OPERATING SYSTEMS
Linux has long been a favoured OS for servers and embedded devices but is now increasingly popular for desktop machines, too.
A ccording to data gathered by StatCounter, as of March 2024, Linux accounts for 4.19% of all desktop operating systems. This marks an all-time high for Linux desktop adoption.
Naturally, these figures are nothing compared to the Windows market share during the same period (72%) or even Mac OS (15.46%), but two years ago, Linux desktops only accounted for around 2% of users.
Assuming the Linux install base continues to double every two years, Redditors have pointed out jocularly that we can expect 100% Linux adoption some time in 2033, or even sooner if you count Linux-based ChromeOS.
All joking aside, this is a huge leap considering that it took Linux over 30 years to secure a 3% share of all desktop operating systems, a target it reached in June 2023.
There’s most likely a number of factors contributing to more Linux desktop users. We’ve previously covered how installing the OS is a good alternative to junking non-TPM-2.0-compliant Windows 10 PCs.
Sales of the popular Steam Deck handheld, which can run most Windows games in Linux flawlessly via the Proton compatibility layer, might partly account for this spike in usage, although it’s unclear how this links through to website browser statistics.
When reporting this story, other tech outlets have emphasised Linux’s open source nature making it ideal for technology enthusiasts. They also point out the ready availability of userfriendly distros, such as Ubuntu and Linux Mint. Still, we could counter that it’s hardly news that the Linux kernel is open source. Ubuntu has also been around for almost 20 years.
Regardless of the reasons, this raises the perennial question of whether 2024 (or some other arbitrary date in the near future) will be the ��
