The monthly Steam Hardware & Software Survey is here for January 2024, and while there was a drop for both Linux and macOS we're still seeing Linux be firmly in second place on Steam now. Interestingly, this month we saw both English and Simplified Chinese (the two most popular languages on Steam) fall with Russian seeing the biggest language jump (+0.60%).
Here's the operating systems overall:
- Windows 96.52% +0.12%
- Linux 1.95% -0.02%
- macOS 1.54% -0.09%
With our updated graph found on our Steam Tracker:
Who honestly thought it would happen so soon? A couple of years ago it was thought to be impossible to see Linux overtake macOS. Of course, then we had the Steam Deck come along - which has a full Linux desktop mode, which has been what's pushing the numbers up.
Here's the most popular Linux distributions on Steam:
- SteamOS Holo 64 bit 42.12% +1.59%
- Arch Linux 64 bit 7.76% -0.09%
- Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS 64 bit 6.80% -0.24%
- Freedesktop SDK 23.08 (Flatpak runtime) 64 bit 5.82% +0.60%
- Linux Mint 21.2 64 bit 3.63% -1.07%
- Manjaro Linux 64 bit 3.48% -0.16%
- Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS 64 bit 2.76% -0.27%
- Other 27.64% -0.35%
From the survey we can also see that 70.49% of people on Linux use an AMD processor, and 42.18% on Linux use the Steam Deck so the majority have stuck with SteamOS but it seems a few are using a different Linux distribution on their Deck.
See more on Steam's Survey.
Quoting: CatKillerQuoting: EikeI don't want to predict, nor did I say so.
That's what fitting the data to a curve is.
QuoteI want to describe what has happened.
That's what the trend line does.
Which you already know because of your super statistical analysis skills, obviously.
Should you wish to examine the positive trend line for any range of the data, you already can. Slapping an arbitrary curve onto the data is pure fappery.
I'm sure you are both old enough to understand internet arguments like this don't get anywhere. Can we de-escalate please?
CatKiller is right that fitting a curve to the data is dangerous in that you are claiming that's the function the data is following, but it may not be.
Eike is also right because their claim is exactly the same thing! That the linear fit here is wrong, is exactly the same argument CatKiller has, any fit can be wrong.
So either don't fit anything, or if you do, I tend to agree with Eike that a line is definitely not the right fit as it ignores a major event point in the history.
It's like making a trend line on global temperature since 5000 years ago and make it look like global warming isn't happening. The industrial revolution happened and that changed the trend.
So my suggestion is, forget the trend before Steam Deck! The extrapolation of that trend is a hypothetical that's never happening, nor does the "what if" matter. Instead, if you have to fit a curve, fit one with the data from after the release of SD only, as the data from before does not correlate with it, and it presents a more meaningful prediction of what the future may look like.
Edit: lol, looks like you sorted things out while I was typing this
Last edited by ShabbyX on 2 February 2024 at 7:58 pm UTC
Either way right now, there's simply no plugin available I can see for Chart JS to add a different type. For now, it serves the simple purpose of showing number go up or down over existing data.
Have upgraded Chart JS anyway, and now I have a new plugin added to enable showing special data points that you might spot...
Phillip Island's little penguin colony passes 40,000 as climate change leads to more mating
![](https://www.gamingonlinux.com/templates/default/images/emoticons/wink.png)
Quoting: Liam DaweEither way right now, there's simply no plugin available I can see for Chart JS to add a different type. For now, it serves the simple purpose of showing number go up or down over existing data.
Have upgraded Chart JS anyway, and now I have a new plugin added to enable showing special data points that you might spot...
Can we start the trend line at a different point (without hiding the actual data before, which still is interesting)? I'd use like July 15, 2021, announcement of Steam Deck, which clearly changed things.
(Honestly, I just care a bit - my computers run aprx 20 years on Linux ..)
Quoting: EikeNo plans to do that atm, but you can simply pick the start date in the dropdown box and you get the sameish effect.Quoting: Liam DaweEither way right now, there's simply no plugin available I can see for Chart JS to add a different type. For now, it serves the simple purpose of showing number go up or down over existing data.
Have upgraded Chart JS anyway, and now I have a new plugin added to enable showing special data points that you might spot...
Can we start the trend line at a different point (without hiding the actual data before, which still is interesting)? I'd use like July 15, 2021, announcement of Steam Deck, which clearly changed things.
Quoting: constQuoting: F.UltraYes, they exist and are sold. I know that. Still, people living in certain regions might overestimate their impact. While around 30% of Laptops in the US are Chromebooks, it's 2% in Europe and close to zero in Asia. Current installations don't really matter either, since most of them are made to handle not much more then a browser. Yes, as Google opens up ChromeOS, beefier Chromebooks are sure to come, but chances they'll be popular here in Europe are much worse then in the US, where they are actually a trademark.Quoting: constMy take on some of the arguments here:
1. Chromebooks are pretty much an US thing. I know no one who owns a Chromebook here in Germany and when I looked for their prices, I know why. You get a pretty good Business Laptop for the price of a cheap tablet with a bad keyboard.
2. Not so sure about the Appstore. I can see that for single player titles, but for multiplayer? I really don't know. My guess is Apple Users tend to prefer console gaming.
Chromebooks are quite popular to hand out in schools here in Sweden.
Which is why I mentioned that it was regional just like you mentioned the state in Germany. Over here Chromebooks have about 10% of the total computer market and is above Apple.
Quoting: damarrin. After all, as we Linux users all know, hunting the web for programs and downloading installers is the silliest thing ever.
no, its not.
it prevent OS vendor from abusing their customers with an monopoly using an biased store.
like promoting first party browsers (Chrome, edge, safari) instead of the best ones.
not to mention the repositories of the linux distros are serious lacking softwares that often exist for linux.
for example, look how many years took then to have something like godot, you can develop entire games in this meantime.
Quoting: EikeQuoting: Liam DaweQuoting: EikeThe linear approximation to the curve really needs to be split into two parts! (somewhere in 2021?)Why?
... or the software could come up with something non-linear?
Because the linear approximation systematically overestimates all of the oldest points and underestimates all of the youngest points (except a single one we would attribute to some measurement error, probably located in the far east). The line doesn't fit, and this not in a "jumpy" way (as to be to be expected), but in a systematical way. The curve to be approximated isn't linear, at least not over the whole time.
So we could either try two linear curves, or some curve with a slope (slightly) increasing over time.
i think we can try to predict the next few months with a few different approachs, then keep the one who was better able to predict the trends
Quoting: F.UltraQuoting: constQuoting: F.UltraYes, they exist and are sold. I know that. Still, people living in certain regions might overestimate their impact. While around 30% of Laptops in the US are Chromebooks, it's 2% in Europe and close to zero in Asia. Current installations don't really matter either, since most of them are made to handle not much more then a browser. Yes, as Google opens up ChromeOS, beefier Chromebooks are sure to come, but chances they'll be popular here in Europe are much worse then in the US, where they are actually a trademark.Quoting: constMy take on some of the arguments here:
1. Chromebooks are pretty much an US thing. I know no one who owns a Chromebook here in Germany and when I looked for their prices, I know why. You get a pretty good Business Laptop for the price of a cheap tablet with a bad keyboard.
2. Not so sure about the Appstore. I can see that for single player titles, but for multiplayer? I really don't know. My guess is Apple Users tend to prefer console gaming.
Chromebooks are quite popular to hand out in schools here in Sweden.
Which is why I mentioned that it was regional just like you mentioned the state in Germany. Over here Chromebooks have about 10% of the total computer market and is above Apple.
Wow! I never noticed Sweden had such a huge ChromeOS percentage. Even statcounter is able to track similar numbers. MacOS and ChromeOS must certainly be in a real slug fest when it comes for 2nd place in the Swedish market. The real numbers month over month must be wild. In ten years when all those students are out of school and in the workforce, ChromeOS is going to explode.
Last edited by Highball on 3 February 2024 at 8:27 am UTC
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