While 5% might not seem like much to the average person, for those of us who've been using and following Linux for decades, breaking the 5% barrier is important.

As someone who had the "Linux World Domination" poster back in the early 2000s, I was expecting this to happen long, long ago, but I am thrilled that it's finally a reality.

According to this MSNBC post, one of the reasons for this jump is that Windows 10 users are testing the waters of Linux in favor of not having to purchase a new machine that supports Windows 11.

There is one particular bit of information that has to be included in this news: The 5% market share is only in the US. As for the global market share, that number is still hovering under 2%. Of course, according to Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, when you add Android (16.2%) and Chrome OS (0.8%) into the mix, the number is more like 23%.

One thing to keep in mind is that StatCounter, the source of the 5% US market share statistic, isn't exactly the most reliable form of statistics tracking. StatCounter doesn't actually track PCs or users; instead, according to Vaughan-Nichols, it counts web pages that contain its tracking code from over 1.5 million sites. Clearly, that's not exactly a scientific or reliable method of tracking operating system usage, and I would venture a guess that real-world Linux market share is higher than what StatCounter reports.