Another month, and another Steam Hardware Survey has been released. This time we have gained a little rather than lost a little.
To the numbers:
Linux results for March 2015
Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS 64 bit 0.31% +0.24%
Ubuntu 14.10 64 bit 0.15% +0.01%
Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca 64 bit 0.11% +0.02%
Linux 3.10 64 bit 0.09% +0.01%
Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS 64 bit 0.06% -0.24%
Total: 1.06% +0.04%
Last Month: 1.02%
My thoughts on it
A little increase for Linux this month and the usual changes for Mint, Ubuntu and the distros that report themselves as "Linux 3.10".
The real interesting thing to see here is that, again, only 64bit distributions are shown. The number of Linux users on Steam hasn't changed too much since the beginning, so is 64bit just gaining more popularity with Linux gamers? I personally sure hope so, as the "death" of 32bit is something I've been expecting for a while to finally happen.
Important things to remember
Be aware these results will probably not be that accurate as we don't know how they do their percentage results, they could be rounding up, rounding down or truncating the percentages. So a 0.5% could actually be nearly 0.6% as it could be 0.59% but they could do no rounding and simply truncate it.
Also remember it is a survey, so it won't ask every single one of you to do it. It would only be truly accurate if it did it behind the scenes, but that's not what a survey is for this is just to get a general idea.
Final Note: Look at it this way, Steam has around 100 million active users, 1% of 100 million is about 1,000,000 (1 million) people. What developer wouldn't want to hook into a market that big? Of course it doesn't mean they are guaranteed that amount of sales, but it's something fun to remember.
See the Hardware Survey on Steam here. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
To the numbers:
Linux results for March 2015
Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS 64 bit 0.31% +0.24%
Ubuntu 14.10 64 bit 0.15% +0.01%
Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca 64 bit 0.11% +0.02%
Linux 3.10 64 bit 0.09% +0.01%
Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS 64 bit 0.06% -0.24%
Total: 1.06% +0.04%
Last Month: 1.02%
My thoughts on it
A little increase for Linux this month and the usual changes for Mint, Ubuntu and the distros that report themselves as "Linux 3.10".
The real interesting thing to see here is that, again, only 64bit distributions are shown. The number of Linux users on Steam hasn't changed too much since the beginning, so is 64bit just gaining more popularity with Linux gamers? I personally sure hope so, as the "death" of 32bit is something I've been expecting for a while to finally happen.
Important things to remember
Be aware these results will probably not be that accurate as we don't know how they do their percentage results, they could be rounding up, rounding down or truncating the percentages. So a 0.5% could actually be nearly 0.6% as it could be 0.59% but they could do no rounding and simply truncate it.
Also remember it is a survey, so it won't ask every single one of you to do it. It would only be truly accurate if it did it behind the scenes, but that's not what a survey is for this is just to get a general idea.
Final Note: Look at it this way, Steam has around 100 million active users, 1% of 100 million is about 1,000,000 (1 million) people. What developer wouldn't want to hook into a market that big? Of course it doesn't mean they are guaranteed that amount of sales, but it's something fun to remember.
See the Hardware Survey on Steam here. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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The same thing happens to me all the time. I would love to see how many of the "Windows" users are actually using WINE.
I started up my windows partition for the first time in several weeks (only to keep the system updated) when this survey popped up. I couldn't remember if your OS was a multiple choice question or if it was automatically detected...so I closed the survey box without replying. -1 linux user.
If you would sound like a troll...
I installed Linux on my fiancée's PC and there's no problem with it.
Most people cannot properly aminister Linux?
Probably - and Windows neither.
Can't take you seriously after comments like that. You think Ubuntu is ugly and slow? I don't and I've been using it since 2006.
Valve don't care what we think though, either. They need the most popular distro and to stand behind it. Until that becomes SteamOS, it's Ubuntu. Everything else is irrelevant. Sure it's great that Steam works on other distros, but irrelevant.
Yes. Really. I would.
And I have. Got a few friends now, tired of Windows, not wanting to waste money on a new laptop they only use for web and email. One Ubuntu install later, all fixed, all happy. Not sure what your solution would be, but mine worked out okay. Of maybe 7 or 8 such installs over the past four or so years, only one bought a new laptop and that was after running Ubuntu for about two years - loved it, but needed a new laptop after battery issues with the old one. They despise Windows 8, but haven't (yet) asked me to revert it back to Ubuntu, probably because they know it takes me a couple of hours of tinkering to get all their stuff "just so". I imagine it will happen eventually though.
What's your problem with recommending Linux?
Overwhelmingly larger Windows catalogue (for AAA games), crap performance from AMD hardware in Linux and abysmal from Intel, inability to use a lot of software, a sheet long list of distros that will totally confuse any new commer, Unity Launcher in the most popular distribution, overall higher level of tech knowledge required to use Linux... Take your pick. And let's not forget an increasingly hostile Linux community - a problem that has become quite serious in recent years. Team A-hole is getting bigger and louder. YouTube is full of videos of both new users and Linux veterans that are complaining about it.
Well, you started off pretty strong there. Some good points. Perhaps you should have stopped before you got into murky waters of Unity-hate and blatant opinion on the ease of use of Linux or the toxicity of the user base.
But I'll bite anyway. Care to expand on what you think users won't like about the Unity Launcher? Be specific. As I say, I've been an Ubuntu user a long time and I agree that the 11.04 and 11.10 iterations were raw - I tended to revert my use of those versions back to... oh, I can't remember the name of it now... Docker? Something like that. But by 12.04, Unity Launcher was solid and since 15.04 is about to launch, that means that I've been using this Launcher for nearly 3 years and had no idea it was somehow magically "bad".
What's wrong with it?