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Linux traffic has grown 22.4% in PH this year (feddit.uk)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/linux@programming.dev
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[–] 86 points 9 months ago (33 children)

unfortunately this is mostly an instance of https://xkcd.com/1102/

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  • [–] 14 points 9 months ago (28 children)

    I'm as happy about this news as the next tech enthusiast, but bluntly, it's not a big shift. Going from ... What? 5% to 6%? That's great and all but it's hardly moving the needle.

    If we want a significant shift we need OEMs selling prebuilt PCs with some flavor of Linux pre-installed, that's as easy to use as the competition (Windows/mac) with compatibility that's both good enough and transparent enough that people don't need to think about it much.

    Before we get Linux OEM PCs on store shelves, we need to figure out that last bit first.

    That still hasn't happened yet. We can't even agree what window manager should be used, nevermind any of the dozen or so other critical services on the system...

    The thing that makes Linux great is that anyone and everyone can, and does, make stuff for it. That's also the thing that's going to hold it back from being put on store shelves pre installed on prebuilt PCs.

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  • [–] 21 points 9 months ago (7 children)

    What? 5% to 6%? That’s great and all but it’s hardly moving the needle.

    It's huge because the people who do the tech support in the families are moving.

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  • [–] 13 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    My elderly, former programmer father is one. Too bad it took him 30 years after first trying but he is up and running now for about three months 😁️ Now to get him off the Apple phone and into an alt android OS....

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Now to get him off the Apple phone and into an alt android OS....

    But, why? I can understand for you and I, but does a 50-60yo, need to shift from a platform they're comfortable with and can afford, just because their nerdy kid doesn't find it cool?

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    You're a little off on our ages, but your point still stands 🙂 What is behind that statement is me seeing him talk about these things for so long. He was messing with OS/2 and some Linux stuff before Windows came out, but completely quit after about 1993. He would, however, talk about it.

    He was the first of us to get a smartphone (Apple) and did a lot of tinkering with it then, but quit. I personally have been using Linux OSes for 20 years and even gave an old desktop of mine to fiddle with 10 years ago, which he loved!

    He wants to do this stuff but has trouble starting his own projects. He has spent time with my phone, my computers, etc. If I lived closer this would be a great way to spend time together since we don't have a whole lot in common.

    The reality is he is the nerdy kid who learned programming on punch cards and switched to that field in the 60s as soon as he learned what a computer was. He has always wanted to do "gadgety" things. He does have some dispensable income. I have enjoyed hearing him talk about this new nettop and the shenanigans he gets into with it! So much better than discussing the weather.

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    That's an important step, for sure, but that's not going to push the majority.

    I'm that guy for plenty of people and the number of times a conversation starts with "so I bought..." is crazy. It's basically the first thing anyone says to me when they need help.

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  • [–] 6 points 9 months ago

    This.

    The one step that would really push a lot would be if you can go to your local electronics store and buy a PC there with Linux preinstalled and completely setup, just like you can with Windows, Mac and ChromeOS.

    That's why the Steam Deck actually pushed the Linux market share quite a bit.

    I mean, there is a thing like that and it's called Chromebooks, but we, the tech people, deemed ChromeOS not Linux enough and told everyone not to buy chromebooks.

    But still ChromeOS is by far the most popular Linux distro with about 5x the market share of the next most popular Linux distro (which is Arch, thanks to the Steam Deck).

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago

    I don’t know if you already use Linux or not, but if you do you have a valid excuse for why you can’t help them with their impulse buy from HP. So if they want your help, they can take your suggestions for where to get a Linux computer, such as System76, Framework, and I think even some Dell models come with it preinstalled. There’s probably some I forgot, but the point is, those selling Linux machines are in a growth market that only seems to be accelerating. It should be only a matter of time before more players want a piece of that.

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  • [–] 10 points 9 months ago (8 children)

    If you look at the commercially successful variants of Linux (ChromeOS and Android), you'll see that taking away freedom/choice was the first thing they did.

    And ultimately, if you are targeting the mass market, that's almost required.

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  • [–] 8 points 9 months ago (6 children)

    ChromeOS isn't successful.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago*

    Successful compared to what? I don't have data, but I'd venture to say that it's the most popular desktop Linux distro.

    It's a bit past its peak, but in 2023 it had 7% market share in the quite lucrative North American market. That's not nothing. In North America, all other Linux distros combined just overtook ChromeOS this year. World-wide it was last year.

    There's also no other Linux distro that comes pre-installed on devices from different manufacturers (at least none that I know of).

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (4 children)

    Yes. By the porn stats, Linux already crushes ChromeOs. Let's not take any advice from it.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (3 children)

    Well, all Linux distros combined are more than ChromeOS. If you split up by distro, ChromeOS is still the top Linux distro by far.

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (2 children)

    Interesting. I would have guessed that Mint gave ChromeOS a run for it's money, by now.

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 child)

    Really difficult to actually get good numbers here since there's a ton of sampling bias and user agent strings (which are used for most of these market share detectors) don't capture Linux distros apart from ChromeOS.

    But we can combine sources to get somewhere.

    The Steam Hardware and Software Survey doesn't include any data on ChromeOS, because there's no Steam on ChromeOS, but it says that there's a total market share for Linux of 3.2% with the most common Linux Distro being Arch with a market share of 0.32% (probably due to the Steam Deck), followed by Mint with 0.24%.

    So double the maket share to get roughly to the 6.3% total Linux maket share from PH, and we get Arch with 0.64% and Mint with 0.48%, which is both much much lower than the 2.4% of ChromeOS on PH.

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  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago (3 children)

    If we want a significant shift we need OEMs selling prebuilt PCs with some flavor of Linux pre-installed, that's as easy to use as the competition (Windows/mac) with compatibility that's both good enough and transparent enough that people don't need to think about it much.

    Boy have I got news for you

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    This probably won't be showing up on shelves at best buy along side computers from the likes of Dell, HP, and Lenovo. I kind of expect it to show up next to the Xbox, PlayStation, and switch, if it shows up at all.

    Also, steamOS is not exactly a desktop operating system right out of the gate, is entirely gaming focused. Yeah, you can use it for those things, but that's not the focus of the device/OS.

    I'm not sure Grandma and Grandpa would want a steam machine as a replacement for their aging Windows 7 home computer.

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago

    I'm not sure Grandma and Grandpa would want a steam machine as a replacement for their aging Windows 7 home computer.

    Fair. But for my gram, it would have been a slam dunk day one buy. She loved her playstation and only tolerated her PC. She would have called a Steam Machine "my game console that can check email" and would have adored it.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago

    why not?? best buy sells steam decks and the ROG ally.... costco sells garbage pre-builts, there is no reason the gabecube shouldn't find retail shelf space, especially since xbox seems intent on exiting the console market.

    the fact that it's a linux box is only appealing to nerds, how may ppl actually ran linux on the ps3?? hint: a lot less people than were upset when sony took it away lol. gabecube being a pc is a bonus feature, will it be a big enough bonus feature to drive sales like bundling your fist dvd or bluray player?? probably not.... but it will be enough to maybe sway a few people sitting on the fence?? maybe!

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

    So honest question, what is everyone's hopes with the increase in Linux desktop use?

    Like when I think about it the only thing I really care about is that I have decent hardware/driver support and holdouts for anti-cheat give up on requiring other operating systems (mostly so that my wife and eldest child stop complaining that I can't play Fortnite with them) as well as other random stuff that flat-out blocks use with Linux and requires either extra configuration or to keep a spare computer around with Windows.

    Basically I hope that Linux can be where MacOS was about a decade ago, a second platform that vendors are aware of and will put in some amount of effort in to support (and will be clear about limitations/lack of support otherwise) and it won't be as weird to employers or schools if you have a preference for the platform

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (3 children)

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (2 children)

    And I can buy this configuration off of a shelf at best buy?

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago (1 child)

    a little funny to see someone say the same exact thing as me, but conclude the opposite thing

    https://fosstodon.org/@Logical/_Error/115674824627182408

    that 1% gain translates to a lot of people. app devs will hopefully target linux now as there are finally a sizable amt of people on the platform. its breaking the chicken and egg cycle

    no need to worry about the software fragmentation. it gives OEMs a choice on how they would like to sell a system. we dont want to be like android now do we. i see it as a plus

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  • [–] 1 point 9 months ago

    These are all valid opinions. Certainly 1% of movement is better than no movement. Certainly gets us closer to the goal, but IMO, it will take more movement before publishers will take Linux seriously, especially for more custom applications.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Yeah, I wish they'd made the second graph show percentage point difference instead of percentage growth.

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  • [–] 0 points 9 months ago

    You can get a good approximation, multiply the pie graph percentages by a plausible population of PornHub users, get plausible numbers for each group, use those numbers to work out plausible numbers for the second graph

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