Linux Crosses 4% Market Share Worldwide
Linux Crosses 4% Market Share Worldwide
As always, such statistics should be treated with caution.
What methodology is used to calculate Statcounter Global Stats?
Statcounter is a web analytics service. Our tracking code is installed on more than 1.5 million sites globally.
Source: gs.statcounter.com/faq#methodology
It is assumed that there are more than one billion websites worldwide. It is therefore not exactly unlikely that a Linux user will not access any of these 1.5 million websites.
Furthermore, it is quite common for Linux users to use tools such as Pi-Hole that simply block such statistics scripts. This means that these users would not be counted even if they accessed one of these 1.5 million websites. For my part, I also use computers with Linux that I don’t use to access websites. Some of these computers don’t even have access to the Internet. They are therefore not counted either.
Finally, let’s come to the most important point. Percentage values say not much if you don’t know the actual number of users behind them. Let’s assume, for example, that 3.5 per cent Linux users were detected in December and only 3 per cent in January. However, if the total number of users was higher in January, it is therefore possible that more users were detected in January.
It sounds like a lot of users
It does not sound like a large percentage of users
Wasn’t there a post earlier detailing country wide metrics? I think India had quite a lot in there with nearly 15% market share in the country. I wonder what is the most used distro for desktop users.
Since Distrowatch only tracks clicks on it’s page for that page, it creates a positive feedback loop for MX Linux, I think. Hardly I have ran into anyone online who uses that. Meanwhile, I know dozens of people IRL who almost correlate Ubuntu with coding and have it installed but this is purely anecdotal.
I wonder what is the most used distro for desktop users.
Most likely Ubuntu. We use Ubuntu at work because it’s the most commonly supported Linux platform for many development tools
I think since the stats are based on web statistics, the steam deck probably won’t be counted unless the user switches to desktop mode and browses the web.
Though it’s possible the steam client accessing the steam store might count.
Probably not. The majority of users use chrome or whatever their os comes with. There are edge cases but it would be the minority that think about privacy and such.
I’m to lazy to worry about tracking so I install ublock, enable do not track in the settings of Firefox, and call it a day.
Too lazy to click, but it’s probably browser data. By default pretty much all browsers report OS info while browsing.
The intent is to ensure compatibility with the sites, and it’s also used to push relevant info to the front, e.g., going to the “download” page and having the first download link be a .deb instead of .exe.
It’s unfortunately also used as part of the data collected for browser “fingerprinting” so it can be a touchy subject and may get spoofed by some users, leading to erroneous data, but in aggregate it can be used to give a general sense of OS and browser market share for studies like this.
BLASPHEMER!
insert Monty Python pic
Server was won pretty quickly as Linux became the only remaining Unix.
Mobile was won because Google picked it as a kernel, however it’s at best a pyrrhic victory because the userspace has nothing to do with other Linux.
Desktop also needs a specific event to be won, it won’t just grow up progressively for no reason.