The numbers suggest that 2025 could be a turning point for Linux on desktop computers

Ah yes, the year of the Linux desktop

(in all seriousness, this is looking really good, my main hope from all this is that hardware manufacturers step up their FOSS drivers game)

A big factor in Europe right now is a shifting relationship with the US.

Companies, governments, and individuals have some incentive to find alternatives to big US tech. For operating systems, Linux is really the only option.

I really hope that people will make the transition instead of just buying new... Linux is great - and more users will equal more support for it.

Ok is what is the "META" answer to grandma's laptop is going to get borked. Put this USB stick in her laptop and press next a bunch of times and she can keep using it. You have 5 lines of text to explain this solution.

I've got only one machine left running Windows 10 at home: a desktop PC I use exclusively for gaming. I increasingly look forward to purging Windows from it and installing Bazzite when the EOL date comes around.

Just switched to Fedora Kinoite and I’m loving the immutability of the OS. Oh bad update? lol rollback and golden. Can’t do that shit with each bloatware force push from MS

Living in Finland is doubly humiliating. The country where Linux started, and IT chiefs almost in every company are going "oh yeah? I'm gonna use Microsoft products even harder"

I don't like to say this about people I don't know but fucking idiots, man.

I mean, just to be clear on what ...

That'd be the red line, there. Assuming you take Statcounter numbers at face value, even.

Incidentally, how have the MacOS and OSX not converged more, speaking of end of life stuff?

Nice to see the word unprecedented before some good news!

Honestly I wasn't expecting to see a significant increase. It's a nice surprise. If we get to 6-7% Linux will be much harder to ignore for software and hardware providers. Personally I'm good on software but better wifi drivers would be welcomed.

I'm guessing that isn't the only reason.

I don't want them to, but I don't get why Microsoft don't just roll out updates the way Android/Linux do. Free. They've already adopted the Google method of moneymaking by embedding spyware into everything in the OS. Surely they could stop most of their headaches by doing that? Not that I care. Linux user here for roughly 16 years, sometimes having to go back to Windows hurts. It hurt a lot recently, having to dig out an old windows laptop to ironically install Ubuntu touch on to a phone (OnePlus Nord N10). I had tons of updates and had to install features and so much other stuff just to use it. 🤕

I think this is good. This means increased competition and that the none compatible Windows computers can keep running without going to the trash bin - better for the environment.

Unfortunately a https://xkcd.com/1102/ situation

THIS IS THE YEAR OF THE LINUX DESKTOP! LETS GO!

but here’s a fresh twist in the tech world: Linux

Fresh twist?
Like a multi decade old and proven system is the new kid in the block?

I am not surprised. Windows 11 is an utter shit. It is much worse than 10.

Still in disbelief how they wreck it even in the simplest things.

Remember how clicking the audio system tray icon would open... The common audio settings and nothing else, idem dito for the network icon. For some incomprehensible reason they jammed those system tray icons menus all together a few years ago, you need more clicks, it's less intuitive and less efficient. For what reason? No one knows.

Remember how right clicking an icon would open a quite extensive context menu? Gone. Now it's a few BS options I never need. For example "open with...": gone. Now in the freaking context menu you have to click "more options" for another, full context menu to appear.

Incredible BS tiny changes with a big negative user experience impact I truly cannot grasp why they'd do it. Only reason everyone sticks around is (bad) habits, vendor lockin and obligations for certain software by school or work who insist on keeping Microsoft because they themselves are also vendor locked in or just very very scared of change.

Obligatory mention of the Windows 10 Enterprise Edition that goes through 2032 of support.