Windows Drops Under 60% in Global Desktop OS Share for the First Time in Years

[planetearth]

It’s all little by little, of course, but I think we are rapidly approaching a tipping point. Lennox is now getting to be easy enough that non-technical users are able to start using it. And Linux has been as good as windows and macOS in the other ways (ie desktop GUI, usage, etc), so it makes it a very nice alternative. I remember when it was a nightmare to get Linux to work. I also remember when it was a nightmare to get Linux audio to work. Now both work nicely and quite easily. Each of these milestones brings more opportunities for adoption by non-technical users. This is probably why we are seeing a trend where Linux adoption is growing and windows adoption, and Mac adoption is dropping.

I hope these two posts about "Lennox" aren't a result of you trying to post something here from your Linux PC (or Android phone).

Steve

[audiojunkie]

It’s all little by little, of course, but I think we are rapidly approaching a tipping point. Lennox is now getting to be easy enough that non-technical users are able to start using it. And Linux has been as good as windows and macOS in the other ways (ie desktop GUI, usage, etc), so it makes it a very nice alternative. I remember when it was a nightmare to get Linux to work. I also remember when it was a nightmare to get Linux audio to work. Now both work nicely and quite easily. Each of these milestones brings more opportunities for adoption by non-technical users. This is probably why we are seeing a trend where Linux adoption is growing and windows adoption, and Mac adoption is dropping.

I hope these two posts about "Lennox" aren't a result of you trying to post something here from your Linux PC (or Android phone).

Steve

Haha!! I used my phone’s voice to text to transcribe my message, rather than typing it all out by hunting and pecking with my fingers on my phone. For some reason, even though I have never used the word “Lennox”, every time I say the word “Linux”, my phone thinks I’m talking about the Eurythmics. I went back through and cleaned up and changed what I thought was all of the mistakes. Apparently I missed a few.

[planetearth]

It’s all little by little, of course, but I think we are rapidly approaching a tipping point. Lennox is now getting to be easy enough that non-technical users are able to start using it. And Linux has been as good as windows and macOS in the other ways (ie desktop GUI, usage, etc), so it makes it a very nice alternative. I remember when it was a nightmare to get Linux to work. I also remember when it was a nightmare to get Linux audio to work. Now both work nicely and quite easily. Each of these milestones brings more opportunities for adoption by non-technical users. This is probably why we are seeing a trend where Linux adoption is growing and windows adoption, and Mac adoption is dropping.

I hope these two posts about "Lennox" aren't a result of you trying to post something here from your Linux PC (or Android phone).

Steve

Haha!! I used my phone’s voice to text to transcribe my message, rather than typing it all out by hunting and pecking with my fingers on my phone. For some reason, even though I have never used the word “Lennox”, every time I say the word “Linux”, my phone thinks I’m talking about the Eurythmics. I went back through and cleaned up and changed what I thought was all of the mistakes. Apparently I missed a few.

No worries. My phone seems to think I'm saying "ducking" a lot more than I actually am, so I know how you feel.

Steve

[stoopicus]

Through using your numbers only (which we know is just US numbers):

Android and iOS clearly aren't desktop operating systems, so removing those we get the following percentages:

Windows 67%
Mac 24%
Linux 7%
ChromeOS 2%

I'm not counting depreciated OSes or iOS or Android. I'm only counting current OSes:

Windows 11:
MacOS:
Linux + ChromeOS:
Everything else (Old Windows, OSX, iOS, Android, anything else: DOS, Atari, Amiga, etc):

I think you are taking away the wrong message due to OSX being in there. The actual issue is probably much more that the page reporting such a high relative percentage of OSX should not be trusted, not that we should ignore a large chunk of Mac users. Even users still on Intel macs have been running MacOS for years. The OSX number ismuch more likely a methodological error and not a significant chunk of the mac market.

[audiojunkie]

But to say that it is an obvious error is it admit that the numbers can’t be trusted in general—which is what I too am asserting. There is no reliable way to obtain actual percentages, other than to show generalized trends.

Also, I wasn’t aware that some Intel Macs run MacOS. As long as they are running on an officially currently supported OS (MacOS), then they shouldn’t be ruled out. Only systems using OSX should be ruled out.

[FigBug]

macOS 27 Golden Gate to be released September 2026 will be the first macOS to drop support for Intel macs. I'm seeing around 15% of mac users still on Intel. I'm not sure how much longer Xcode will compile for Intel. I'd like to support Intel for at least a few more years.

That said, in the end market share is kind of irrelevant, the only thing that matters is sales per platform. If a bunch of businesses and governments switch Windows -> Linux, that probably doesn't help us. Those people were never plugin customers. If it's home users switching, then that could help.

[audiojunkie]

macOS 27 Golden Gate to be released September 2026 will be the first macOS to drop support for Intel macs. I'm seeing around 15% of mac users still on Intel. I'm not sure how much longer Xcode will compile for Intel. I'd like to support Intel for at least a few more years.

That said, in the end market share is kind of irrelevant, the only thing that matters is sales per platform. If a bunch of businesses and governments switch Windows -> Linux, that probably doesn't help us. Those people were never plugin customers. If it's home users switching, then that could help.

Your numbers that you are seeing are coming from your Socalabs site, or another site?