GNU/Linux Market Share Rises to 4% Worldwide, Windows Still Going Down
“Linux infestations are being uncovered in many of our large accounts as part of the escalation engagements.”--Microsoft Confidential
The only way is up
THIS past half a day, almost every hour in fact, we've polled or cycled through a couple of pages for early updates, as we do at the start of every month [1, 2].
Only minutes ago we began seeing updates based on data from this month, assuring us that while Windows revenues collapse and Microsoft debt soars there are further gains for GNU/Linux and Windows "market share" continues to decrease. So we can see at whose expense the Free software community is gaining.
At the start of this month GNU/Linux stands at 3.9% (share for desktops/laptops). ChromeOS is also up, apparently from 1.8% last month to 2.3% this month. Android is similarly up by a bit, so it's all good for Linux so far this year.
Looking at another high-profile data source, and one which is independent from statCounter, this survey that goes back over 20 years shows GNU/Linux rising from 3.9% in November to 4.0% (year's end), so we're seeing similar numbers. We add screenshots below.
Of course many GNU/Linux users adopted privacy-centric browsers that identify them as Windows users (LibreWolf does this), so in practice the share of GNU/Linux is likely even higher. █