I’ve been running Bazzite OS on my living room big screen gaming PC since May. It’s a really slick fedora-based distro that installs out of the box with Steam, proton, and graphics drivers ready-to-launch for gaming. It was really easy to use, and my games worked perfectly.
My high school age son got a new AMD proc/mb for his birthday, and I was surprised when he said he wanted to try dual booting Bazzite and Windows when we set it up. 2 weeks later, and he decided to kill the Windows boot and just use Bazzite full time. He has no linux experience and just figures it out.
Windows 11 is shit and Linux alternatives are prettier, easier to use, don’t shove AI down your throat, and don’t steal your data for profit. The time has come.
Microsoft Recall and Steam Deck and Proton are why.
I tried setting up Windows 10 in a virtual machine recently and damn, what a miserable experience that was. “Please wait. We’re getting things ready . . . please wait . . . We’re getting things ready. Hey, you want Cortana? Tough shiat, we’re installing it anyway. Do you need an Office App? Well we’re going to install Live365, whether you like it or not. Also, we really want your email address. You don’t have a choice. Just give us your damn email address. And your phone number, too.”
Installing Linux: 15 minutes later: “You’re done. Enjoy.”
I’ve been using Arch for a little over a year, and it’s been fun. I’ve learned so much more about computers and Linux itself. I highly recommend trying out Linux and you can do it here: https://distrosea.com/ - It’s a website where you can try out different Linux distros in your web browser.
It’s not so much about users switching, it’s more about the ones that will stick with it. And that we can’t know for a few years yet.
Lemmy Linux copium is one of the strongest in the world.
How else are we going to achieve nuclear fission?
Don’t you mean fusion? Fission is separate and we’ve already achieved it a long time ago.
We’ve achieved fusion too. We just can’t extract more energy than we put into it yet.
Yeah, by a whole permille I bet.
This is good. This data will eventually help influence game developers to support Linux. It won’t happen over night, but we this trend continues, it’ll eventually start getting some attention.
I’ve been running Linux on my desktop for more than 30 years, so I’ve switched for a while. And while I’d certainly like to see it become more commonplace, I’m not sure a few decimal points are really going to change anything. It’s nice that it’s making progress, of course, but all in all, it’s rather insignificant.
While it’s under 10, or more likely 15%, nobody will care about it.Okay, I finally installed a new SSD yesterday so I could dual boot and put CachyOS on it. Played a few games and it worked surprisingly well.
But it did take quite a bit more doing than installing Windows. The USB drive wouldn’t boot when made with Rufus and I don’t quite get how to manage the games installed in Proton (like where is their virtual C: drive?).
I plan on migrating more of my stuff onto Linux in the coming days and will see if it can’t replace Windows eventually for me.
Just tried gaming on Linux because I forgot my Ally and was stuck on my laptop. Sorry, guys, it still sucks. It’s getting better, though. Perhaps in another 10 years.
Microsoft is already responding to the potential shift. The upcoming ROG Xbox Ally X handheld from Microsoft and ASUS will reportedly ship with a gaming-optimized version of Windows 11 with a dedicated Xbox UI and interface that aims to streamline the experience while boosting in-game performance and overall handheld efficiency.
Given how much Microsoft wants to shove AI tools every where in Windows, I don’t think this optimisation will make much of a difference.
Given how much Microsoft wants to enshitify its services. Windows 11 is proven to be no exception. They have no reason to stop at the Xbox brand. Even Microsoft games like their new flight sim has not escaped enshitification race to the bottom.
Fixed
MS optimization = maximize revenue streams = more ads = more spyware
I don’t believe a thing MS says is ever meant to improve the customer experience.
Exactly… People love talking optimization and efficiency without realizing that they are being fucked over lol
They are optimizing at your expense
Given the popularity of the Steam Deck, the Xbox handheld would have to come free with the purchase of any Xbox exclusive game to stand a chance in that sphere, I think. The fact that it’s Win11 immediately turns me off and I say this as someone who still uses Windows.
lol, what is this ‘Xbox Exclusive Game’ you speak of, in 2025?
Microsoft has plenty of console exclusives, so they are on PlayStation and Switch but not Windows for whatever reason. Crash Team Racing Nitro Fueled is one I’m confused why they don’t trust their own platform with.
That said, they don’t trust their own Windows on ARM devices either and those should definitely be capable enough to run games that come to Switch.
A hypothetical one, of course
heheheh
And if we take this as an actual attempt at a better handheld experience, then this is just further proof that competition breeds better products for consumers.
Yeah and honestly, whatever optimization they promise — or deliver, for that matter — won’t sway me because it’s the company itself and the country where it is based that I’m against at this point. So, there’s no way I’m ever going to buy any MS handheld.
Given how much Microsoft wants to shove AI tools every where in Windows, I don’t think this optimisation will make much of a difference.
AMD’s own Windows drivers also perform much worse in low power situations than the open source Linux drivers, whereas Windows game mode (or whatever it’ll be called) is about reducing background tasks that consume RAM. Obviously reducing RAM consumption is beneficial but it’s not the whole story.
The thing that confuses me is that Microsoft is no stranger to Linux. They use it in their data centers. It’s plainly obvious if you know what other offerings are doing.
Their entire front end stack for azure virtual machines is OpenStack. Some years back they integrated with OpenStack to allow it to manage hyper-v, but OpenStack can also natively manage KVM hypervisors, as it was originally designed to do, and also VMware.
Hell, I’d be surprised if there isn’t a Microsoft distro of Linux floating around (not available to the public… Not yet at least).
The people who seem to be pushing Microsoft, more than anyone, are game studios. Their garbage Anti cheat rootkits work best on Windows. So use Windows so they can low jack your PC.
https://github.com/microsoft/azurelinux is a thing, yes. Public and fully open source.
Well, would you look at that…
Microsoft is moving away from allowing anything to run with those low level permissions after that CrowdStrike incident where rogue security software bricked millions of Windows PCs, so that might take out kernel anticheat as collateral damage.
While I’d love to see this, they also walked that back following lobbying by Antivirus vendors. So shit will continue to roll
GOOD
11% month on month expansion is fucking crazy. You can see from the data it’s mostly Windows 10 users deciding to upgrade to Linux…and even OSX.
I’m in those stats when I switched to Mint!
How is your idle VRAM (video RAM) holding? For some reason i have 1GB usage in Mint with Cinnamon without anything running, while on windows i have 400MB (although i have optimised them a lot).
Why do you care?
If I had to guess, VRAM is probably holding stuff as a cache.
VRAM doesn’t use a lot of power and as long as you aren’t seeing out of memory issues, it doesn’t really matter.
I’m gaming with an NVIDIA GPU, so my VRAM is kind of limited. I’m at my limits in games because the company cheaped out on VRAM in their GPUs after the 10 series.
I’m not sure. I’m a photographer and comic. I switched to mint cause it’s easy, I’m not much of a computer person.
Did you find mint easy? I am a bit of a computer person, and I’ve been struggling a bit with it
Effortless. My only issue with it was installing Plank Reloaded.
I’ve been struggling quite a bit switching file managers. Nothing is fully satisfactory
400MB??? What do you have running? I never use more than 100 unless I open a game or something.
Well, screen is running at 4k, so i think its normal.
Ah, yeah that changes things a bit.
11% of 2% is nice but not “fucking crazy”
Steam has over 132 million monthly active users
That month on month Linux expansion is ~422,000 computers. That is a shitload of people switching in just a single month.
OSes are sticky as hell. People don’t like switching. As Linux attracts these people away from Microsoft, MS is not going to get them back. And importantly, the adoption rate is high enough that many 3rd party companies are taking notice and releasing for both.
People buying Steam decks are likely the majority of those numbers. They probably ALSO have a Windows machine
People buying Steam decks are likely the majority of those numbers.
The Steam Deck shows up as Arch Linux in the steam numbers; Arch is only 10.7% of the Linux user-base on Steam. And this is on top of the fact desktop Arch Linux is a thing as well sharing space in that line-item.
The Steam Deck (and Microsoft tomfoolery) certainly was the catalyst for the current wave of adoption, but it is barely a notable percentage of Linux installs on Steam.
but it is barely a notable percentage of Linux installs on Steam.
0.3% of 130 million is still a fuckton of people. If even PewDiePie is going to Linux, that means desktop Linux has hit a point it certainly hasn’t ever before
OSes are sticky as hell. People don’t like switching.
Every time they buy a new device they have to switch back to linux, because that device with very few exceptions ships with MS.
Interesting, my devices always come without OS. And on preconfigured Windows for family first thing I do is wipe it to get rid of all the bloatware it comes with.
I see your point, but installing your usual linux distro on a new device is quite easier than switching to linux for the first time, which is what people don’t wanna do.
I’ve seen it first hand recently with a friend who sought advice regarding a low budget laptop purchase for school work and multimedia use. While he was open minded about what hardware to choose, there was no convincing him to ditch Windows. I told him he’d be better off using a lightweight linux distro on such modest hardware, but he insisted on Windows 11 based on questionable arguments (“I need office”), even knowing it’d be slow, bloated, full of ads and AI features no one care for. Old habits do die hard.
MS is not going to get them back
Until they want to play a multiplayer game with their friends, that doesn’t work because of Anti-Cheat. Or maybe Linux is a bit more involved than they initially realized.
Most of those that switched probably won’t go back, but I think with Linux it’s going to be more than someone might think (however it’ll still grow, especially over the coming months with Windows 10 support ending).
Until they want to play a multiplayer game with their friends, that doesn’t work because of Anti-Cheat
It’s my understanding that anti-cheat CAN work in Linux and does with some games. The point is still valid of course. If a specific game someone wants to play doesn’t work, that’s going to be a frustrating experience. But still I foresee the percentage of Linux gamers will continue to grow. And gaming companies increasingly making sure to use anti-cheat software that does work with Linux, as that market share is becoming too large to ignore.
Almost all multiplayer games work fine. It’s 9noy the garbage that companies like EA put out that choose not to. Just think of it like being a console exclusive, and you don’t own that console. Ignore it. Their games aren’t worth playing anyway. It’s the same garbage as the last 10+ years.
What do you mean OSes are sticky as hell? I’m currently on Arch, but only because of the AUR. I’m thinking of switching to gentoo because people keep putting malicious packages on the AUR so I might as well do gentoo
What do you mean OSes are sticky as hell?
What are your feelings on switching to a different OS, such as MacOS?
I’m currently on Arch … I’m thinking of switching to gentoo
These are both the same OS: Linux. And one of the nice things is Linux lets you switch around so much at-will as you are thinking of doing.
I can’t see OS X becoming a daily driver for me, but I don’t mind using it on occasion (it has bash!). Just have to turn off gestures
422k out of 132 million
This is WHY percentages are a thing. Because, on the surface, yeah, that is a very large number. When you look at it relative to the denominator? It is 0.3%. What is the percentage of people who bought Clair Obsura or even just some good old fashioned feet porn?
Bragging about what is basically a rounding error relative to Windows is the same “it has been the summer of Linux for the past 20 years” that mostly just leads people to write off Linux in general.
Also, what “many 3rd party companies” are you talking about? Mostly what I have noticed is an increase in “We tested on the Steam Deck” or “we won’t block Proton”. Whereas EA are still actively blocking Proton in the BF6 beta?
422k out of 132 million
It’s all relative. When you bring the time aspect into this, it is a sharp increase compared to previous time periods.
And it’s subjectively a small number of computers and a large number of computers at the same time, depending on perspective.
There’s no point in arguing over these stats.
what “many 3rd party companies” are you talking about?
When I switched to Mint about 6 months ago, most of my programs existed on both. And my games just worked. That wasn’t the case just a few years ago.
Whereas EA are still actively blocking Proton in the BF6 beta?
I can’t imagine wanting to give EA root access to your entire system, full access to everything you do on your computer…just to play a game. I’m honestly surprised Microsoft still allows such on their platform, it’s a massive vulnerability to users, as CrowdStrike demonstrated.
most of my programs existed on both
Good on you. Plenty of people have many problems because a lot of industry standard tools (e.g. fusion 360 for CAD) don’t exist on Linux and actively break under Wine/Proton
And my games just worked
And great (and same). But most of that is just not actively breaking Proton. Which is the Wine team plus Valve.
As for BF6: the point is that one of THE biggest third party publishers out there has spent the past year or so actively blocking Proton in almost all of their games. And for their new flagship title that they want to be the biggest game ever (ha!), they are already actively blocking Proton again.
Which goes against the “many 3rd party companies are taking notice and releasing for both”. Which was already not even a thing since the vast majority of those aren’t doing linux binaries (tried that 10 and 20 and 30 years ago…) and are just not actively breaking Proton.
Do you not understand that “many” has a different meaning than “all”? Being able to point to one company that is actively blocking Proton doesn’t prove a single thing.
Said company being one of the biggest in gaming. Hoyoverse also tend to be varying levels of sketchy towards Proton (I think the current “meta” is to run the android version of Genshin Impact in an emulator?)
Also, you still haven’t really identified what major 3rd parties are considering Linux a first class citizen versus just not actively blocking Proton and MAYBE testing against one specific SKU (Steam Deck).
You can use Fusion 360 in Linux with Wine. But instead of even trying that, I used my switch to Linux as the catalyst to switch to FreeCAD. Using FOSS just feels so much nicer.
At that rate we reach 100% Linux users in 34 months. (50% in 27)
I’d call that quite significant.
… what rate are you talking about?
I am going to assume the other person’s numbers were right but it honestly doesn’t matter
422k people per month? That is 0.3% per month.
2.89 + (0.3*34) = 13.09. 13% after almost 3 years. Which… that honestly still seems high but I could almost see it if SteamOS gets enough coverage by the various influencers and runs on every handheld form factor gaming PC that isn’t MS or Sony branded. And if the next attempt at Steam Machines actually gains traction and they take over a chunk of the console space ahead of the PS6.Or are you talking about compound interest? Which… I think even Activision and EA would call you crazy for assuming. Also I am not sure if the math actually holds for that either but I can never remember the simple math to represent that.
Also it is completely unrelated but I’ll just add: I personally don’t consider SteamOS gaining a significant market share to be “linux” any more than I do Android or consider Mac to be “BSD”. Yes, they have common ancestry (and varying levels of shared kernel and libraries) but it rapidly starts creating walled garden issues as developers prioritize one distro over the other to an obscene degree. And… I think we can all agree after the past few weeks that GabeN can indeed do wrong when it is in his/Valve’s financial interest to do so.
It’s Linux because for devs it’s a Linux platform.
And yeah 11% growth month to month compounds quickly. It won’t hold forever but all things like that are sigmoidal Wich does start as an exponential growth.
Sure, but even using that absurd growth rate continuously it would still take an ADDITIONAL 18 months from what you originally said to hit 50%
log_1.11 (50/2.89) = 27.32
log_1.11 (100/2.89) = 33.96
I wonder how dual boots show up in these stats
They don’t. The survey pops up on one device only. Statistically speaking though, it’s more likely to show up on the OS you spend most of your time using, so it doesn’t make that much of a difference.
This is usually true, in my experience, but I experienced an anomaly a couple of weeks ago when the survey popped up on my desktop twice (Arch and Win11) and my laptop twice (CachyOS and Win11) in the same day. I was very surprised.
Huh. That’s odd. I guess it balances out though.
Would love more support for MacOS but I’m also fine turning my windows 10 rig into a Linux machine. Need recommendations on a gaming distro! AMD TR 1950 w/GTX 1080TI
Bazzite is the go-to gaming distro. It’s basically Steam OS.
I’m personally a fan of Mint (old, stable) or Fedora Plasma (cutting edge), as both feel very familiar coming from Windows. I went with Mint personally.
Bazzite is Fedora and you can get it in KDE Plasma or Gnome flavors.
A lot of people will say Bazzite and they’re probably right, but I installed PopOS last year and I have had zero problems with any configuration or gaming. Also on an Nvidia GPU / AMD CPU.
I did the same with AMD+ NVidia gpu combo but it is not without problems. Do you play through Steam/proton db or are you using something else like Lutris?
I use steam, I do check protonDB but I’ve never had to tinker with much.
Historically I’ve used lutris but more recently I’ve been observing more broken scripts than not. But Lutris is extremely handy for mapping to a pile of game data that I might grab from Itch for example. I also havent been gaming as much lately so maybe I’m just hitting some weird games and that’s all.
I’ve heard good things about Heroic Launcher which apparently is actually sponsored by GOG, but I’ve yet to try it on my Linux machine
Gonna check out Heroic. Thanks for the tip
This is my use case as well. Not that macOS gaming is terrible, it’s just not as good as a dedicated Linux system because of the easier proton translation on Linux than the tinkering required on macOS.
Switched to linux (popos - so far so good) this month because fuck microsoft. yeah, some things aren’t perfect or require extra steps (modding, usually) but fuck microsoft. Fuck their AI shit, fuck their “recall” spyware, fuck their CEO that babbles about AI while laying off thousands of workers.
With Pop!_OS you should be in for a good huge update in about 2026 or so. They normally released every half year with Ubuntu, but they haven’t done a new release since the 22.04 LTS (Long Term Support) version because they’re working on their own desktop environment and it’s taking up most of the developer resources.
So hopefully in 2026 they’ll release 26.04 with the new COSMIC DE to replace 22.04 with Gnome (with their customizations, also called ‘COSMIC’ so it gets confusing lol). I think technically they’re working on a 24.04, but at this rate I think Ubuntu 26.04 will be out around the same time or even before COSMIC is fully ready.
So there’s a decent chance you’ll get a whole lot of improvements at once, which is cool
I’m a long-time Linux hacker and I’m currently running Pop! OS on my laptop and dev box. It’s the best distro I’ve found yet that Just Works™ (but naturally still allows for all the customization I might want).
I’ve also run mint and ubuntu, but this was very smooth.
The only problem so far are I get a crackling in my headphones in at least one game (guild wars 2), and I’m not sure how to diagnose that. One of the related problems of windows being so dominant is the internet is full of SEO slop for windows problems
Easy effects (flathub) helped improve my sound a lot
I find Ubuntu to be buggier than it used to be, and snaps are inherently broken.
Mint stands between Ubuntu and Pop! OS, but is still fiddlier than what I want for a daily driver.
really? I found the customization for Pop/COSMIC extremely limited.
Like I said, it allows for what I want. I don’t need to “rice” a setup that I’m trying to use to Get Shit Done. These days, the only time I’m rebuilding Linux from scratch is when I’m literally building an OS for a project.
It was written in the scrolls. The day prophezised for hundreds of years: the year of the linux desktop.
The prophecy is being fulfilled, and our prophet Gabe made it possible.
