To be clear, I'm not arguing that. I don't care what devs do or don't do. I have never supported casual users on Linux or promoted the idea that people should switch. If you have to ask, then no, you shouldn't switch, it's still not for you. It's for us, and we don't want you peeing in the pool.stoopicus wrote: Tue Jun 23, 2026 11:19 pm Also don't forget that there are other negligible niche OS down there contributing to that bucket as well, plus (as you note) bots.
Nothing wrong with niche OS - I am actually a huge fan of NetBSD and I have used linux as my sole desktop a few times in the past, including a two year stint on gentoo.
But arguing that you are an unignorable market force is pretty funny and not the way you will gain developers.
What I did say is that there are aspects that are driving greater acceptance. That doesn't necessarily convert to audio users. However, gaming on Linux is become a thing, in part, because people want set-top box style control and Linux+Steam provides that. Valve's devices are going that direction and have been for a while. Microsoft's AI and crash nonsense this year is fostering a lot of conversation that is angry. Whether that is just threats, I don't know. However, it was my impetus to switch my main desktop back this year. Eurocentric digital sovereignty is also having some impact. None of these are smoking guns, in fact, the second point is as likely to drive Mac sales.
But, you can't say "other negligible niche OS" without a reasonable discussion of what they are. I have a FreeBSD system across the room. It's not a dekstop OS though. NetBSD/FreeBSD, Amiga whatever, are tiny tiny niches as compared to even weird Linux OS systems. Which niche OS's exactly do you think are driving those numbers? All of them taken together that aren't Linux won't move a needle.
The probe that I gave you the link for is a data point. You can use it, or not use it, I don't care. Of the probed 15M desktops about 6% were Linux. Not NetBSD, not AmigaOS, but Linux. Of course there's an error rate associated with that, as there is with any number.