It's not a typo. Linux's desktop share is growing, according to the US government's records.

Clickbaity title on the original article, but I think this is the most important point to consider from it:

After getting to 1% in approximately 2011, it took about a decade to double that to 2%. The jump from 2% to 3% took just over two years, and 3% to 4% took less than a year.

Get the picture? The Linux desktop is growing, and it’s growing fast.

  • HaraldvonBlauzahn@feddit.org
    0·
    3 months ago

    After getting to 1% in approximately 2011, it took about a decade to double that to 2%. The jump from 2% to 3% took just over two years, and 3% to 4% took less than a year.

    Could be exponential growth.

  • Sina@beehaw.org
    0·
    3 months ago

    Statcounter considers me a Win user due to the Win user agent I’m using, this is not a rare behavior in the Linux space…

        • Cricket [he/him]@lemmy.zipOPEnglish
          0·
          3 months ago

          I thought this may be a consideration too, but I would expect it to be a minority of websites that would do this, no?

          • COASTER1921@lemmy.ml
            0·
            3 months ago

            It’s definitely a minority, but easy to fix if you encounter such a site even a single time. There are also some sites which refuse to load on Firefox but work fine if you change the user-agent to Chrome.

        • PhilMcGraw@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          3 months ago

          The only thing I can think of is default download links based on your reported OS. What other functionality would be OS gated?

      • Sina@beehaw.org
        0·
        2 months ago

        Because Linux +firefox is like a fingerprinting wet dream, I may be the only one in my locale. (maybe not anymore, but yeah)

        Also Librewolf by default reports Win+Firefox.

  • rottingleaf@lemmy.worldBanned
    0·
    3 months ago

    OK, so now it’s important to create collegial democratic project government for Linux, and freeze Linus in carbonite as a memorial. Before Linux has become too important, and before Linus lost his marbles to become a geriatric dictator.

    Actually in the age of Android I think it’s already too late, but this should be done regardless.

    • rottingleaf@lemmy.worldBanned
      0·
      3 months ago

      It makes perfect sense, the resistance of having Windows legacy software etc becomes smaller the more of that goes out of use, the resistance of everyone only knowing Windows becomes smaller with nobody even knowing Windows, and the resistance of corporate interests becomes smaller because it’s all in the Web, and the Web has been corrupted and Chrome works on Linux.

      So. Listen to me carefully. If Linux domination happens without FreeBSD and Haiku normalization, then things are bad.

  • webghost0101@sopuli.xyz
    0·
    3 months ago

    A king once summoned a wise man who had done him a great service and said, “Name your reward.” The wise man replied, “Your Majesty, I ask for a simple thing. Give me one percent Linux desktop market share for the first square of the chessboard, two percent for the second square, four percent for the third square, and so on, doubling the amount for each of the 64 squares.” The king, thinking this was a modest request, said, “Surely you jest! Such a small reward for such a great service? Ask for gold, land, or jewels instead.” But the wise man insisted, and the king agreed. The king ordered his treasurer to calculate the total. Starting with 1% for the first square, 2% for the second, 4% for the third, 8% for the fourth… by the time they reached the tenth square, they needed 512% of the desktop market. The treasurer, pale with realization, informed the king that by the 64th square, they would need more market share than could possibly exist in the entire universe of computing devices. The king then understood that what seemed like a humble request was actually impossible to fulfill, and he gained a new respect for the power of exponential growth.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

    • xthexder@l.sw0.com
      0·
      3 months ago

      It already goes over 100% market share after only 8 squares. 512% seems like a weird place to stop? How can you have more than 100% market share?

        • ilinamorato@lemmy.world
          0·
          3 months ago

          Not supposedly, but mathematically. Even if the grateful king ruled the entire planet and the great warrior willing to settle for grains the size of a single atom, the king would be unable to pay in full; the total of grains on the whole chessboard would be 2^64 grains, but there are only 2^50 atoms on Earth.

            • Tinidril@midwest.socialEnglish
              0·
              3 months ago

              Theoretically you could make a black hole with a single grain of rice. You just have to figure out how to crush it down enough.

              • Warehouse@lemmy.caEnglish
                0·
                3 months ago

                It also wouldn’t last very long due to Hawking radiation, but that’s another thing.

              • ilinamorato@lemmy.world
                0·
                3 months ago

                Obviously this is just more theory, but I think I’ve heard that the minimum size for a black hole is about on the order of a big mountain’s mass; something to do with the amount you can increase density before you’re actually forced to compress electron clouds down toward the proton.

                • Tinidril@midwest.socialEnglish
                  0·
                  3 months ago

                  I think that happens in any black hole formation. At least that’s my understanding of how neutron stars are formed. The electrons get forced into the nucleus and turn the protons into neutrons. From there it’s quark gluon plasma then a black hole.

                  In any case, I have no idea how either a grain of rice or a mountain could be made to do such a thing.

    • Scrollone@feddit.it
      0·
      3 months ago

      KDE Plasma is so good, I love it. But I think that Cinnamon (the default environment for Linux Mint) is also super user-friendly.

      There’s no good excuse not to use Linux in 2025 if you’re a home user. Except maybe if you rely on some software such as SharePoint, the Adobe or the Serif Affinity suites.

    • PastafARRian@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 months ago

      I wonder what percentage of people given a Kubuntu laptop, when asked what OS they’re using, would say “Windows?”. I’m going to guess 20%

  • Mio@feddit.nu
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    3 months ago

    But it is only in the US and not globally. Anyway, competition is good.

      • kungen@feddit.nu
        0·
        3 months ago

        wtf I love Norway now? Sweden is at like 2%.

        But Norway’s Linux spiked up to almost 30% in July 2024 as well. So I don’t really trust these sites. My guess is that it’s due to Tesla’s web browser or something? Tesla is the most popular electric car brand in Norway: 77k Model Y and 50k Model 3 are registered, and the only model with higher numbers is the Nissan Leaf with 81k, but that’ll be taken over very shortly (so far in 2025, there have been over 11k Model Y registrations, with the next runner-up being the Toyota BZ4X with 4,6k)

        • MyNameIsRichard@lemmy.ml
          0·
          3 months ago

          Possibly, but it does explicitly state desktop operating systems and I don’t know if Tesla’s would count towards that.

      • Mio@feddit.nu
        0·
        3 months ago

        Why did go back to 9%? They all forgot about that theat or what?

        • emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works
          0·
          3 months ago

          1. There’s an uptick in ‘Unknown’ (currently at 26%).

          2. Linux adoption might have slowed down because India - US relations have improved since then, because Trump can be distracted by promising him trade deals. Of course the deal he wants (giving US agri companies access to the Indian market) will face opposition from farmers’ unions, so I’m not sure what the govt’s long-term plan is.

          One good thing is that when a govt dept switches to Linux, it sort of sticks. And govt contracts are very profitable, so we’ll likely see greater interest from both hardware and software companies.

  • squid64@lemmy.ca
    0·
    3 months ago

    That’s good, I don’t care much about the OS people use but yeah as long as they use something that they like and that doesn’t exploit them that’s great.

    I use Guix System as my distro and it’s great, just goes to show the power of free software, you won’t get something like that anywhere else.

    • squaresinger@lemmy.world
      0·
      3 months ago

      I read a similarly sensationalist headline with 4% two months ago and 5% yesterday. What’s up with the headline makers?

      • BlameTheAntifa@lemmy.world
        0·
        3 months ago

        Linux is gaining market share quickly as the Windows 10 EOL rapidly approaches. There is still a massive amount of perfectly great hardware out there that isn’t officially supported by Windows 11, and only 3 months until Windows 10 reaches EOL.

        • Cricket [he/him]@lemmy.zipOPEnglish
          0·
          3 months ago

          Agreed. I think we’re still going to see a LOT of growth in Linux market share by the end of this year. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s 7%-8% by then.

        • squaresinger@lemmy.world
          0·
          3 months ago

          According to more realistic data, e.g. https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/desktop/worldwide/#monthly-202406-202506 the market share has been around 4% for the last year, even slightly declining in the meantime.

          But that doesn’t make for nice, sensationalist headline stoked by wishful thinking.

          Sorry to say, Linux isn’t going mainstream anytime soon and by and large the end of Win10 just means that the comparatively small group of users still running 5+ years old hardware will just buy a new PC or keep using their outdated OS.

          In fact, if you combine the market share of outdated Windows versions (XP-8.1) you get a market share very close to the market share of Linux.

          As much as we all would love it if the Linux market share goes to 50% in fall, it’s not going to happen.

          The main issues with Linux adoption (it’s not preinstalled and most people have no idea which OS they are using and really can’t be bothered to reinstall) are just as present as they ware for the last 30 years.

          • Mereo@lemmy.ca
            0·
            3 months ago

            All it takes is momentum. It’s a chicken-and-egg problem, and I think it’s gaining momentum because of Valve. Gaming was always the one thing stopping people from checking out Linux.

            Now, however, more and more people are trying it out. More tech YouTubers are trying Linux, which means more exposure. Distros are becoming more refined. KDE is much better than it used to be because of Valve. All in all, there’s true momentum building.

            In due time, Linux will be preinstalled on computers and laptops, and because of this, more people will contribute to Linux. People are fed up with the bloat and heavy AI push of Windows 11.

    • Cricket [he/him]@lemmy.zipOP
      0·
      3 months ago

      They used a different data source for this one and mentioned why they preferred this one over the one from the day before.