Today’s Sourceforge Update newsletter features this item from Linux Journal, and the headline asks “Is Windows 11 Technical Debt Finally Pushing Power Users to Linux?” Since GNU/Linux seems to be increasingly more popular, I thought this item may add an interesting point of view to the discussion
Ernie
It’s true Steam and Bazzite are working great. I think the main reason many people switch though is just cost. Why spend any money on Windows when you can use something free. It’s also fun. That’s my main incentive to use Linux. It’s just fun.
It isn’t all sunshine and roses for gaming on Linux though. There are still many games you can’t play or play easily. Some are blocked due to anti-cheat engines. That should improve as Linux is adopted more.
Another big driver of Linux use are the handhelds like the Steam Deck. It is running Linux, but it isn’t like they’re running Fedora or Ubuntu. It’s a derivative and that’s pretty much all it’s used for. I hate to see those numbers lumped into something showing the adoption of Linux on the desktop.
Do you really think that those hand-help gaming devices are being lumped in with Desktop Linux? I hope not because while I want GNU/Linux to gain a lot of market share, I want it to be real numbers, not some contrived conglomerate value of everything that runs Linux. That would include Desktop, server, smart devices, and all newer smart appliances (refrigerators, stoves, Toasters, etc.) as well as all the smart devices we use in our homes (smart lights, smart plugs, Smart home controllers, etc.), not to mention all the smart phones that use Android which is based on a highly modified version of the Linux kernel. If we add all that together, Linux may already have a major market share, but that would be a very misleading statistic. What I’d like to see would be what market share does GNU/Linux occupy in the Enterprise Desktop market, what market share does GNU/Linux occupy in the Personal Desktop market, and what market share does GNU/Linux occupy in the Educational Desktop market. That information would give a much more accurate reflection of the current rate of popularity of desktop GNU/Linux, as well as the accurate growth as time goes forward, but, regarding the Personal Desktop market, how to accurately obtain that data?
Ernie
I do. Many of the monthly stories discussing the market share of desktop state the Steam Deck has helped increase the Linux desktop market share. I agree with you, that should not be counted as a desktop.
Higher then I thought.
" Digital Analytics Program (DAP), which tracks visits to over 5,000 federal websites, reports that 6% of users in the past month were running GNU/Linux". Last month was August 2025. Of course that was US federal sites. I found that at https://puri.sm/posts/the-quiet-revolution-gnu-linux-crosses-6-desktop-market-share-and-its-just-the-beginning/
Co-Pilot added that the world usage stood at “Linux desktop market share reached 4.7% globally” in 2025 according to StatCounter. And Linux usage in the US was at an all time high at 5.03%.
Good news.
I agree! What the apparently growing popularity of GNU/Linux means to me is that hardware support continues to steadily improve over time. As GNU/Linux becomes more popular, we all win!
Ernie
All those devices you mention are making desktop computers less necessary.
It would be interesting to find some survey of what people use a desktop for today.?
Does the average user even sit at a desk?
Yes, I do! (in the den). 2nd desktop in man cave (basement) is at a table.
Who is an average user?
I have a tower at my desk in the basement and a laptop that might be on that desk or on my laptop in my favorite chair. For work I have a laptop that travels from my desk at home to Burger King and to my desk at work.
I don’t use my phone as much as the average person I don’t think. It just isn’t as well suited to the things I like to do on the web, like reading It’s Foss and responding to this forum.
You have to have a measurement or a set of classes to compute an average.
What I meant was…among all users of computers, what proportion use a desktop, versus a laptop or a tablet?
You are well above an average user. You do more than browse and email.
It’s actually “Arch BTW” 
I’d love a SteamDeck - you can plug it into a monitor and hook up a mouse and keyboard and use it as a regular Linux desktop (I think it defaults to KDE)…
I recently read about one Game DEV whose PC died - and he carried on developing the game using ONLY his SteamDeck - so you can install other software on it… I don’t know if uses AUR or whatever…
I actually completely made the switch to 100% Linux desktop and no more dual booting around 2012 when Valve released the FPS shooter “L4D2” with a native Linux version for their native Linux game client “Steam”, and then I discovered another favourite FPS “Serious Sam 3” had a native Linux version on Steam… Then some more top shelf games like “Borderlands 2” and Borderlands - The Pre-Sequel" got released with native Linux version (that was around 2015?)…
It’s a full GNU/Linux operating system - it’s nothing like Android which is a Java VM running on the Linux kernel with barely any GNU “user land” stuff… I think SteamDeck DOES count as a Linux platform as it’s a full GNU/Linux distribution (it’s pretty much Arch Linux)…
Note - a couple of years before the SteamDeck - Steam / Valve did have a distribution “SteamOS” - but it - was Debian based… There are rumours (which sound believable) that Valve / Steam will be releasing a downloadable / installable version of Arch based “SteamOS 3” that you can plonk on your own hardware…
Note - some other gaming consoles run some form of Linux - Playstation 3/4/5 maybe? But they certainly DO NOT count as GNU/Linux.
I think Nintendo devices are base on one of the BSDs…
– – edit – –
Could be the other way round actually - Playstation since PS/3 have been BSD and Nintendo Wii and Switch are Linux based? But still no counting as a full Linux distro maybe?
Probably not, but it does provide a good label for the category of computers used for personal and Enterprise computing, and should include devices like desktop computers, laptops, and even some tablets, because all/most of these devices can run what we identify as Desktop Linux today …
Ernie
Me too! My desktop is in what I call my office (off my bedroom - was used as a makeup/closet space by previous owners - we removed the sink and converted the makeup built-in into a desk with storage cabinets on either side, although I still hang my clothes behind where I sit at my desk too), in my living-room, I have a wheeled desk for my older laptop PC, and a bed-side table for my primary laptop (in my bedroom - convenient!), where I’m writing this now.
Ernie
In this case, I can accept Steam deck as a desktop computing device, but it’s apparently an outlier for the hand-held device set. I’m not a gamer, and I don’t own any of those devices here. All I really care about is that devices that can be used for personal or Enterprise computing purposes, and only those devices be lumped together as Desktop computers/computing devices …
Ernie
I don’t own any either - but - the SteamDeck was released circa 2021 or 22.. I DESPERATELY wanted one at the time - and - I had the cash liquidity at the time to get one - but - YOU COULD NOT buy one for love or money from Australia - and if you got one from overseas - you had to use a VPN and set your region to elsewhere… Can’t remember the exact reasons - but Valve did get stung once or twice by Australia and were a bit shy… Similar story with Google Stadia - unavailable in Australia… But that latter one sank like a stone worldwide anyway…
But the SteamDeck prospered… In 2021 there was a regular on this forum who was a big fan of the SteamDeck… Forget his username avatar - he was cool guy - opinionated - but usually on point…
Because I couldn’t get a SteamDeck for love or money in Au in 2021 / 2022 - I decided to go for a similar spec e-bay Thinkpad…
AMD Ryzen, Vega8 graphics, NVMe SSD… When I got it - I never even booted the Win10 - just formatted and wiped it and I think installed Ubuntu… Then in late 2022 I installed Pop!_OS 22.04… that started having issues - so it’s now on Ubuntu 24.04 and battery life is better on Ubuntu than it was on Pop!_OS…
I still use it - but - it’s really SH!T on battery! Garbage… But it’s okay for an hour or two - I’ve occasionally stretched it to 4 hours… unlike my Apple MacBooks - which can go 10-15 hours without charge…
You can laugh and scoff all you like at Apple - but their 64 bit ARM RISC (AKA “Apple Silicon”) pretty much kills Intel and AMD for battery life…
Always a desk. Never Arch.
I fit that mould for Linux. Android is another matter.
I actually hope all those Windows gamers coming to Linux start complaining about performance. Linux graphics performance has been lagging behind Windows’ for a looong time and should be fixed.
Valve and others pushing stability and performance patches to the kernel and mesa should help a lot.
I don’t scoff at Apple, I simply don’t use their products because I don’t like how they’re so closed up as hardware goes, and AFAIK, you have to pay to develop for their platform. Their business model may provide for somewhat better platform stability/security, but I still disapprove. Additionally, back in the day (before smartphones) their user community was very full of itself, as if they were somehow better than PC users. While that appears to be less the case today, their history left a sour taste in my mouth, and it biases me against them yet today …
Ernie
I am having problems maintaining wifi connection on my desktop, especially when i try to balance it on my stand up paddle board, was even worse when on my motorcycle…..