Some of y’all are showing your bubble side; outside of our communities here, Linux very much is obscure. That said, there really does seem to be a leak in the mainstream and it’s nice to see it mentioned in a publication. Even if just a little gain, thanks in large part to Steam raising awareness for gamers, US decline in Europe and Canada, and Windows 11 blunders with security.
I’ve gone from people being completely oblivious when I mention Linux, to going “oh, like steam deck?” but there’s still plenty of others who still are oblivious. Then again, mentioning file extensions goes over the heads of 95% of who I talk to, so I wouldn’t have too high hopes.
“Like an Android, but without Google’s control.”
Since Android was built off Linux, just way locked down. Might appeal to a wider range of folk since it isn’t strictly to do with gaming and more people are likely to be familiar with Android than a Steam Deck.
Everyone acts like it’s all about gaming, but people want to use Lightroom, Photoshop, Excel, their banking and tax software etc. They don’t want the alternatives because they’re not integrated well, they can’t access their Dropbox/Apple Cloud/whatever and they gave Linux their Google password already, why does it need it again for that mail software that has some stupid bird name instead of “mail”.
I think it’s also down to windows 11 being increasingly enshitified, and unwanted AI stuff being forced on users. A lot of people are frustrated and are more open to alternatives.
100%, if it weren’t for windows committing suicide in a spectacular fashion, linux would only be at a point where it’s “usable”. But as it stands it’s kinda objectively the best option these days, apple stuff functions but has obvious downsides.
Idk one of my siblings who I never chalked up as a non-windows user and not particularly tech savvy sent me a screenshot of their linux install. If like the tech barriers to linux are falling then the only thing left to fall is software developers for commercial software.
Idk one of my siblings who I never chalked up as a non-windows user and not particularly tech savvy sent me a screenshot of their linux install.
Yes. 2026 was an interesting year for Linux desktop.
More of my friends installed Linux in response to Windows 11 than I imagined possible.
I think I noticed a correlation with their having a kid in the house who owned a SteamDeck. There’s a generation who are learning Linux in order to mod their games.
We have a time traveller over here.
Linux very much is obscure
To paraphrase Bill Hicks about drugs…
See, I think
drugsLinuxes have done some good things for us! I really do. And if you don’t believedrugsLinuxes have done good things for us, do me a favor. Go home tonight, take all youralbumsbookmarks, all yourtapeslinks and all yourCDswebsites and burn 'em. 'Cause you know what? Themusiciansservers whomadehost all that greatmusicweb content that’s enhanced your lives throughout the years?Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreal fuckin’
highhosted ondrugsLinux.:3 Well, that nearly worked. n_n
(I had intended to add a “they[servers]'re all running linux” meme1… but failed to find… instead, this’ll do nicely too…)
https://images3.memedroid.com/images/UPLOADED455/6859360c6abcc.jpeg
1 Edit; found it again.
Oh, there it is. I’ve again encountered the image I was originally going to put in this comment…
our university put linux mint on all the desktop computers this year.
Seriously, all the lutris & co mess is obsolete now.
Open Steam > add non-steam game > properties > compatibility > force proton 10 > profit
Worked for all the cough responsibly ripped .exe’s I’ve thrown at it so far
Lutris has allowed me to use battle.net though which I don’t think steam can do, afaik. I’m happy to be proven wrong, though
I run battle.net through Steam. Works just fine.
I am brave enough to say it: The ocean has water in it.
Praise me for my braveness.
I get the sentiment but the article is more targeted at the PC gaming crowd that isn’t exactly tech-illiterate but probably only knows Linux from memes about it requiring you to recompile a kernel to install Chrome or some other BS like that
I think a good portion of Lemmy and the fediverse already know it’s been at this level for a long while now but I’m excited to see articles like this since it means the tide is turning against Windows for the average user
but probably only knows Linux from memes about it requiring you to recompile a kernel to install Chrome or some other BS like that
Yeah just look at the article’s comment section (not recommended). Still full of ignorant misinformation. Borderline disinformation IMO.
I heard somewhere that by the time the scientific community officially announces life on mars the rest of us will have already concluded that there is life on mars. I feel like this is the same thing.
Because science doesn’t work on circumstantial evidence, but hard proof.
The problem is there’s a large difference between the 50% the average person needs and the 99.9% the scientific community needs. It’s just a different level of proof they’re looking for.
