Posted by BeauHD from the year-of-the-Linux-desktop dept.
According to Statcounter, Linux use hit another all-time high in July. For July 2024, the statistics website is showing Linux at 4.45%, climbing almost a half a percentage point from June’s 4.05% high.
Is 2024 truly the year of Linux on the desktop?
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If what they’ve been doing hasn’t solved the problem, tell them to do something else. — Gerald Weinberg, “The Secrets of Consulting”
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You can thank Microsoft for that.
When Window 11 rolled around, Microsoft thought they could have their way as usual and forcibly push perfectly serviceable PCs to the landfill. But that was one planned obsolescence too many.
Also, people are starting to realize Windows as an OS is not only mediocre (that, they’ve been able to live with it somehow for decades for some reason…) but also now an adversarial platform for corporate surveillance and adversing. And it’s gotten so bad that even newer generations who have never known anything better than the corporate surveillance model are starting to want out.
And, silly Microsoft, they “embraced” open-source and made it super-easy to get a taste of Linux in Windows.
So I’m not surprised it’s finally happening now.
Half the thanks goes to Microsoft for royally fucking up. The other half goes to the Linux community for making it so easy these days to install Linux, e.g. even with a Windows pre-installed. It’s exactly what I did a week ago and it was incredibly easy. Far easier than e.g. 6 or 10 years ago.
It’s been very easy for a long time. Even 10 years ago it was easy.
My point was, however easy, people don’t change if they don’t have a reason. And that’s a general rule, not just with computers.
Microsoft is providing the impetus to change, and this time they’ve gone too far and pushed a lot of people over the threshhold – and those people then realize it wasn’t so hard after all.
And as Linux becomes more mainstream, hopefully more people will need less of a push to switch, because they’ve already seen it’s not that bad before even trying.
Gaming on Linux has come astoundingly far in the last 10 years, but lots of Windows software I thought never would work correctly in general has begun to work and made it more feasible to switch by supporting that one pesky application that you just have to have. And now with NTSYNC going into the kernel we can look forward to another big step forwards in Wine compatibility and performance within the next few months as it gets fleshed out.
I think calling it “royally fucking up” is a little much. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that Linux is quickly becomming easier to install that Windows is. When I install Linux, I get the benefit of a current, supported, patched OS that asks how to install, where to install, and which users to create. With Windows, the integration with cloud accounts ensures that I only have one path to installation.
To be 100% clear, I’ve always been an MS person. The thing that keeps me from Linux is my relia
The thing that keeps me from Linux is my reliance on Office and OneDrive/SharePoint, and a lack of desire to contain it in a VM.
Regarding Office, in what ways does LibreOffice not meet your needs? I’m not being critical, I’m honestly curious.
It’s been so long since I used MS Office that I’m not up on the differences, and when it comes to office suites I’m far from a power user. My wife can’t stand LibreOffice because it’s different from what she’s used to – usually she’s pretty adaptable, but not in this case. Yet I know that a lot of people are fine with it as a substitute for MS Office, so I’m trying to understand LibreOffice’s dr
You think its really happening? The gullibility of people… SMH
Should note I agree microsoft sucks for all re reasons you state. But its still not happening. The have what some would describe as an entrenched monopoly. To the extent that linux is taking over, its in the form of Android and Chrome OS. Cause they’re cheap and easy to admin. The percentage of non windows computers will steadily rise, but its still not going to be linux’s year of dramatic growth.
Did you miss the part where it went up 0.4% in a month? We’re talking world wide numbers. Today 1% of the world is more computers than were even in existence in 2004. 0.4% in only a month is insane.
While I would sort of like you to be right, out of spite towards Microsoft, I think what’s more likely is that Linux as a desktop OS in the workplace is more viable than it has ever been, mostly thanks to SaaS software and web-based UIs that make developing native apps for operating systems much less costly (if a native application is needed at all).
Before Slack, Gmail, Zoom, MS 365 “cloud” and other business tools could be used on Linux, you really couldn’t use Linux at work if these tools were required. A
I just don’t know how much of a factor this is for the average person.
I agree with what you said, but I’d like to share a couple of anecdotal data points in the hope that others will chime in with similar experiences.
Probably two years ago I installed Linux on an old laptop for the guy who owns the convenience store we frequent. He was sick of Windows updates, forced login with the Mothership, and a computer that ran slow as hell. So I set him up with MX Linux, as well as Firefox with U-block, and he’s been happy since then. I’ve done a few minor support things, but his needs
Well, it’s certainly not going to be the year of the Windows-desktop. That train has long been gone.
They’ll make me do desktop support again, and I ain’t goin’ back. I ain’t goin’ back, man! I’ll delete user files, show everyone in the office where they surf when nobody’s looking, and dd if=/dev/rnd of=/dev/sda every chance I get. I ain’t goin’ back. I’ll kill you all first, you can’t make me go back . . .
I just don’t want to support the horde of brain-dead mouth-breathers that think “Google” is their browser and wondering how to install the “Pipes” screensaver.
There is no OS that will fix those users.
Conversely, Linux is probably easier to properly lock down so those same users can’t really break things.
You don’t install AV software that can cause a kernel panic. There’s absolutely no reason for AV software to run in kernel mode.
Ha-ha!
No.
I recently asked a community which Linux distro should I introduce to a computer-illiterate friend who wanted a new PC so he could learn IT stuff.
There were dozens of answers and almost as many distros recommended.
And that, friends, is the problem with Desktop Linux. Way, way too much fragmentation.
Probably most of their answers would have worked just fine.
Your problem with Linux is there are just too many good ways to use it?
That’s not a bug!
It is for many people.
It’s called analysis paralysis.
Rather than most options looking equally good, they are analyzed over and over until they all look equally bad. Then you look at “the other side” and see ONE option, really. And you go pick that one.
To make another analogy, it’s like those bazaars where 20 sellers at once yell and beg you to buy something from them. You end up running away and not buying anything.
Cool?
I mean, I guess your anecdote makes the numbers a lie or something.
It’s OK guys, a well-documented, global, multi-year trend is meaningless because this commenter has a boring story . . .
Part of the problem is that success isn’t defined. Is Linux going to suddenly totally topple Windows? Probably not. Could it (globally, not in the US) break 10% of all desktops in less than five years? Yeah. That suddenly seems very possible, and that’s pretty crazy.
Ah yes, because inching forward half a percent truly means it is the year of Linux on the Desktop.
Half percent in a month. And now, I’m not extrapolating a trend here, but it’s a pretty crazy jump up.
Ha-ha!
No.
I recently asked a community which Linux distro should I introduce to a computer-illiterate friend who wanted a new PC so he could learn IT stuff.
There were dozens of answers and almost as many distros recommended.
And that, friends, is the problem with Desktop Linux. Way, way too much fragmentation.
This is really not the problem.
One of the problems is desktop Linux not getting pre-installed on OEM PCs. There are some, but the big names hide the desktop Linux computers pretty deep away and don’t advertise them.
The other is mind share. Do you see an ad campaign for desktop Linux distributions anywhere where the public at large will see it? I don’t. So, people don’t even know about it!
Finally there’s the issue of software availability. Adobe, Microsoft, Autodesk, etc. don’t distribute their software for
>Adobe, Microsoft, Autodesk,
With the enshitification those companies are providing their subscribers, I think they will help Linux and open source alternatives increase in popularity
The applications those companies produce are pretty much the standard in their respective sectors. Like it or not, no matter how many and good alternatives you provide, organizations will allow themselves to be shafted over and over by these companies simply because they can have some solid expectations of said proprietary software manufacturers.
If the software messes up, they can sue. Educations are geared towards the software, so they know they have a pool of trained laborers to choose from. Just to name
I’ve started telling somewhat computer-inclined people not to pick a distro, but to pick a package manager first. Much less daunting.
âoePick a package manager firstâ
Which do you recommend?
Apt if you’re an old man, Pacman if you’re a punk tweaker, and Yum if you’re a heartless corporate shill.
Or, just go with Flatpak and don’t care what distro you go with…
Bonus points for installing Flatpaks in your
/home/user directory and multiboot between distros and have access to all your apps in each one.
😉
Not even that important. I think it freaks some people out maybe, but anyone even slightly technical oriented won’t have a problem. Use one Linux distro and you’ll be able to use almost all the others with minimal effort. Of course, “IT stuff” and “technical” don’t always overlap.
If that friend is computer illiterate, why didn’t you choose for them?
They clearly entrusted you with an educator role, and you failed them.
The problem is if he wants to be successful in IT, he’ll need some degree of flexibility and the ability to deal with change. If he wants to be a Windows IT administrator, then he should stick with Windows obviously. But if I wants to do any *nix IT work, he can’t be put out by too much distro choice. He’ll most likely need to become familiar with several distros. Most likely Debian, Ubuntu, and one of the RHEL derivatives such as Rocky or Alma (doesn’t matter which).
When I worked in IT I supported dozen
The reality is that the vast majority of desktop Linux installations used by non-tech users are one of three distros: Ubuntu, Mint or Fedora. You don’t need to consider hundreds of choices… just the two or three most popular.
No.
Thatâ(TM)s my answer. No. At this point the âoedesktopâ is moot.
Fifteen years from now âoedesktopâ will mean workstations. And a tiny sliver of the populace will use them.
I used to work in IT and in my new role everything is an app on my phone. So who cares if I run Void or Open BSD on my laptop?
I feel like itâ(TM)s becoming like being the biggest coachbuilder a decade after society switched to automobiles.
Most professional people will have a KVM for their phone by then.
The future desktop operating systems are primarily mobile operating systems.
Mobile operating systems don’t like the idea of a user-readable filesystem, and it’s getting worse all the time.
The paradigm seems to be that each app owns its own files, rather than each file being accessible in multiple apps.
That’s exactly the opposite of the file-centric desktop computing tradition. It’s a non-starter for professional use.
Windows has a malware scanner and stomper built into the OS. Linux doesn’t. Is this something that will hamstring Linux on the desktop in the future?
Yeah – doesn’t matter if it is “free as in beer”, no McAfee or Norton A/V, no good. Not happening, so sayeth the PHB.
How would a virus work on Linux? How is the code going to get permission to write iteself into oher executable files?
Normaly, priviledge escalation is a good way:
https://www.theregister.com/20… [theregister.com]
Many more like this one.
If it gets a root context, it owns the OS, and can probably stuff a cloaking kernel module in with a simple insmod. Getting a root context is as simple as editing the user’s $PATH and pointing to a rogue directory first.
Replying to self… Getting a root context through a user with sudo access is easy. Other methods of getting an unconstrained root context is the hard part, due to AppArmor, SELinux, and the way things work.
Technically, no software is “built in” to linux or even windows for that matter.
There are malware and virus scanners for linux that are included and you just have to install
but they are typically not needed because malware and viruses are almost non-existent in linux
because the desktop user tends to be an unprivileged user.
I’ve installed linux virus scanners before but mostly to protect windows boxes.
On Linux you install from the Linux distributor (dnf/yum/apt/apk/etc.) so there is no way to get a virus. Except for people downloading+installing Chrome instead of faster ‘dnf install chromium’.
I do not understand these.
(a1) “drive by” – when I click on an ELF binary both Firefox & Chromium offer only to download it. And then I have to do from a shell “chmod +x” and run it. That is a lot of expertise required to shoot my foot.
(a2) email link – Mutt tells me “mailcap entry for type application/octet-stream not found” so again I have to save it, “chmod +x” and run it, see (a1). GMail is (a1).
(b) See (a2) == (a1).
The person must be very qualified and insist a lot to get his/her computer infec
because the desktop user tends to be an unprivileged user.
Who cares if applications are locked out of root? The OS is replaceable. All your important data is in Home, which is accessible to everything on the machine.
The Linux security model isn’t any better than Windows.
Windows has a malware scanner and stomper built into the OS. Linux doesn’t. Is this something that will hamstring Linux on the desktop in the future?
There was a time when windows did not have a MS provided antivirus (for fear of antitrust action). That was from Win1.0 all the way until Vista.
All the antiviruses you would get were 3rd parties, bundled in by the OEM. Even when MS bundled an AV (with MO-DOS) it was a 3rd party licensed product (PC-Tool IIRC).
There is a free antivirus for Linux, called ClamAV. Many distros incorporate it by default.
So no, lack of antivirus is not hindering “the year of the linux desktop”. Rather, probably is lack of apps th
Windows has a malware scanner and stomper built into the OS. Linux doesn’t.
apt-get install clamav clamtk libclamunrar clamav-docs
Granted, it’s not as good as what Windows has yet, but it’s improving all the time. Also, most big organizations don’t depend on the built in scanner.
ClamAV is good enough that it ships with Synology and (IIRC), perhaps QNAP appliances. It is on par with everything else in the market.
If AV is needed for a STIG, then this is an item… but ClanAV does count [stigviewer.com] to fulfill that requirement.
Usually an EDR/XDR/MDR is needed for logging and having a single point of glass across platforms. That is where Sophos, CrowdStrike, McAfee, and other platforms come in. However, in all my time at system administration, I’ve yet to see the AV actually stop an attack in pr
*Ron Paul “It’s Happening!” . gif*
So…. who uses a desktop any more?
People have phones and tablets and ereaders and alexas and smarthome devices….. pretty much all of those already run linux.
A lot of people. It is a lot easier to write out a report on a desktop or laptop than it is to poke at a phone’s screen or tap on a tablet’s. Desktops also provide a lot better workflow than mobile operating systems.
Desktops are also multi-user.
Microsoft Edge’s edge://surf pseudo-URL gives you a choice of surf-riding avatars.
One looks suspiciously like Tux.
When Linux hits 10% desktop share, that would be significant.
But first, we have to get past 4.46%, and then 4.47%, and then 4.48%…
5% is not enough of the desktop market to matter, but the reality, Unix like OSes already run the world. If you look at https://gs.statcounter.com/os-… [statcounter.com], and add up the numbers ~73% of all OSes are Unix like, and that doesn’t take into account servers, IoT and other devices.
Even for Windows, how many of those installations are running the WSL, which is just Linux? The reality is the desktop isn’t a useful metric, most tools are web based, many desktop applications are web based (Electron), and really the desktop is now a shell to launch the browser to show your files. It’s been the year of Linux for a long time, because almost every device runs Linux at some level. If you count the number of Linux devices in your home, unless you only have a desktop, it will out number, probably, every other OS.
On this desk, I have 7 devices, 6 of them are Linux based, including my notebook.
5% is not enough of the desktop market to matter, but the reality, Unix like OSes already run the world.
Clearly not enough of the world otherwise Crowdstrike would not have been such a major incident.
Something like 8 – 15 Million computers crashed, that’s maybe 0.01% of the computing environments?
There is still much to be done. Proper multi-monitor, hidpi, scaling, advanced audio configuration, quality font rendering, lots of GUI stuff for edge configuration cases, still need to happen.
A friend of mine (a music hobbyist, who invested in some pretty specific niche hardware) turned back to Windows, because getting his setup to work properly was too difficult (he did get it working, but then the rest wouldn’t work anymore). I was stumped as well.
Proper (complete and understandable by mere mortals) docu
I did a quick search for articles that do more than just regurgitate & put a spin on the usual stat counts. I didn’t find much so I guess our speculation might be as good as any.
I reckon one possible contributor might be governments looking to reduce their dependency on Microsoft & also increase their own security, such as Brazil, Russia, India, China, & even the EU (the EU has an “open-source first” directive which means greater interest in using Linux desktops, as we’ve seen in more than a
I’d assume it is Steamdeck.
You saved the best and most incisive observation for the last sentence in your post. You (imply ) college courses (except computer science ) should be taught without computer intrusion. I've taught everything from SENIOR-LEVEL modern physics and Maxwell Equations to "poets physics" for frosh liberal arts majors; using nothing . but a chalk-board and trusty HP calculator. A slide-rule ( or abacus?) would have done as well. Computer take-over of high-school/college education is a stain on an environment
Q: Is Windows or Linux the better Operating system?
Co-Pilot:
The choice between Windows and Linux depends on your needs and preferences. Here’s a quick comparison to help you decide:
### **Windows**
– **User-Friendly**: Windows is known for its user-friendly interface, making it easy for beginners to navigate.
– **Software Compatibility**: Most commercial software, including popular games and productivity tools, are designed for Windows.
– **Support**: Extensive support from Microsoft and a large user community.
– **Hardware Compatibility**: Works well with a wide range of hardware.
### **Linux**
– **Customization**: Highly customizable, allowing users to tweak almost every aspect of the OS.
– **Open Source**: Free and open-source, with a variety of distributions (distros) to choose from, such as Ubuntu, Fedora, and Debian.
– **Security**: Generally considered more secure due to its open-source nature and fewer targeted attacks.
– **Performance**: Can be more efficient and faster, especially on older hardware.
### **Considerations**
– **Purpose**: If you need an OS for gaming, professional software, or general use, Windows might be more suitable. For programming, server management, or if you enjoy customizing your OS, Linux could be a better fit.
– **Learning Curve**: Windows is typically easier for beginners, while Linux might require more technical knowledge, especially for advanced customization.
So I guess 2024 is the year you decide what OS is best for you
Wish I had mod-points for your post. When RedHat & then Canonical kissed-off home lusrs and hobbyists they might have printed a banner that showed on every Linux boot " SURRENDER HOPE ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE ". I am a casual Linux user and have struggled thru the Linux brier-patch since 2000. Practical user help is non-existence --- imagine how silly I felt struggling thru DDs Cli when I upgraded hard-drives on my 5600X system.
That is huge….it’s well over 100
The whole bit about too many desktop variants and too many distros is valid, but isn’t what prevents widespread adoption of Linux by regular people. It’s also not the fact that every PC that isn’t Apple comes with Windows. It’s that everyone *knows* Windows and/or MacOS, and everyone *knows* Office.
To get people to use any Linux desktop, you have to coerce huge numbers of regular, non-techie, non-gamer types to adopt it. That will never happen in significant numbers just from one-on-one evangelizing. Whole
None of the Windows users in my family “know” Windows or Office. Or they wouldn’t be asking me (a Linux user) for help with their computer. I believe people are desperate for a computer they can use, one that Just Works(tm). And are not making buying choices in an attempt to leverage their own expertise, but instead aren’t confident that they can figure out anything new since they have so mucb troubke operating computers in general.
Does this include China? I suspect that it’s pretty ubiquitous due to national security requirements.
In the stats, Windows is UP by 4-5%. Linux is up by 1%. OSX is down by around 6. So per the data this is not a shift from Windows…it’s a shift from OSX to others and Microsoft is benefitting most (fortunately or unfortunately depending on your perspective).
At this rate we can expect Linux to hold nearly all of the desktop market in 600 years. What a time to be alive!
Nobody beyond Slashdot gives a hoot. Most pople want to get on the Internet, maybe do a little word processing, or if they’re relly radical, get a spreadsheet to work. Or maybe do their taxes on TurboTax. If they have a specific application that is more complex, maybe for accounting or scheduling, it had better run on Windows and run out of the box with no futzing around. And it had better work automagically with any printers I have. No “drivers,” thank you very much. Oh, and if I want to play a cool game,
I’ve been running Linux since 1994? It is an extraordinary piece of collaborative software.
Unfortunately, the patent and copyright system has resulted in key areas of software service to become owned by a few companies.
The example is the open source software Openshot. The application looks and runs just like it did 5 years ago. From several tries, I am not getting results.
In contrast, my son’s girlfriend uses the proprietary software from a big San Jose outfit and she grinds out professional quality work wi
is so we could post these same snarky comments that we saw when Linux reached 4.44% adoption, and 4.43% adoption before that.