Linux Market Share Surpasses 4% for the First Time
Look out Windows and macOS, Linux is on the rise and has even topped ChromeOS to become the fourth most widely used OS around the globe.
Linux market share has always been in a "Why is this not rising?" situation for decades. Those of us who know how powerful, reliable, and secure the open source OS is, have never been able to understand why it has always hovered near 1%.
But recently, Linuxiac noticed a change and that, by the end of February 2024, the Linux market share had achieved a 4.03% share. That change was discovered via Statcounter.
To give a bit of context, at that same time the rest of the market looked like this:
- Windows 72.13%
- macOS 15.46%
- Unknown 6.11%
- Linux 4.03%
- Chrome OS 2.26%
- FreeBSD 0.01%.
There are several reasons why Linux is on the rise. According to Steven Vaughan-Nicols, those reasons include Microsoft no longer being that interested in Windows, Steam gaming, user realization that Linux is actually easy, software is easier to find and install, and the Linux desktop is on the rise in India.
I agree with Vaughan-Nicols' take on why this is happening, and I also would add that users have become disenchanted with Windows and the rising cost of Apple hardware.
Windows and macOS have seen significant drops in market share since January 2023 (Windows is down from a high of 76.33%, and macOS is down from a high of 21.32%). If those two platforms continue to tumble, Linux could possibly hit double-digits in the coming years.
We can always hope.
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