Linux sticks above 1% still on the Steam Hardware Survey

From the steam statistics tracker in here, its clearly visible that when there have been more chinese language users, then we have had drop, the lines match quite closely. Every time ther's a drop with simplified chinese we get a higher percentage.

edit: Also windows 7 seems to get a small bump every time there are more simplified chinese users on steam.


Last edited by Xpander on 8 March 2022 at 11:46 am UTC

they dont want to reveal the numbers, according to some interviews where they chose not talk about it.

this information is strategic, grow too fast and it will raise atention, other companies may act quick to compete.
grow to slow and you dont generate any momentum.
they dont want anyone learning from their mistakes, but i think its hard to hide this kind of info forever.

There it is. The last PD (Pre-Deck) era Linux Steam stat.

Lets see what happens over the next 6 months.

Valve says they'll only be shipping 'tens of thousands' of Decks this month. Next month 'hundreds of thousands'.

If that is the case, we will see that number slowly rising upwards over the next 6 months.

Also windows 7 seems to get a small bump

Small? It increased from %3 to %4 (roughly) in last 2 months.

1% is in line with historical averages for Linux. I was hoping it would move higher now that gaming is more accessible than ever on Linux, but I guess that's never going to happen. Too many people think they have to use Windows.

Also windows 7 seems to get a small bump

Small? It increased from %3 to %4 (roughly) in last 2 months.

I meant this month. But yeah agree, that's not really small for a OS that is EOL.

1% is in line with historical averages for Linux. I was hoping it would move higher now that gaming is more accessible than ever on Linux, but I guess that's never going to happen. Too many people think they have to use Windows.

We are decreasing probably because of an incerase in Chinese users.
Look at the last graph on GOL Steam Tracker

So does anyone have a good grasp of why the Chinese seem to pretty much not use Linux at all?

Perhaps because what they are used to is cracked Windows?

never thought that many russians are using linux...

So does anyone have a good grasp of why the Chinese seem to pretty much not use Linux at all?

I can only speculate that because Windows 10 is free of charge for all intents and purposes, why use Linux when less of your software works with it?

Bill Gates was of a similar opinion as far back as 1998.

Gates shed some light on his own hard-nosed business philosophy. "Although about 3 million computers get sold every year in China, but people don't pay for the software," he said. "Someday they will, though. As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade."

Tracker can get an update for monthly active users now:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/group/4145017/view/3133946090937137590

So does anyone have a good grasp of why the Chinese seem to pretty much not use Linux at all?

I can only speculate that because Windows 10 is free of charge for all intents and purposes, why use Linux when less of your software works with it?

Perhaps I should rephrase. Does anyone have a good grasp of why the Chinese seem to use far less Linux than people in other countries do? I mean, most North American consumers are basically unaware that Windows costs money, so I don't see any difference there.
Why aren't there a bunch of Chinese techies and Chinese tinkerers and Chinese programmers making a Linux community? It's not like they don't have any, there's tons of huge Chinese universities.


Last edited by Purple Library Guy on 8 March 2022 at 11:48 pm UTC

So does anyone have a good grasp of why the Chinese seem to pretty much not use Linux at all?

I can only speculate that because Windows 10 is free of charge for all intents and purposes, why use Linux when less of your software works with it?

Perhaps I should rephrase. Does anyone have a good grasp of why the Chinese seem to use far less Linux than people in other countries do? I mean, most North American consumers are basically unaware that Windows costs money, so I don't see any difference there.

Well, as I said, it's only speculation that this sentiment is more widespread. I don't know myself.

I'm curious, too—it's a good question.

The Chinese government has likely switched completely over to Linux by now. The Steam survey only counts users who are using Steam, so really this is a question of, "why do Chinese gamers seem to use far less Linux than people in other countries do?"

Interesting question given that GNU/Linux has been labelled 'communist' in the past.

Steam Tracker now up to date with the new monthly active figure from Valve (see the bottom).