Linux's heyday for desktop and laptop was January 2020.

[Paddy Landau]

According to W3Schools, Linux (including Chrome OS) had its heyday on desktops and laptops in January 2020 at 7.1% of the total share. The latest figures show it at just 5.3%.

Pie Chart Pirate created a lovely pie chart time flow on Reddit, also available on YouTube, showing how the popularity of various OSes changed over time.

I doubt that Linux will ever be a major player, unless Chrome OS or a similar competitor grows exponentially in popularity.

[botanicalstig]

A lot of students in the US are now using Chrome OS on school issued computers. I imagine this trend will continue as schools need to provide inexpensive hardware for students who don't already have computers.

I think the number of people seeking out Linux, or seeking out Chrome OS specifically, is very low. Rather, they get what they get because it was on the shelf and it was cheap.

I think the point of this thread was to gain excitement, but I really don't know if the use of Chrome OS is a good thing. My nieces & nephews have never used a desktop PC. And have never seen a Windows, or Mac operating system. They only know chrome os & ios. What will an office look like 10 years from now when new-hires have never used a traditional operating system? I guess I'm just old.

[T6&sfpER35%]

or Mac operating system. They only know chrome os & ios

i'm confuzzed ,isn't Mac,ios?

[T6&sfpER35%]

I doubt that Linux will ever be a major player,

probably true , but we {meaning me at least} don't give a hoot ,i'm happy with me LINUX

[Frogs Hair]

A lot of students in the US are now using Chrome OS on school issued computers. I imagine this trend will continue as schools need to provide inexpensive hardware for students who don't already have computers.

Totally agree, I know people who have purchased or been provided with Chrome Books for @home instruction.

[wildmanne39]

probably true , but we {meaning me at least} don't give a hoot ,i'm happy with me LINUX

I agree but I love my linux and really I am not overly concerned if linux has a major share or not.

[botanicalstig]

i'm confuzzed ,isn't Mac,ios?

Unless they're calling it something different these days- iOS is for iPhones & ipads. Not desktop Macs or MacBook PCs.

The public schools in my area (SC) issue chrome books in 1st grade. This was a pre-pandemic program. Tech in school, is of course a good thing. I just don't know if chrome is a good answer.

Sorry for being sort of off topic, but this statistic got me thinking. The rise in Linux is most likely due to chrome. I really doubt many people are switching because of YouTubers talking about how cool Arch is.

[zebra2]

I have three laptops running Ubuntu. One with Groovy and Win10 with Legacy dual boot. Right now I wouldn't dare to boot that Ubuntu partition until I get my taxes filed from the Windows side. After my taxes are filed the whole thing can blow-up and I don't really care. I have the Windows reg in bios and I can install Ubuntu with my eyes closed. However all you have to do is look at the hardware & upgrade section of this forum and see the over whelming frustration with all of this UEFI garbage that got stuck on us and the rest of the world by "you know who" just because they needed us and the rest of the world to help protect them from their root kit problem.
I do believe that Linux was getting some interest going at the beginning of the year. With the many not ready to give up Windows entirely the alternative was a disastrous dual install solution. This in addition to a SNAP sandbox software installation that makes the entire computer mostly unusable from any practical point of view. Where did the new users go? I think we ran them off with fear. Linux is the most secure OS on the planet but we got suckered into protecting the world from someone else's mess while making what we were using an overly protected stink bomb.
PS Hope you don't get too upset with me for this rant. Only good part is that I have my wife on the 20.04 LTS and she is happy.

[Randymanme]

Forgive me for dipping into someone else's conversation without doing any research into what the topic is really about, but let me just say that if Linux wasn't gaining substantially in popularity, there wouldn't be a Windows 10 available with an Ubuntu subsystem.

Further, how many Windows desktops are there running under Linux servers? Remember that Linux servers are the more popular servers. I think that Windows desktops running under Linux servers default to being Linux PC's.

And then, of course, there's Ubuntu Kylin -- the official People's Republic of China operating system.

[Randymanme]

https://www.networkworld.com/article...computing.html

Linux dominates supercomputing
The Linux operating system runs all 500 of the world’s fastest supercomputers, which help to advance artificial intelligence, machine learning and even COVID-19 research.