Posted on 07/16/2025 1:47:43 PM PDT by ShadowAce
For the first time, Linux has officially broken the 5% desktop market share barrier in the United States of America! It's a huge milestone for open-source and our fantastic Linux community. While many might think of Linux as a niche choice, this new data shows a significant shift is happening.
According to the latest StatCounter Global Stats for June 2025, Linux now holds 5.03% of the desktop operating system market share in the United United States of America. This is fantastic news!
Figure 1: StatCounter - Desktop Operating System Market Share in United States Of America - June 2025
Figure 2: StatCounter - Desktop Operating System Market Share United States Of America (May 2024 - June 2025)
To put this into perspective, here's how the desktop market breaks down in the USA for the same period:
One truly satisfying detail for me? Linux has finally surpassed the "Unknown" category in the USA! It shows that our growth is clear and recognised.
This isn't just a random bump; there are several clear reasons why Linux is seeing such a surge in popularity:
Many users are growing tired of Microsoft's approach.
The Steam Deck has been a game-changer! This popular handheld gaming device runs on a Linux-based system, introducing a whole new group of gamers to the power and flexibility of Linux. They're truly enjoying the experience!
Linux itself has made huge strides:
While the 5.03% is exciting, I believe the actual number of Linux users could be much higher. Here's why:
This 5% achievement is more than just bragging rights; it signals a significant shift and a growing interest in alternative operating systems.
The journey of Linux has been one of slow but steady progress, accelerating in recent years. It took eight years to go from 1% to 2% (by April 2021), then just 2.2 years to reach 3% (June 2023), and a mere 0.7 years to hit 4% (February 2024). Now, here we are, at over 5% in the USA! This exponential growth suggests that we're on a promising upward trend.
It's truly an exciting time to be a Linux user, and I believe the best is yet to come.
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I walked away from Windows after they rolled out that 365 bs. And that was before all the pedo vax geo engineering horrors were known about Gates. Linux has been as good if not better than Windows.
About time.....put linux on a serious gamer machine and just watch it fly....
I have often run nearly 100 tabs on an Alienware....and seen no drop in speed.
Slow and steady. By 2100, could hit 8%.
My upstairs computer is Windows 11 Pro.
My basement computer (the one I am using right now) is Linux Mint 22.1.
I have a degree in computer science. All my several computers are Linux based.
To me it is the difference between needing a calculator to do 2+2=4 and writing it out on paper and explaining it to teach someone.
Windows written by people like me, presumed y’all to be idiots.
Windows financial success proves that. We got richer and y’all didn’t learn a darned thing.
Posted from Ubuntu 25.04
I’ve been desktop onboard for at least 7 years.
I still have some legacy boxen/laptops [dual boot for the laptops] for reasons, but am NOT going back.
Others in the household have gone to Apple [Me too for my hand-me-down phones and a hand-me-down tablet].
Well, let’s be fair here, that survey also hits a lot of IoS and IoT installations - raspberry pis, ESP32s, etc.
I’ve got two main Win11 computers running in my house, two macOs computers (really love how the Macbook Air and a MacMini can share a keyboard/mouse), and 4 raspberry pis - since the main raspberry pi handles most public traffic throughout the house, all 4 of those computers show up on the survey as Pis.
A second pi scrapes data for weather, a third handles most of the streaming traffic in and out of the house, and a 4th pi manages mostly local storage and the VPNs - which means each cell phone comes in as a Pi desktop as well (well, 3 instances of the same pi...)
An actual survey of users would provide much more useful data.
ping
Thanx for sharing your perspective
I have always been a windows guy, but I have done some work with Linux Server.
at least I pretty much only run server skus which are much nicer and more private than the stupid win11 stuff
“To me it is the difference between needing a calculator to do 2+2=4”
trying to use a calculator to do that always confuses me.
I always try to enter both numbers then do the desired operation.
I wonder what the share of RPN users is today
Has Netcraft confirmed it?
Are you still using Pop!_OS?
If so, is it on a System76 computer, or your own?
Yup. Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS
If so, is it on a System76 computer, or your own?
It's on a System76 Oryx Pro.
Thanks to SteamOS most likely.
There are still things that Linux cannot do that Windoze does, but Linux would suffice for many people if they would give it a chance. If someone would come out with an “actual” Linux desktop I bet it would take off.
I like that Linux has no subscription fee. It’s version of Word and Excel are all I really use for the most part. I dont see the diff.
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