David Heinemeier Hansson

Hacker News

As of June 2025, Linux has crossed a significant milestone by achieving a 5% share in the US desktop market, according to Statcounter data. This represents a doubling of its market share from just three years ago, signaling notable progress in Linux adoption. While Windows continues to dominate with a commanding lead at 63%, there has been a 13% decline over the last decade, attributed to the end-of-life of Windows 10 and a growing interest in privacy and user-friendliness features offered by Linux.
Notably, Apple’s macOS which previously peaked at a 33% share in 2023 now holds around 26%, marking a decrease in its dominance. Despite regional variations, such as the lower adoption rate of 2% in Denmark, the overall trend points towards a steady increase in Linux’s popularity.
Factors contributing to this growth include the popularity of the Steam Deck, which has introduced many gamers to the Linux environment, alongside improvements in Linux’s user interface and privacy-first features. Additionally, Chrome OS, with a market share of 2.71% is often associated with Linux, further boosting the Linux ecosystem to a combined 7.74% market presence.
It is noteworthy that the actual usage of Linux may be higher than reported figures, as privacy-conscious users may avoid web tracking methods that contribute to these statistics. This underlines an underlying trend towards a more privacy-aware computing environment, with Linux being a key player in this shift.

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Linux desktop market share in the USA has reached 5% as of June 2025, doubling from three years ago. Windows maintains 63% share but declined 13% over the decade, while macOS dropped from 33% to 26%. Growth drivers include Steam Deck adoption, improved user interfaces, and privacy-focused features. Combined with Chrome OS, the Linux ecosystem represents 7.74% market presence, with actual usage potentially higher due to privacy-conscious users avoiding tracking.

Linux Achieves 5% Desktop Market Share in the USA

Wayland finally becoming default, Nvidia providing better support, and all of the awesome work Valve has done over the last decade have made a huge difference lately.
Still a few issues here and there but Linux is finally there for the most part.
I run it on my desktop and Framework 13. Gaming within Steam is great except for the DRM games. Sleep/wake + HW acceleration on the FW13 works great but I did need to upgrade to their 2x display because fractional scaling with electron apps is still an issue last time I checked.
I think the only major hurdle I have now is peripheral support. I have to use reverse engineered 3rd party apps for my Elgato Stream Deck and use Windows to save mouse profiles to my Logitech mice. Adobe support would be great too.

Do that many people really like my “I use Arch btw” t-shirt?

I “blame” Windows 11’s hardware limitations.