digg

Join DiggAbout

Discover the best of the web!
Learn more about Digg by taking the tour.

Linux Cracks 2% of the market according to W3Counter

w3counter.com — Linux went from 1.25% in May of 07 to 2.02% in march of 08. That is 61.6% increase in market share in 9 months.That is 82% annual growth in installed computers. I know this measure is unreliable, but it is something to cheer for.

Bury
show profanity settings
expand all
  • Waterrat, on 04/02/2008, -0/+20 People are warming up to it,for sure!
  • Kingoftherings, on 04/02/2008, -0/+21Didn't Linux just hit 1.0% in September '07?
    I'm guessing 4-5% by January '09
  • DeviateSeptum, on 04/02/2008, -1/+18I know it's cliche but Linux will take off at some point. This year or next or whenever I don't know. But it's so much better in Windows in so many ways that this tech inversion can't last forever. In my estimate, the places where it still needs major improvement are wireless (hit or miss) and webcams (mostly miss). After that, all is golden.
  • ptFoe, on 04/02/2008, -1/+24This is ***** awesome news. If it can get to 5% software developers will have to take notice.
    • SuperWinner, on 04/03/2008, -0/+9Have you been to sourceforge lately? Linux has about 10 times more software than Mac or Windows
      • carpespasm, on 04/03/2008, -4/+3but how much of it is good enough to compete with commercial, end user accessible software? There is no doubt a ton of software for linux and a ton of it is high quality, but there's also a ton of it that's very task-specific or difficult to work with.
      • int19h, on 04/05/2008, -0/+1SuperWinner: I think he meant software developers of commercial software.
        ptFoe: Did you?
  • Philluminati, on 04/02/2008, -0/+5I don't think we are far off giving Macs a run for their money. I know they are growing as well which makes it a hard target but I think we can take 'em in a few years ;-)

    Although after all those Pwn 2 Own articles I don't think I have enough energy for yet another religious OS war.
    • Kingoftherings, on 04/02/2008, -0/+6If you look at growth by percentage, Linux is easily catching OS X.
      I remember an article in September, about how Linux went from .5% to 1.0% in a little less than a year. A 100% increase. While OSX was more like a 25% increase or something.
      And now that Linux is at 2.0%, thats another 100% increase. And in another six months, we could have yet another 100% increase.
  • ptFoe, on 04/02/2008, -1/+14The majority of the Mac market is totally different to the Linux Market.
    Mac is targeted for the rich artsy stylish, IT inept crowd. While Linux has been converting the Windows user that is IT savy, whom do not piss their pants at the sight of a terminal window.
    Both Linux & Apple can continue chipping away at Windows market share without harming each other.
    • cave, on 04/03/2008, -0/+13I'm artsy, stylish and IT savy. Currently a Mac user, but if Adobe officially supported Linux, I would drop the Mac like a hot potato. Mac users ****ing piss me off.
      • kinseyincanada, on 04/03/2008, -11/+1people who stereotype a person who uses a certain type of computer piss me off.
    • SuperWinner, on 04/03/2008, -0/+5With gimp, inkscape and scribus, I dropped adobe a long time ago...
    • mynameistux, on 04/04/2008, -0/+0+1
  • jcannonb, on 04/03/2008, -1/+6You have to get to 2% to reach 3% to reach 4% etc... This is phenomenal news.
  • benitojuarez, on 04/03/2008, -2/+9oh *****, 2% this REALLY is the year of the linux desktop.

    In all seriousness congrats, even if i am a windows user.
    • Hangly, on 04/04/2008, -0/+1There is still good in you, Bill hasn't driven it from you fully. I feel the conflict within you, let go of your windows.
      • benitojuarez, on 04/05/2008, -0/+1I'll never join you. YOU KILLED MY FATHER!
  • bherring, on 04/03/2008, -1/+7Year of.. maybe not. Even if there never is a 'Year Of', I'm happy with slow steady growth. Linux already has a solid base and I doubt updates and upgrades will ever go away. (Not unless we all get too stupid write code anymore....OK, It could happen.)
    • horsepie, on 04/03/2008, -0/+2Looking back, 2007 was it. Dell started offering Linux preinstalled, and ASUS and other ultraportables have Linux preinstalled... It hasn't taken off in a big way yet, but in history books they will point to 2007 as the beginning.
  • Onestone, on 04/03/2008, -0/+7If Linux's share keeps it current growth ratio (100%/year), then we'll have 100% market share in less than 7 years.
    • frontporsche, on 04/03/2008, -0/+5and so in 10 years, everyone in the world will own 8 linux machines. :)
    • daftman, on 04/03/2008, -0/+5So far it seems like 100% every 6 months. At this rate we'll get 128% by 2012
  • patosan, on 04/03/2008, -3/+22%?? Eat my dust Windows 98!!
    j/k *ow* *ow* *ow*
    • lovekudu, on 04/03/2008, -0/+2Vista has only four times the amount of users as Linux. And it's been out for what, a year and a half?
      • Philluminati, on 04/03/2008, -0/+2Yes but that because it's preinstalled and "the latest version of windows" so it is bound to do well regardless. However I would like to thank Vista. We may not have got to 2% so quickly without it!
      • Kingoftherings, on 04/03/2008, -0/+2Linux has been out for what? 17 years? :P
  • djg38, on 04/03/2008, -0/+3Why was this story buried?
  • Hangly, on 04/04/2008, -0/+2This increase has as much to do with Microsoft's Vista ***** as it does with the quality of Linux.
    Since Microsoft seems to be committed to that ***** Linux's future looks pretty bright.
  • bumcheekcity, on 04/04/2008, -1/+1It's 2% ON THIS HITCOUNTER WEBSITE. It's 0.6% on others, so why arent you all accepting THAT one as Gospel?
    • lovekudu, on 04/04/2008, -1/+1Er, no. FTA:

      "This report was generated 03/31/2008 based on the last 22,126,917 unique visits to all tracked websites at that time. W3Counter's sample currently includes 8,139 websites."
  • anylo, on 04/04/2008, -0/+3Read: linux is used in 2% of desktop machines which are used to surf in web.
    • int19h, on 04/05/2008, -0/+1Good point. Wonder what the percentage is for servers. My guess is that it's much, much higher.
  • loconet, on 04/04/2008, -0/+1Linux and anything non-windows for that matter is definitely picking up. I recently went back to college after 4 years of working in the industry and I see a big change in the next generation coming up. So many kids are either using Linux or Apple. Much more than when I went to college for the first time about 8 years ago. It is no longer a Microsoft-only world. This new generation of workers who should be graduating in the next couple of years are going to bring a lot of change to the industry. Change that will be regulated by the already established environments in their future workplaces of course.
  • BigBunion, on 04/04/2008, -0/+1One out of every 14 people (7%) are running at 800x600 resolution? Wow.
    • int19h, on 04/05/2008, -0/+1Strangeness. Is it mobile devices? Old screens and graphics cards? People that like low resolution? Old laptops? I can't explain it.
    • HealthyElijah, on 04/20/2008, -0/+1Generally the older crowd uses that resolution. It makes the text very easy to see! I even like it myself except then the screen is too small.
  •  

    Login or register to add a comment

    Create a new account or login to join in the conversation on Digg. You'll also be able to Digg stories to help promote things you like.


© Digg Inc. 2008 — Content posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain.
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.