Latest Valve Data Puts Steam Linux Marketshare At 0.90%

[haplo602]

weird. i use gentoo which is as oddball distro as it gets, and i get steam to run just fine. i only have to remove libstdc++ libraries from runtime, because otherwise steam doesn't work at all. that's the only problem i have.

I am using gentoo as well and don't bother with libstdc++ in the runtime, works regardless ... I had that problem last time about 1.5 year ago. Also I am getting the steam survey a few times each year (about each quarter on average).

[eydee]

The survey seems to have the highest chance to appear on the first launch of a fresh install. People who never get it probably don't reinstall their OS/steam too often.

[drSeehas]

... It should be pointed out that Linux is not Windows ...

Sure! Again: Linux is only an OS kernel, Windows is a complete OS.

... and Linux is easier to maintain than windows, ...

But with the Linux kernel alone you don't get much.

[Kemosabe]

Sure! Again: Linux is only an OS kernel, Windows is a complete OS.


But with the Linux kernel alone you don't get much.

Jez. Number of phoronix trolls constantly increases. Time for some mods, Michael.

[gamerk2]

It should be pointed out that Linux is not Windows and Linux is easier to maintain than windows, thanks to informational log files systems, open source code, packaging system and infrastructure

Every single one of those listed items scares away users. People don't want to bother with that type of stuff.

Look people, on Windows, I can run games from the late 90's on Win 10 x64, with no modification, no issues. On Linux, I'm lucky if I can get a program compiled a year ago to run without having to make some system modification. Sorry, for 99.9% of the population, Windows is easier. This is why mobile devices and consoles have taken off in recent years: Ease of use. And Linux is not nor will ever be easy to use for the general user.

[Passso]

Look people, on Windows, I can run games from the late 90's on Win 10 x64, with no modification, no issues.

You picked the worst example of all to prove that Windows is easier because it is not just true. Most of my 90's games do not work anymore now.
And Wine is doing a better job for that retro gaming...

[Hohlraum]

Steam isn't losing linux users. Percentages are misleading. The pace at which new non-linux users are joining steam is outpacing new linux users. Go look at the gaming on linux site. They just did an article on this exact issue. Linux users are increasing (even though the overall percentage is decreasing) and that's all that matters for now.

[bregma]

Still 0.9%. That's not too bad, really. I'm proud.

[Ardje]

Is this %0.9 including Steam Machines too?

I think this 0.9% only includes those who get the survey. We already established that those using Big Picture don't get the survey, so it excludes my steam machine.
We also have established that the amount of surveys on linux is about 1% of the amount of surveys on windows systems.
So what we can really establish is that we don't know what 0.9% means.
What we can see is this: http://cheesetalks.net/humble/
which establishes linux sales at about 4%.
I haven't seen any stats on steam yet that shows how much of the games are played on what os. Or a per game total time per platform per month. Those numbers are certainly there. It can exactly show I've played SR2 for 120 hours now, and it probably knows I was doing that on a pristine steamos.

[Ardje]

Look people, on Windows, I can run games from the late 90's on Win 10 x64, with no modification, no issues.

That's a really not true. Just ask GOG that tries as much as possible to get old games running on new platforms.

On Linux, I'm lucky if I can get a program compiled a year ago to run without having to make some system modification.

Exagerated, but true. I cannot easily run games from 10 years ago. Although with current standardization it should work out better.
As another said: the only non-problem platform is to use the latest wine.