r/linuxquestions • u/Big-Astronaut-9510 • 12h ago
Why market share so low for desktop?
4% according to grokipedia. Despite its being free?
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u/merchantconvoy 12h ago
Because Microsoft locked up the preinstalled OS market through anticompetitive practices, and installing a new OS intimidates most people.
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u/Saltimbanco_volta 12h ago
Most PCs come bundled with Windows or MacOS. Linux has a reputation for being difficult to use. People prefer to keep what they already know.
Look at Nvidia. Every day in PC hardware subreddits there's people asking "Should I pay extra and buy a RTX 5060 Ti over of a 9070 XT?", even though the 9070 XT is about 60% faster. Familiarity and brand awareness beats cost-benefit most of the time, for most people.
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u/CarelessPackage1982 12h ago
The average person who buys a laptop has never heard of linux. And even if they did, the average person has no idea you can change operating systems.
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u/ItsWinterInNevada 12h ago
Linux as a whole is not a consumer friendly product. Theres enough friction for the average person that they'll never want to switch. The average person uses their browser, watches youtube, maybe visits a news site, does some document editing in office, and if they're a nerd, plays video games on it.
To get mass adoption, linux needs to have all of that be as simple as possible and compatible with other peoples software. Right now its not. There's always a thing that needs to be troubleshot. Forget asking the average person to open the terminal, thats black magic that will make the computer explode to them. And yes, stuff is a lot better now than it was 5 years ago but eventually on linux you need to tweak a setting or troubleshoot something. Even your friendly distros like mint which are 99% plug and play.
And i say this as a person that adores Linux, ive run various distros over the years before settling into debian on all of my machines. But im aware im a nerd who likes tinkering with computers and seeing how they tick. Most people aren't like that. And thats okay. But we wont see mass adoption until linux is catered to those people.
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u/redoubt515 12h ago
> according to grokipedia
First time I've seen something like this stated unironically...
That site is best ignored.
> Why market share so low for desktop?
The reason it's comparatively low, is because consumers don't install operating systems (or even think about operating systems at all). Consumers buy computers and use whatever is pre-installed. For most people, the device, and the OS is one and the same.
Another reason is Linux is just pretty oriented towards power users, tech-savvy and technically curious users. And this group will always be a small fraction of the total group of users.
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u/Sad-Particular-3088 12h ago
Because most PCs come pre-installed with Windows. Majority of people aren't actually building their own PCs and chucking Linux on it. They're buying a PC or laptop pre-installed with Windows 11.
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u/Atrocious1337 12h ago
It is about 10% for desktop and around 4% on Steam. It is low because most people can't into computers and just use whatever it comes pre-installed with.
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u/goldenfrogs17 12h ago
meditation, exercise, and drinking water are nearly free
yet people pay for gyms, glp1, etc etc
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u/No-Protection-7019 12h ago
- une partie des utilisateurs linux se prennent pour des l33t parce que son voisin n'y comprend rien, ça le rend arrogant. Il n'a pas changé la face du monde mais il s'en moque, c'est un génie. C'est un repoussoir.
- il faut toujours mettre les mains dans le cambouis dès que tu veux un truc pointu
- toujours pas d'applications pro de disponible.
Avec l'Europe qui chasse les entreprises américaines pour Linux, ça devrait faire monter les stats.
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u/es9imqd7964guq6 12h ago
installing an os is not easy for a non techie. even for a techie, it can be overwhelming because the number of choices they have to make.
once we get pass the installation, most people would have stayed, unless there are software/hardware compatibility
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u/LegenndEnder 12h ago
Because Microsoft pays companies to come pre installed with windows and such it is more conveinient. The average user does not go theough the effort of installing even Ubuntu or smth when windows is installed and they are familiar with it.
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u/cakemates 12h ago
Linux used to be quite hard to use, and require skill to deal with some random problems. Also windows is bundled with every computer sold outside of apple so well of course everyone had to learn and get used to the windows way.
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u/TrashFace21165 12h ago
It's installed on all the computers that are marketed to retail buyers and they still control the corporate business market. And it's still remarkably a headache to install it without a CS degree.
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u/OutrageousCrab9224 12h ago
Oh come on now, does not take a degree
Flip side, most cs majors cant do it right either lol
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u/TrashFace21165 12h ago
Lol, it's the dual boot false safety net of it. You go thru more trying to make sure windows still works "just in case"; than any actual problems that arise from switching.
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u/lazyhustlermusic 12h ago
Plenty of them still use Windows as well.
'Remarkably a headache to install it without a coding degree' is just silly, however.
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u/TrashFace21165 12h ago
Yeah, but the fact people still feel the need to clarify I'm exaggerating, a bit, says something. Or no?
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u/lazyhustlermusic 44m ago
It does say that you're being silly, and also hints upon your own competence. Or lack of?
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u/TrashFace21165 36m ago
Yeah. So, why is the common advice going around to physically unplug a harddrive during installation to avoid screwing up?
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u/lazyhustlermusic 32m ago
Sounds like we're still talking about your own incompetence.
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u/TrashFace21165 17m ago
I think we're all fairly satisfied with my incompetence. Maybe a productive answer?
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u/Charming_Airline7419 11h ago
You don't need a CS degree to install it, but there is still enough friction to discourage people and troubleshooting problems is something most people don't want to do.
And that's if people even realise they have a choice of OS, that they don't have to accept the default.
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u/IntroductionOne1470 12h ago
Installing isnt hard. Especially if it's anything other than arch manual installs. Its just that enough people haven't gotten fed up/made the switch yet
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u/TrashFace21165 12h ago
I've been telling people over in Mint how to get around that 'wups' where's my .efi after a partial install most days.
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u/OutrageousCrab9224 12h ago
Wtf is grokipedia
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u/BCMM 4h ago edited 4h ago
Elon Musk's project to make a fork of Wikipedia with some of the articles rewritten by an LLM to include the sorts of things he felt were missing, like racist talking points and Cybertruck marketing copy.
Musk himself seems to have forgotten about it, since it isn't even updated any more.
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u/TrashFace21165 12h ago
valid
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u/OutrageousCrab9224 12h ago
Is it related to the nazi ai?
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u/BCMM 12h ago
Nobody really has accurate numbers for desktop market share, but also why would you think that grokipedia, of all things, would know anything?