 32-bit addressing" or "switching cpu architectures".
- stavros 11mo agoGame selection is terrible on a Mac. I find it mindblowing that my Linux desktop/laptop run all my games, bar none, but a very small percentage runs on my Mac.
- dghlsakjg 11mo agoThe exact same underlying software (Wine) that lets you run all of your windows games on Linux using Proton also works on MacOS using Crossover. I haven't found anything in my steam library that Crossover (wine with a nice GUI) hasn't handled on my Mac yet. I'm sure a bad game exists, but for most games it is seamless. I tend not to have unrealistic expectations like running AAA titles at high framerates on a mid-tier laptop, and tend to go for indy games, but the games I have run work great. Native game selection is - in fact - pretty limited, but who cares if it is being run with a compatibility layer if it plays well.
- tiahura 11mo agoWhy? I’ve been using Unix workstations since the motif days through gnome whatever, but and every single one has seemed clunky as heck compared to the contemporaneous windows. Win 11 file explorer is 20 years ahead of nautilus. Not to mention all of the other windows perks like HiDPI & multi-monitor scaling polish, rdp, vastly superior accessibility, … And you can run wsl2 if you need to.
- puika 11mo agofunny, windows 11's explorer has been the most infuriating experience for me over the years in all my personal and workplace machines (hangs, wont preview whatever files it decides doesnt want to, slow context menu startup, and many more) and frankly one of the reasons I've been daily driving kde+dolphin. I'd say I miss the out of the box cloud integration (you can install kio plugins but theyre not in a good state now. Dropbox have their own dolphin plugin as well), but I really couldn't care less when weighing in everything else. multimonitor support in kde wayland is just as good. Actually, its better, since you can control monitor brightness without a external program like Monitorian. wsl2 has some quirks if you're using a company VPN but overall pretty solid. Accessibility really is a pain point for linux in general
- fleshmonad 11mo agoEpic ragebait. > Win11 file picker is years ahead of some random file picker option available on linux First it would be nice to know why you would think this and maybe provide an example, second there are other file pickers. It should also be noted that you don't need one at all, but if you want one, there are so many options, try nemo > HiDPI Wayland > Multi monitor scaling polish What did he mean by that? Wayland supports different scaling factors between displays. > rdp VNC, ssh + pf > vastly superior accessibility Hahahahaha Some examples of what you mean please, otherwise this is just a lazy shill answer
- sho_hn 11mo ago> Hahahahaha Speaking as a Linux desktop dev, that one's right. We have a lot of homework left to do, and accessibility is an area both Windows and MacOS are more fully-featured and mature in. Part of treating users really well is also being honest about our shortcomings (and fixing them).
- hermitcrab 11mo agoI've been hearing about how Linux is going to replace Windows for at least 2 decades now. I expect it to finally happen some time after we get 'too cheap to meter' fusion power.
- wffurr 11mo agoSPARC is scheduled to start operations in 2026, with the goal of demonstrating net power in 2027.
- hermitcrab 11mo agoI really hope they are successful. But I'm not holding my breath.
- tim333 11mo agoAlso even if it works the too cheap to meter thing seems unlikely with fusion. Solar on the other hand is showing signs of that when it's sunny.
- BLKNSLVR 11mo agoThree states in Australia are implementing a requirement that energy companies offer free electricity for the three peak daylight hours of the day (likely 11am to 2pm) as of July next year. https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/05/millions-to-receive-free-electricity-in-2026-thanks-to-australias-solar-boom/ https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/05/millions-to-receive-free-e... https://www.pv-magazine-australia.com/2025/11/04/electricity-retailers-to-offer-three-hour-window-of-free-power-from-1-july-2026/ https://www.pv-magazine-australia.com/2025/11/04/electricity...
- cmcaleer 11mo agoI shitposted about the ‘year of the Linux desktop’ for most of my teenage and adult life only to dual boot Linux for a bit as an experiment a year or two ago and have ~never booted in to Windows for anything other than games with anticheat since. It’s more a case of Windows getting significantly worse and feeling like malware than Linux desktop being THAT much better than the last time I tried it, but between proton and maybe 95%+ of my work being in a browser window or browser window (Electron) these days, I basically never run in to compatibility issues and never have Candy Crush advertised to me.
- le-mark 11mo agoConsumer grade windows machines have been barely useable, for a decade plus, due to pre installed crap ware. I stopped helping family members long ago. I tell them install Linux and I’ll help you. A few have and have been very happy!
- talys_cat 11mo ago*torture screaming at the background ARE YOU ENJOY MY LINUX? IT'S FULL OF JOY, RIGHT? YOU ARE HAPPY!!! YOU ALL WILL BE HAPPY!!! ___ seriously though, I do enjoy my arch, but I would never force someone to use linux by not providing help. It's basically same vibe, as with Microhard forcing it's AI vision of OS. Don't be that toxic, your relatives needed your help, and not your narcissism. If you really think, they need to switch, show them the benefits of it. Show them nice UI, ease of use. Ensure, all their needs can be fulfilled by a given set of apps. it's currently not possible to go linux, if you need photo editing - darktable and rawtherapee are just not there yet. Very far from there, honestly, if you compare with stuff like capture one - by contrast DT and RT would feel like a masochistic toys. I have to keep dual boot because of that.
- powerclue 11mo agoIt's not toxic to not offer infinite support for a platform you don't have familiarity with. Just like if you are vegan it's not toxic to refuse to prepare a meaty hamburger. Yes, a toxic version of this exists, but simply refusing to do a thing isn't toxic.
- sirjaz 11mo agoFunny a the stats he points to show a smaller number of devices being recorded each time. So of course the percentage would go up. There are still more Windows devices in active use compared to all MacOS/iOS devices.
- Ciantic 11mo agoI switched to Linux in the past month. First, I installed GNOME based Fedora 43, that was a mistake. I got it working "somewhat" like Windows, with Dash to Panel etc. widgets, but stability was not there after all the hacks. Then I figured I try KDE Plasma, and this is so close to Windows that I made the switch permanent. Even little things like double-clicking on top, or bottom resize handle vertically maximizes the window, like in Windows. KDE is not just better than Windows, but it is way more configurable out of the box. I really like window rules, which allows to set window locations, always on top settings for specific Chrome PWAs or other windows. KDE Settings panel is light years ahead of Windows, it has all the settings in one place, kind of like the old Control Panel. There is rough spots, but not that many... I did end up buying AMD GPU, as with Nvidia GPU I had bunch of bugs. I wanted to switch to Linux for a long time now because Windows Subsystem for Linux just wasn't good enough, it was mediocre. All the development happens with tools that have bash scripts as a glue. Windows was a hindrance at this point for me. Right now I'm trying to learn to write small native Wayland GUI apps that use minimalish amount of memory, this is a bit tricky compared to Win32, but with new toolkit libraries pretty doable.
- JumpCrisscross 11mo agoMy parents run a Windows PC as, from what I can tell, a home for stray botnets. The main uses are checking email and working on Word documents. (They have a laptop and iPad, respectively, which does most of their work, so it's an infrequently consulted machine.) What Linux build would you recommend that I can fire and forget, that would be compatible with the Windows 10 machine they have running and will likely never replace.
- Ciantic 11mo agoGiven that I've been using actively this just month, my opinion is bit biased.I run myself basically Fedora 43 KDE version: https://www.fedoraproject.org/kde/ https://www.fedoraproject.org/kde/ However, for folks who don't want to install some random packages, maybe Atomic version of the distro is better: https://fedoraproject.org/atomic-desktops/kinoite/ https://fedoraproject.org/atomic-desktops/kinoite/ Atomic Linux desktops has the neat feature for ability to "rollback" if installation fails. A lot like with ChromeOS, the updates are done in atomic fashion and the flipped over to new version. Normal Linux distributions are more mutable, atomic are lot more immutable.
- cadamsdotcom 11mo agoNo one at Apple or Microsoft seems to care to serve the users. We are at an interesting point in the history of computers. This failure mode of capitalism should've been easy to anticipate: owners of capital eventually become the customers. Capitalism is great for technology development. But stable markets don't generate the returns VCs and public company shareholders demand. I predict a return to simple commerce: pay money for a good or service without third parties. It doesn't need to grow or generate returns.
- duxup 11mo agoFind macOS very capable and user focused.
- AuthAuth 11mo agoI moved over just to see what it was and one of the coolest things that instantly made me fall inlove was seeing being directed to a system file and finding out it was a text file that I could open and it had instructions explaining what the options were. It felt so inviting, like the computer was showing me how things worked and I could change it if i wanted something different.
- chanux 11mo agoThis! When I got started on Linux way back then, this is what I noticed. I get to learn how things connect and how things work. Yes, things breaking adds to this experience but when you are young, there is a lot of time for things you enjoy.
- frm88 11mo agoI moved over to Linux a month ago and when I plugged in my Kyocera printer, it was insta detected and just worked. On Windows it was a hit and miss, despite newest drivers to get this thing into online mode and printing. With this new setup I stood speechless for several seconds not believing the ease of use here. I'm never going back.
- fracus 11mo agoI've been a Linux user without Windows for longer than I can remember. My biggest worry is Linux dominates the market because a FOSS OS can't dominate the market. A capitalist market won't allow it. Of course though, if say Ubuntu was heavily monetized in some way, then it simply becomes the new Windows and the FOSS community will simply present an alternative. I'm sorry you had to go on this circular journey with me.
- Rohansi 11mo agoWhy can't a monetized OS also be FOSS?
- Nextgrid 11mo agoBecause the monetization wouldn't work; anyone can just recompile the FOSS code and legally distribute a free build and users & PC manufacturers would flock to that.
- chickensong 11mo agoThat's already how it is, and yet the majority choose to pay for the convenience of two proprietary systems. We still haven't seen a FOSS offering that's well-suited for the typical end user IMHO.
- tmtvl 11mo agoI mean, Elementary OS exists... but it doesn't seem to be very popular for some reason.
- mvdtnz 11mo agoI have been using Linux for well over a decade now but I still dual boot because of my gaming group. If I didn't play online games there would be absolutely nothing keeping me on Windows. Fedora 43 with Plasma is the closest I have been to being completely satisfied with an OS. My next computer-related purchase for sure will be an AMD GPU, as NVidia is one of the few things that makes Linux a big operational challenge.
- billy99k 11mo agoDesktop Linux is still clunky and apps break so often with updates, it's not ready for non-tech savvy users. I just don't have the time anymore to waste hours of my day to get apps working, when it just works on windows or mac.
- MrDrMcCoy 11mo agoBazzite and other immutable distros are doing wonders to fix that. Have you tried one of them?
- kristianp 11mo ago> "Zorin OS 18 has amassed 1 million downloads in just over a month since its release." What makes it especially interesting is that over "78% of these downloads came from Windows" users. That's not interesting, the most common os is Windows, ergo most downloads are going to come from windows.
- willis936 11mo agoIt is interesting because most people installing a new linux distro are very likely already running linux. Every download of a linux distro from a windows machine is a potential conversion.
- guywithahat 11mo agoI remember during my last (unsuccessful) startup, I was surprised at how many people actually used linux. It's not just techies, there were lots of plumbers and blue collar workers who used it, and their perception of it was similar to just using another tool (like I can build a dresser by hand, and I can plumb a house by hand, why can't I install an OS by hand?) Of this demographic I found they were mostly conservative/right wing. It makes me wonder if there are a bunch of influencers like Luke Smith out there telling them how to use this stuff, or if they're just figuring it out on their own through forums. I think the word "flocking" is too strong, but there is definitely a large and growing non-technical userbase of people who use linux.
- nickjj 11mo agoI still want to switch, have been trying for like 8 years. Not yet unfortunately. Video editing is still pretty sub-par on Linux compared to Windows. DaVinci Resolve technically works on Linux and it's an amazing piece of software that I'd love to use but on Linux there's no h264 support unless you pay $300. Ok no problem, I'd do that except the studio version doesn't support AAC for audio on Linux. If you want to record from OBS, you have to re-encode the video for Resolve and then after rendering your video with Resolve you have to re-encode it again with another tool for h264 / AAC. That means you have to record + render + edit + render + render instead of just record + edit + render. A huge time sink and waste of drive space. Kdenlive is there but its text editing capabilities are really lack luster. If you want to do things like create a text call out with a rectangle behind it and have your text styled up where different words are colored up differently or you want to underline a word or 2 you have to spend 10 minutes fighting its text UI, duplicating layers, fiddling with z-indexes and if you decide to change your text later, you have to re-do everything. That or you have to use an external tool like GIMP but that breaks you out of the flow and takes a lot more time. On Windows, there's Camtasia. It "just works" and you can make text call outs described above in seconds. Until I can easily create text call outs in videos on Linux (something I do a few times a week) I will use Windows 10 + WSL 2.
- Katharsas 11mo agoI highly recommend you give Shotcut a chance. I am a total beginner with video editing but unlike kdenlive (sorry, still a cool project) it gave me much bigger "professional product" vibes. IMO it is more polished, built-in effects are better, runs stable on Windows for me (so you can try it anytime before switching to Linux) and it looks nice. I was editing video gameplay footage with kdenlive some time ago (on Windows) and it was indeed very hard (and also crashed a bunch). In fact i think i switched when i also wanted to overlay text in a certain way (a timer in my case) which seemed to be impossible to make look halfway decent.
- nickjj 11mo agoThanks for the suggestion and reminder! I remember trying Shotcut many years ago and it was worse (IMO) than Kdenline at the time. The good news is I gave it a quick spin just now and it has come a -really- long ways since then. Within 10 minutes I had an ok workflow for doing cuts / ripple deletes. You can add text with individually colored words and styles, add a background shape behind the text and also add effects like drop shadows, glows and other things. All done graphically in the video preview. It's no where near as intuitive as Camtasia but I think it's very usable and over time I'm sure I'll get used to its features. I just hope it's stable, I'll edit a couple of videos and see how it goes.
- coffeecoders 11mo agoI don't know who said it, but it fits the current Windows vs Linux moment perfectly. "Most people don’t want control. They want optionally having control." Windows gives you the worst of both worlds. It restricts the control over the things that matter, and dumps unnecessary knobs on everything else. Linux flipped that. It stays out of your way, lets you change what you actually care about, and never fights you for ownership of your own computer. Linux won/is winning because it quietly became the place where your computer feels like yours again.
- wheelie_bob 11mo ago[dead]
- Max-Limelihood 11mo ago"They want optionally having control" sounds like Linux to be honest; do you want GNOME (no control) or KDE (unnecessary knobs on everything else)?
- marcus_holmes 11mo ago> DAP gets its raw data from a Google Analytics account. A lot of adblockers also block GA. See [0], it's basically half of adblockers (by usage). Technically-savvy users are both more likely to use adblockers, and more likely to switch to Linux, and more likely to alter the default settings of their adblocker to make it block more stuff. Also privacy-aware users, counter-cultural users, etc. So the data is probably underestimating the amount of Linux sessions because it can't see them. > By DAP's count, the Linux desktop now has a 5.8% market share. We can probably up that by another couple of percentage points at least, just from this effect. At extremes, if we accept the argument that the vast majority of Linux users will be using an ad-blocker that they have configured to block GA, then 5.8% seems incredibly low. [0] https://www.quantable.com/analytics/whats-blocking-google-analytics-now/ https://www.quantable.com/analytics/whats-blocking-google-an...
- reactordev 11mo agoThis has been true of any tracking. They track but the numbers don’t ever add up and are never the true experience. (MarTech does a better job but still has error rates) I think you’re right. I think it might even be double.
- wheelie_bob 11mo ago[dead]
- rufus_foreman 11mo agoOh fuck. The assholes that thought Windows was perfectly acceptable until late 2025 are flocking to Linux. Maybe get a Macbook? Do you even know how bad Linux is? The video drivers don't work, bluetooth doesn't work, your laptop won't wake up from sleep, it's horrible. Go the fuck away. Linux is horrible. Windows is fucking awesome. Mac is OK. Linux sucks. Don't waste your time.
- BLKNSLVR 11mo agoLOL But I still think it's better to have the unwashed masses move to Linux just to give Microsoft the middle finger of realisation that they're, well, making horrible decisions. Maybe we can compromise by keeping all the n00bs shepherded into the Ubuntu pen?
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- MrDrMcCoy 11mo agoWow, definitely one of the most unfounded opinions I've seen in HN in a long time. The video driver situation is stellar if you're on a recent kernel and not using hybrid Nvidia, but even that story is decent now. Bluetooth has worked reliably for me for years, and I appreciate being able to use SBC-XQ for my nice headphones, which is noticeably better than LDAC or AptX and not an option outside Linux. Not waking from sleep is usually a hardware problem these days. Windows is a well documented hellscape of advertising, tracking, poor performance, and disregarding user will. Some people may pay to upgrade to a guilded cage from Apple, but trying Linux on the hardware you already have doesn't cost a dime. I've given Linux to multiple mostly tech illeterate friends now, and they are all happier and asking for less help on those systems. Amusingly, the help they've asked for wasn't even Linux specific and they would've asked the same things on Windows.
- sunaookami 11mo agoGave a relative of mine my old ThinkPad and installed Kubuntu on it which works great most of the time but I had a typical "Linux moment" a few weeks ago where I had to install Zoom but the official DEB has a linking problem (crashes at start) and the one from the repo (Snap I think) is buggy and can not join calls from a link. Thankfully the website worked but you have to manipulate the URL because some Zoom links don't show the "Join from the web" link. There was somehow no admin password set and the user was not a superuser (this was a stock Kubuntu install!) and there was no root password set so I had to first start the rescue system and do some shenanigangs there to re-add the user as superuser. Then I had to plug in the LAN cable and the whole system just... froze and needed a hard reboot. I don't know Linux systems deteriorated so much because everything "just worked" ~10 years ago and it got way worse since that.
- dagmx 11mo agoThe articles base premise is tenuous at best. It assumes that “unknown” has a best case attribution to Linux with no backing for that assertion. Unknown could just as easily be windows, chromeOS or macOS or just automation for that matter. Why would only Linux report as unknown for only a portion of users? Given that the Unknown line is directly mirroring the ChromeOS line, it’s much more likely that it’s misattribution from ChromeOS. (And yes ChromeOS is Linux under the hood but the distinction matters because of the implication of the article) What is the methodology of the statistics collection? Is it just user agent strings?
- Insanity 11mo agoI have been a dual booting user since 2008. I tried to get rid of the dual boot around 2010-2012 but gaming just didn’t work well at the time. To this day I only ever use windows for gaming. Wonder if it’s time to try gaming on Linux again.
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- Froztnova 11mo agoI'm in a similar boat. I still dual boot "just in case" for a lot of things, gaming among them, but I'm really looking forward to the day that I can just cut it and go purely Linux.
- drillsteps5 11mo agoI ended up getting separate hardware, one box for Windows (gaming only), another for everything is Linux. Gaming box is a desktop with latest CPU, proper GPU and everything, my personal is a 5 year old Thinkpad (mostly docked and connected to multiple monitors, good kb and mouse) under Mint Cinnamon that feels snappier than the Windows one. Edit: I started playing with Linux 8 years ago and about a year later moved all my stuff to Linux Fedora and later Mint and never looked back. No regrets so far.
- more_corn 11mo agoBut escaping windows is a pretty great reason.
- sershe 11mo agoI've just installed Mint on my travel laptop after windows update softbricked it, and then after a restore point recovery insisted on redownloading the update automatically on boot and re-bricking it right back. Last time I tried Linux on desktop was Ubuntu 16 and it was all kinds of clunky, modifying text configs to make wifi work, random update services taking 100% CPU until I sudo-crippled them, etc. On mint although everything... Just works. Including Steam and Spotify. It feels like a snappier, non-annoying version of Windows :)
- pczaik 11mo agoI got rid of Windows completely two weeks ago. I was tied to them because I thought I can't live without Adobe Lightroom for photo editing. Increasing resentment for the subscription model and a recent increase in price made me re-evaluate this and I am happy I did. Darktable has come a really long way since I last tried to use it (years ago). It's amazing to me to see how good these things have become in the last years. I am willing to pay for software, but please don't force me into a subscription model or you'll lose me as a customer. The switch went smooth as butter for me, my system seems to run more stable and fast now, although it definitely helps that I was using WSL for years.
- KronisLV 11mo agoI wonder if this will effect any sort of a change in the userbase of Firefox, because that's usually the default browser in most of the distros I've used and I don't think people hate Firefox like they do Edge, where their first move might be to download Chrome (albeit a lot of that might be habit because the new Edge is Chromium in a trench coat anyways).
- lazylizard 11mo agohow many steamdecks have been sold thus far?