Linux is gaining traction

There is currently a number from Statcounter making the rounds that Linux has surpassed 10% market share in North America. I would not necessarily believe that number – and yet I think there are some really good signs for Linux on the desktop becoming more and more relevant.

Now, I am not saying to not trust Statcounter... well, that is actually exactly what I am saying. They are known for having abysmal reporting (such as the macOS and OSX market share shown in one of the graphs). But even without the numbers from Statcounter there are some really good signs for Linux on the desktop beside Valve continuing to push their efforts with Steam hardware.

For one, GOG developing a Linux client is amazing, especially because GOG is a store I would love to see become more relevant. I really like Steam and Valve. There are a few things I would expect Steam and Valve to be better at like age verification to meet most EU regulations around games without / with adult age rating. But at the end of the day GOG offers a DRM free experience and ships me a simple install.exe - no amount of goodwill I have for Valve will beat that.

The other is large tech creators not only starting a Linux challenge and some even stuck with it, but Linux being included in benchmarks on larger YouTube channels. Actually having it present alone is a big step to show less technical gamers that there is a real alternative.

Furthermore Microsoft may pull the plug on letting everyone ship kernel code who pays $300 for an EV certificate - which might solve the anti-cheat problem. Or gamers might finally begin to walk away from broken games with anti-cheat engines making even legitimate purchases unplayable (hey denuvo).

There are basically only two really relevant game engines (Unreal and Unity) and one gaining traction (Godot), which all work nicely on Linux things. As long as it is not an online multiplayer I rarely check if a game does run on my system before buying it. So far I was not disappointed.

We are still far off from Linux becoming as easy as Windows for the masses. If it works, it is great. If you have to start troubleshooting it can get ugly pretty quickly. This is where projects like the SteamDeck and SteamMachine shine. On the other hand self declared experts explaining "Well, actually, it's GNU/Linux and you are a horrible person for not using the distribution I use!" all over the Internet are not helping anyone... quiet the opposite.

While I do not believe the numbers that are currently circulating the Internet, I see many signs that Linux on the desktop is gaining traction. And considering the alternatives I really appreciate that.