Linux Users Drop to Under 1% In Latest Steam Survey

[inmunitas]

85% of the things I buy are from businesses, what's your point? That statement doesn't refute what I said.

95% of my body is water, how much do I weigh?

I strongly suggest that you understand the difference between win 8 and win 8 enterprise. They are two different products for two different markets. Win 8 was aiming at andorid in the home market not the business market. Win 8 enterprise did not have the apps store. I assumed that you understood the microsoft product range but that is clearly not the case.

You're just giving me percentages gramps, how about some real figures this time? You know as well as I do that a percentage without context is meaningless.

$ 18 billion is what microsoft makes from business sales

Sales of what? To whom? Between when? Are they including OEM sales in that? What is this even in comparison to if their rival is mostly free of charge?

 

[Albino Boo]

85% of the things I buy are from businesses, what's your point? That statement doesn't refute what I said.

95% of my body is water, how much do I weigh?

I strongly suggest that you understand the difference between win 8 and win 8 enterprise. They are two different products for two different markets. Win 8 was aiming at andorid in the home market not the business market. Win 8 enterprise did not have the apps store. I assumed that you understood the microsoft product range but that is clearly not the case.

You're just giving me percentages gramps, how about some real figures this time? You know as well as I do that a percentage without context is meaningless.

$ 18 billion is what microsoft makes from business sales

Sales of what? To whom? Between when? Are they including OEM sales in that? What is this even in comparison to if their rival is mostly free of charge?

No its very simple its sales business to business on its licensing deal per year.

 

[inmunitas]

85% of the things I buy are from businesses, what's your point? That statement doesn't refute what I said.

95% of my body is water, how much do I weigh?

I strongly suggest that you understand the difference between win 8 and win 8 enterprise. They are two different products for two different markets. Win 8 was aiming at andorid in the home market not the business market. Win 8 enterprise did not have the apps store. I assumed that you understood the microsoft product range but that is clearly not the case.

You're just giving me percentages gramps, how about some real figures this time? You know as well as I do that a percentage without context is meaningless.

$ 18 billion is what microsoft makes from business sales

Sales of what? To whom? Between when? Are they including OEM sales in that? What is this even in comparison to if their rival is mostly free of charge?

No its very simple its sales business to business on its licensing deal per year.

But that could be as little as 54,000 businesses.

 

[Albino Boo]

85% of the things I buy are from businesses, what's your point? That statement doesn't refute what I said.

95% of my body is water, how much do I weigh?

I strongly suggest that you understand the difference between win 8 and win 8 enterprise. They are two different products for two different markets. Win 8 was aiming at andorid in the home market not the business market. Win 8 enterprise did not have the apps store. I assumed that you understood the microsoft product range but that is clearly not the case.

You're just giving me percentages gramps, how about some real figures this time? You know as well as I do that a percentage without context is meaningless.

$ 18 billion is what microsoft makes from business sales

Sales of what? To whom? Between when? Are they including OEM sales in that? What is this even in comparison to if their rival is mostly free of charge?

No its very simple its sales business to business on its licensing deal per year.

But that could be as little as 54,000 businesses.

But its isn't because a volume licensing deal that operates worldwide and which most medium to large business and all governments in the developed world use.

 

[kasperbbs]

Doesn't seem that way judging by how vocal some of the linux users are.. I'll just stick to Windows since theres no reason to switch for a gamer, everything works fine, i can't recall when was the last time i had to tinker with my OS to make something work and even that metro UI that everyone seems to hate so much is easily replaceable by an old fashioned start menu, even after replacing it i don't really find much use for it.

 

[CrystalShadow]

I'm not surprised. My own experiences with Linux have been flaky at best.

However, I will say that a linux system can be decent on the following provisions:

1. Your hardware has good compatibility
2. You lock down the install, and resist the urge to try to 'upgrade' things needlessly.
3. You have a decent grasp of Unix command line tools. (trust me, if anything much at all goes wrong, you'll need it. It's cute to pretend otherwise, but I've never had a single linux install that didn't run into things that can only be done with command line stuff).

I prefer BSD anyway, given a choice, but... that has most of the same issues, though it trades the flakiness of linux (point 2) for considerably worse hardware compatibility. (point 1). Point 3 is the same either way.
(the way BSD handles software installs and upgrades makes it considerably more robust and reliable when you start tinkering with things... - As long as it actually works in the first place. Hardware support is truly awful on BSD)

Oh, and X-windows. Seriously, Linux and BSD share this... POS UI system...
It's rotten to it's very foundations.
Both Linux and BSD are decent, fairly solid OSes at heart (linux trades stability for faster iteration and better hardware support), but they then have this layer of pure, solid crap dumped on top of them that is the X window GUI system...

All that aside though, you're making the inherent problems of linux a lot worse than it already is if you're trying to play games on it.
Graphics drivers have all kinds of issues. (proprietary 3d drivers that go against the spirit of what linux is about, or open source drivers that work terribly) There's a huge swathe of games with no linux ports in the first place.

The end effect is that getting games to work on linux can be a real mess, and... Well, I mean, good luck changing that, because it's a chicken and egg kind of problem.
It won't get better until linux is taken more seriously as a desktop/gaming OS, and that won't happen unless people start taking it more seriously and put the effort in to improve it.

 

[Lightknight]

If Valve truly wants Linux to be a viable alternative to Windows, they need to put some real money into ensuring quality drivers for graphics cards. That's the biggest weakness Linux has; the official drivers for graphics card tend to be incredibly sub-par. If they could remove that advantage from Windows then Linux would have a real shot at becoming a standard gaming OS.

That's not even remotely Valve's responsibility or area of business. They have nothing to do with graphics card drivers.

I use Windows instead of Linux because my hobby is gaming, not tooling around with a computer to try and get a game to work.

 

[inmunitas]

But that could be as little as 54,000 businesses.

But its isn't because a volume licensing deal that operates worldwide and which most medium to large business and all governments in the developed world use.

How much does each deal cost on average per business do you reckon? $300-500 thousand per deal alone could easily eat through that $18 billion you quoted. You're suppose to be the expert here, yet you only seem able to quote Microsoft's own PR fluff. How am I suppose to prove you wrong if you can't even support your own claims.

Oh, and X-windows. Seriously, Linux and BSD share this... POS UI system...
It's rotten to it's very foundations.
Both Linux and BSD are decent, fairly solid OSes at heart (linux trades stability for faster iteration and better hardware support), but they then have this layer of pure, solid crap dumped on top of them that is the X window GUI system...

You might be glad to here they intend to replace X with a standard display server protocol called Wayland [http://wayland.freedesktop.org/]

If Valve truly wants Linux to be a viable alternative to Windows, they need to put some real money into ensuring quality drivers for graphics cards. That's the biggest weakness Linux has; the official drivers for graphics card tend to be incredibly sub-par. If they could remove that advantage from Windows then Linux would have a real shot at becoming a standard gaming OS.

That's not even remotely Valve's responsibility or area of business. They have nothing to do with graphics card drivers.

Valve have been funding development of an open-source Intel driver [https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/valve-developed-own-vulkan-driver-for-intel-they-demo-dota-2-on-source-2.5053] that implements the Vulken graphics API that they've been working on with the Khronos group.

 

[Albino Boo]

How much does each deal cost on average per business do you reckon? $300-500 thousand per deal alone could easily eat through that $18 billion you quoted. You're suppose to be the expert here, yet you only seem able to quote Microsoft's own PR fluff. How am I supposed to prove you wrong if you can't even support your own claims.

Just stop it please. Most cash machines are using windows xp underneath the GUI. If I'm so wrong then you just go ahead and use google yourself. You will spend a long time doing it because I'm right and you are just plain wrong. Not once have demonstrated any basic knowledge of commercial IT and you entire reasoning seems to Microsoft is an evil corporation. Walking into a meeting with your boss and saying they are evil get you fired especially since the odds that you be working for another company.

 

[Lightknight]

If Valve truly wants Linux to be a viable alternative to Windows, they need to put some real money into ensuring quality drivers for graphics cards. That's the biggest weakness Linux has; the official drivers for graphics card tend to be incredibly sub-par. If they could remove that advantage from Windows then Linux would have a real shot at becoming a standard gaming OS.

That's not even remotely Valve's responsibility or area of business. They have nothing to do with graphics card drivers.

Valve have been funding development of an open-source Intel driver [https://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/valve-developed-own-vulkan-driver-for-intel-they-demo-dota-2-on-source-2.5053] that implements the Vulken graphics API that they've been working on with the Khronos group.

Yeah, they developed it for their own game (DOTA 2).

They have nothing to do with other companies and the drivers they optimize for. People can use it, but that's not up to Valve.

 

[flying_whimsy]

Remember valve only started supporting it because they got scared the windows store would destroy their business model.

That is probably the best (and most accurate) comment I've seen in relation to this so far.

OT: There's a million things to bring up as far as the windows vs linux debate go: business licensing and support, security, etc. Honestly, I'm kind of sick of it.

It's too bad linux just can't seem to gain any momentum. For a 'superior' OS is sure is taking its sweet time to catch on; and with the prevalence of tablets and smartphones it seems like Linux is in more danger than windows when it comes to the shrinking desktop market (something I actually haven't heard anyone discuss before).

That 1% figure is mighty surprising, especially after valve pushed so hard for linux gaming.

 

[Ralancian]

d with the prevalence of tablets and smartphones it seems like Linux is in more danger than windows when it comes to the shrinking desktop market (something I actually haven't heard anyone discuss before).

Yeah because the largest market share in terms of tablets and smartphones isn't based of the linux kernel....oh wait.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_%28operating_system%29

 

[flying_whimsy]

d with the prevalence of tablets and smartphones it seems like Linux is in more danger than windows when it comes to the shrinking desktop market (something I actually haven't heard anyone discuss before).

Yeah because the largest market share in terms of tablets and smartphones isn't based of the linux kernel....oh wait.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_%28operating_system%29

Yeah, but it's still not the same: you can't start editing the kernel on a mobile device without a ridiculous amount of know how. Most of the things that make linux great on the desktop simply aren't there in the mobile versions: they can't be because of the locked nature of those devices. It's android, not android linux.

That's like saying Unix is the best OS because so many other things are based on it.

 

[iniudan]

If Valve truly wants Linux to be a viable alternative to Windows, they need to put some real money into ensuring quality drivers for graphics cards. That's the biggest weakness Linux has; the official drivers for graphics card tend to be incredibly sub-par. If they could remove that advantage from Windows then Linux would have a real shot at becoming a standard gaming OS.

Actually they are putting money on the driver, the experimental intel driver for Vulkan (OpenGL Next) on Linux was commissioned by them, as to have an early test platform for Source 2.

 

[Smooth Operator]

It's too bad linux just can't seem to gain any momentum. For a 'superior' OS is sure is taking its sweet time to catch on; and with the prevalence of tablets and smartphones it seems like Linux is in more danger than windows when it comes to the shrinking desktop market (something I actually haven't heard anyone discuss before).

Well technical superiority means jack shit in a popularity contest, being the least idiot proof doesn't help either.
However it is the most likely system to survive all hardware changes, from smart phones / watches / tablets / printers / robotics / drones /... microcomputers of all kinds Linux has been the biggest presence, because anyone OS savy can make it work on anything.
But just because you can sing better then Bieber doesn't mean people know who the fuck you are.

 

[inmunitas]

How much does each deal cost on average per business do you reckon? $300-500 thousand per deal alone could easily eat through that $18 billion you quoted. You're suppose to be the expert here, yet you only seem able to quote Microsoft's own PR fluff. How am I supposed to prove you wrong if you can't even support your own claims.

Just stop it please. Most cash machines are using windows xp underneath the GUI. If I'm so wrong then you just go ahead and use google yourself. You will spend a long time doing it because I'm right and you are just plain wrong. Not once have demonstrated any basic knowledge of commercial IT and you entire reasoning seems to Microsoft is an evil corporation. Walking into a meeting with your boss and saying they are evil get you fired especially since the odds that you be working for another company.

Now you're just creating a strawman, not once have I even suggested any of what you've said. You state Linux has less usage then it did just after it was publicly released in 1992, that's obviously not true, you know that's not true because you can't back that statement up with anything, and Microsoft themselves knows that's not true otherwise they wouldn't be adding support for the Linux platform into their own products.

 

[Albino Boo]

Just stop it please. Most cash machines are using windows xp underneath the GUI. If I'm so wrong then you just go ahead and use google yourself. You will spend a long time doing it because I'm right and you are just plain wrong. Not once have demonstrated any basic knowledge of commercial IT and you entire reasoning seems to Microsoft is an evil corporation. Walking into a meeting with your boss and saying they are evil get you fired especially since the odds that you be working for another company.

Now you're just creating a strawman, not once have I even suggested any of what you've said. You state Linux has less usage then it did just after it was publicly released in 1992, that's obviously not true, you know that's not true because you can't back that statement up with anything, and Microsoft themselves knows that's not true otherwise they wouldn't be adding support for the Linux platform into their own products.

You didnt even understand what I wrote. Linux was a genuine competitor in the server market before win2k server. Netware had stalled and was using ipx instead of ip and was primarily designed to run on an expensive mainframe rather that the x86 cpu family. This lead to a gap in the market for x86 servers. Microsoft got market dominance with win2k but win NT's total cost ownership was in the same region as a linux based samba server. The overall number of x86 servers were low but linus had a 25-20% market share as free version of UNIX servers. Many large organisations were still running legacy netware servers well into the early 2000s. So you can't talk about raw numbers because this was small market. In other post in this thread I detailed what I was using linux serves to sell businesses there first server in the early 2000s. The x86 server market has expanded exponentially since the early 90s and the vast majority of those servers are microsoft o/s.

 

[inmunitas]

Just stop it please. Most cash machines are using windows xp underneath the GUI. If I'm so wrong then you just go ahead and use google yourself. You will spend a long time doing it because I'm right and you are just plain wrong. Not once have demonstrated any basic knowledge of commercial IT and you entire reasoning seems to Microsoft is an evil corporation. Walking into a meeting with your boss and saying they are evil get you fired especially since the odds that you be working for another company.

Now you're just creating a strawman, not once have I even suggested any of what you've said. You state Linux has less usage then it did just after it was publicly released in 1992, that's obviously not true, you know that's not true because you can't back that statement up with anything, and Microsoft themselves knows that's not true otherwise they wouldn't be adding support for the Linux platform into their own products.

You didnt even understand what I wrote. Linux was a genuine competitor in the server market before win2k server. Netware had stalled and was using ipx instead of ip and was primarily designed to run on an expensive mainframe rather that the x86 cpu family. This lead to a gap in the market for x86 servers. Microsoft got market dominance with win2k but win NT's total cost ownership was in the same region as a linux based samba server. The overall number of x86 servers were low but linus had a 25-20% market share as free version of UNIX servers. Many large organisations were still running legacy netware servers well into the early 2000s. So you can't talk about raw numbers because this was small market. In other post in this thread I detailed what I was using linux serves to sell businesses there first server in the early 2000s. The x86 server market has expanded exponentially since the early 90s and the vast majority of those servers are microsoft o/s.

You don't seem to be able move past a world from 20 years ago, Linux was never a competitor, it took 15 years for Microsoft to figure that one out. Linux is just technology, nobody owns it, there is no business or marketing strategy behind it, it's yours to do what you want with. If you don't need to use it, fine, but it's not something you should be afraid of, it's just a tool to be used.

 

[Tiamat666]

Oh yes, Linux is totally a niche OS, with almost no penetration in any area. Oh wait...

I'm sure more than 1% of Steam users have a Linux installation. My guess would be about 5%. But almost all of these users will use Windows to run Steam and their games, because it's better supported and has better performance.
Also, some users may be running Steam from Linux using Wine, and I think Wine may report as a Windows System, when it's actually Linux.

That's what I do at least. I tried Steam under Linux, using Wine, was surprised that it worked, but the games simply run better under Windows, so I didn't go back to using it.

Edit: if games ran as good under Linux as they do under Windows, I would never see a Windows desktop again. Really, games are the only reason why I mainly boot into Windows.

 

[Ralancian]

You don't seem to be able move past a world from 20 years ago, Linux was never a competitor, it took 15 years for Microsoft to figure that one out. Linux is just technology, nobody owns it, there is no business or marketing strategy behind it, it's yours to do what you want with. If you don't need to use it, fine, but it's not something you should be afraid of, it's just a tool to be used.

I think another interesting statistic (I doubt it will be massive) is the amount of servers bought with windows server and have it immediately replaced with another O/S. I know for a past time we bought servers with Windows with no intention of actually using it (not exactly the brightest thing to do).