The Steam Hardware Survey for October 2018 shows a small drop for Linux, a look at daily and monthly active users

Quoting: sarmadThere are few issues that need to be resolved before Linux can be mainstream:
1- More hardware vendors provide Linux laptops as an option.
2- Some big retailers start providing Linux laptops.
3- AMD laptops become widely available.
4- Proton matures more.

3 & 4 are not far from happening. 1 & 2 are the tough ones. But if all 4 happen, expect linux usage on steam to quickly rise.

You need to be able to do everything without opening the terminal.

It's fine that the option is there. It's fine if there are apps that only use it. But you need to be able to do all the shit people expect to do with a desktop without needing to touch it. Because justifiable or not, more efficient or not, that't gonna scare off a lot of potential users.

i got an survey

I just got my survey a few minutes ago - the first in nearly 3 years. Always using the beta client, no hardware changes (my machine is still beefy enough for my needs). I'm a Ubuntu user switching releases with a 2 month delay, so I'm on 18.04 instead of 18.10 but had a few OS changes since the last survey.

Interesting pieces of information that I took from the results:

• is the survey poking at hardware connected to the system right now, or does it gather device driver information? Take the VR results for example: I know some players only plug in their HMD if they intend to use it and stuff it away otherwise. Will the survey pinpoint their device even if not in use when the survey runs?


• the average Linux box has double the RAM, but less hard drive space. In fact, most Linux gamers seem to have less than 100 GB free and just 250 GB max storage on average? Less than 5% have 1+ TB? Compared to more than half the user base in the combined rating having more than 1 TB and still 250 to 500 GB free? And while the installed base of 16 GB RAM at about 30% is the same across combined and Linux only, 16 GB is actually the most common value for Linux? Having something like 7 GB of system RAM would hint at either running a VM or integrated graphics cards, although the video card usage does not match with the high number of 20% of Linux users having 7 GB RAM. How many surveys were collected on virtual machines?


• I'd thought that the hardware survey would include other peripherals like gamepads/joysticks/wheels/etc or Steam Link by now, but that does not seem to be the case.


• can sparse infos, like the number of CPUs per month on Linux, shed a light on how often a survey is offered to users? 5 and 18 physical CPUs are only present in August and October? Can this help nailing percentages to absolute values?


• Even if highly rare number of CPUs are listed, more common network speeds are not. Network speed is also unknown most of the time, although it would be trivial to at least get a hint of by simply doing a download test during the survey. Why do they keep this score even if it has no value? Other than the likes of "no dial-up users anymore" of course...


• Language shifts quite drastically between combined and Linux only scores for English and Chinese, on Linux those seem to combine to plain English. Other languages like Russian or German remain quite constant instead. Is Linux lacking some essential support for Chinese or do they not bother to setup their regional settings over there when using Linux? Or is Linux hardly ever used in China at all, as indicated by their low language score of 0.07%?

Quoting: Gobo

Language shifts quite drastically between combined and Linux only scores for English and Chinese, on Linux those seem to combine to plain English. Other languages like Russian or German remain quite constant instead. Is Linux lacking some essential support for Chinese or do they not bother to setup their regional settings over there when using Linux? Or is Linux hardly ever used in China at all, as indicated by their low language score of 0.07%?

I guess Linux is hardly used in China (and may be that applies to other Asian countries as well). Does anybody knows if this is correct and what the reason could be?


Last edited by jens on 3 November 2018 at 2:18 pm UTC

Quoting: GuestFor what it's worth i read left and right that in some countries there is a culture of piracy of the most popular windows du jour. Coupled with a rather narrow computer culture.

Also, maybe the crowds have been introduced to mass consumption of computers later, with cheap machines slapped with a pirated windows and nothing else. A bit as appliances you are not very curious about.

I wonder how many of us Linux enthusiasts are older people from countries where the home computers where a thing before windows ate the domestic market or ex-students in institutions where the computer labs where often UNIX.

I am aware this is speculation on my part. Based on very little substance.

In 1998, when my grandma bought my first computer, a generic PC with a Pentium MMX 200, (a Pentium MMX 166 overclocked by the retailer, indeed), 32MB of RAM, 850MB, ISA audio card with HUGE sound volume (it wasn't a Soundblaster), CDROM reader, 14" 1024x768 CRT color monitor (it still works!) and a SIS videocard with 1MB (replaced by a Diamond with 2mb), it came with an illegal version of Windows 95 installed by the retailer itself.. and it was a serious retailer store.. I live in an small town in Argentina. That store doesn't exist anymore.

I remember overclocking it to 225... wow!
I played the demo of Doom, Hexen, Heretic, Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2, Duke Nukem 3D from CD's included in computer magazines like PCusers.. Illegal games came when I got internet, with a BOCAMODEM 14kbps card..

But I remember seeing legit games being available on boxed diskettes at stores.. I was temped, but the diskettes don't last long, I wanted legit CD's..
That was the main problem with the physical distribution until 2012, if the legit copy was not available, the only way was to get an illegal copy on a videoclub or computer store...

I remember "Cyber's" from the last decade, all with illegal windows installed, fulfilled with viruses.

And I agree, the bad called Piracy was and is a cultural issue, at least in my country...


About me, I abandoned the path of Jack Sparrow just in 2012, thanks to Steam, GOG and a credit card.

And thanks to the recent pesification of Steam Argentina with friendly regional prices and the possibility to pay with cash via Rapipago, the new gamers don't need to download or buy illegal games as before...
Some people download this or that illegal game as a DEMO, and if they like it, they buy it on sale.
Now, We need Origin with regional prices in Pesos.


Back on topic, is good to see humble cards like the GTX750ti still alive. If you play at 720p, or even at 900p, you have enough... and is good to see humble dual core processors still alive..
Game reviewers must take note on that.
It is OK to review a game on 1080p, 1440p or 4K, using an expensive video card and a super ultra CPU with 8C/16T with 32/64GB RAM, but don't ignore people with humble hardware.
Games must be reviewed at 1366x768 too, using machines with 8GB of RAM and 2C/4T processors (like the olde Haswell core i3 4160 or the new Coffee Lake Pentium G 5400), because a lot of people use humble hardware like that- I'm gonna try Proton games on a humble machine like that, just for to see how well optimized are the games, ignoring the official hardware requirements.

I find it interesting that even in a world where Windows 10 tends to draw criticism even in mainstream user circles for taking away control from the user, forced updates that break something else every single time, spying on users at an unprecedented scale, and a myriad of other things, we STILL don't manage to match Windows growth.

Despite Linux is free, doesn't come with any of the above mentioned issues and we can play enough great games these days to make most users not miss Windows anymore.

I get that I am biased, but I don't understand why not more people are switching to Linux, which seems to be the better choice for almost everyone these days. Do people resent change really THAT much that they stick with an inferior OS when they could have a better one for free, and all they'd need to do is investing a day or two in getting used to it?

I remember 7 years ago when I was in China I was super stoked talking with students over there. One of the friends that I made was into computers and I was talking with him about Linux and why I thought it was better. But when I said it was free he scoffed and said that they don't pay for windows anyways. I think in many Asian countries piracy is a commonplace. I mean seriously you could walk around to shops and buy pirated movies, games, and software. You could go to shops and buy counterfeit hardware from businesses. Things that would get you arrested and sued in a matter of minutes in North America. So maybe the key to getting Asian on board for Linux is actually Microsoft making their activation DRM harder to crack?

Quoting: KimyrielleI don't understand why not more people are switching to Linux

I don't think that even having 90% of games is enough. One of my good friends and co-worker switched to Linux a couple of months ago. He's been pretty happy getting by with a Lutris and Steam to play most things. But he was telling me the other day that he was gonna go back to Windows cause he wants to play the new call of duty. I think that's the problem. Linux NEEDS the must-have titles to be considered viable as a gaming OS. Sure Valve is on board with that but they're about it. A lot of studios don't care or don't even make good ports. And let's not forget Bethesda, Blizzard, Activision, and EA that are mostly just greedy companies that want to save 30% at the customers expense. Sure Lutris helps but not always and probably not on launch day.

We need more than just Valve. Sure if they had actually succeeded with a steam machine (gd if they had just subsidised a $400 steam machine with good specs, done an E3 event, and had exlusives we wouldn't be having this discussion) we'd have Linux hardware out of the box and in people's hands. If they can't get them on the shelves at Walmart and have good enough advertising then we need another tech company to come help make the push.

Quoting: jardonSo maybe the key to getting Asian on board for Linux is actually Microsoft making their activation DRM harder to crack?

The problem is – Microsoft doesn’t want to. They mostly earn their money from companies who cannot risk using bootleg software and they know that the best way to make companies to use their software, including their OS, is to keep it familiar – if every employee knows Windows, and every management person knows Windows, then company will buy Windows. So it is in their interest to keep everybody using Windows, even if whole populations of large countries pirate it and MS doesn’t get a penny from individual users. MS knows that and they won’t really fight it, Windows piracy is their best marketing.

Quoting: KimyrielleI get that I am biased, but I don't understand why not more people are switching to Linux, which seems to be the better choice for almost everyone these days. Do people resent change really THAT much that they stick with an inferior OS when they could have a better one for free, and all they'd need to do is investing a day or two in getting used to it?

We, The humans, are animals of habits... A LOT of people (millions) started their computer life in the 90's with a Windows (3.1, 95, 98, NT, 2000, Millenium) PC... And that people inherited thier computer habits to their children.
Plus, even now Linux is still difficult to use and configure: things must work out of the box without any console commands needed and without dependencies hunting, without having to configure PPA's and without sudo this or sudo that.

And, We have the "distros" issue:
Meanwhile there are just three Windows distros that must be supported by game developers in the present (Seven, eight and 10), Linux has A LOT of distros and is a headache for the developers to support all of them.

I agree with jardon, Linux NEEDS the must-have titles to be considered viable as a gaming OS.
Even with the fast evolution of Proton, most of the Call of Duty games just don't work, and THEY MUST WORK OUT OF THE BOX if We want to see more people Gaming On Linux.

Quoting: GuestGame studios have zero need to support all distros. A few popular ones is good enough. And using Linux is IMHO easier than doing equivalent stuff on windows. My mother uses Linux. She struggles a bit less with it than she used to with her windows at work.

If a more advanced user kvetches about a CLI, then it is indeed a matter of habit. But knowing how many Windows users have started with exactly a CLI, i do not believe it is a real obstacle. Their CLI was called DOS and was much more uncomfortable to use. And they did put up with it.

The fact that the average user gets his computer with win already installed has probably more weight. That and as mentioned the bigger library of popular software, the cheap gadgets that do not work with Linux, etc..

The corporate culture "It's in a box with a logo on it so it must be serious" must play a non trivial role too.

So i think the tactic "Let's make popular win games work on Linux " will probably help. :)

While I agree with your last couple of points, I'm going to disagree with your points about CLI. Unless you can make it possible to have a good user experience without ever opening a terminal -- and the more user-friendly distros are almost there -- it will absolutely alienate a lot of potential users if we're going to get widespread adoption.

The command line screams "nerd hobbyist", not regular user. Whether that's a fair assessment or not, I'm not getting into that, but for someone stumbling across Linux when they're used to Macs or Windows 7/8/10? That's how they'll see it. And who was using DOS back when you couldn't get away from it? Remember, computers weren't nearly as ubiquitous at that time. It was people who had to use it for work...and people who were "into computers". Which is to say, nerd hobbyists. By the time computers were ubiquitous, we were using Windows 95, not 3.1.

I think the more effort that can be made in streamlining the experience for people who don't want to dig under the hood, while retaining the option for people who do, will lower a big barrier on widespread adoption and reduce the stigma that Linux is "too difficult" for the average person. And, as you said, being able to run Windows games would help a lot getting to that point.