Watch out Windows: Linux market share could soon reach a major milestone
After the Crowdstrike incident After Windows revealed its absolute dominance in the enterprise by late July 2024, users may be relieved to hear that perennial entrant Linux is on track to achieve a 5% market share by 2025.
While new data from StatCounterwith data for July 2024, shows that Windows is still the big favorite with a market share of 72%, while Linux has reached a market share of 4.5%.
This could be good news for anyone who isn’t yet in the Apple ecosystem or wants to get out, or for anyone who’s dissatisfied with Microsoft’s endless attempts to turn Windows into a service.
Linux and your small business
As our sister site Tom’s Hardware has tackled – The rise of Linux has not been smooth. While it reached 4% by the end of February 2024, it dropped back to a share of 3.9% in April and May. This latest result shows that progress is happening quickly, however, and if the alternative OS’s current market share holds, it will reach 5% by February 2025.
Windows and MacOS are ubiquitous names in the field of operating systems. Crowdstrike has shown that many enterprises are also striving for brand recognition and, more importantly, interoperability with existing Windows client systems.
Linux does, however, offer a number of advantages over both that are relevant to a smaller business environment, should you be able to convince your sysadmin that it exists. The first and most important is price: an overwhelming majority of Linux distributions (popular versions such as Ubuntu, Linux Mint and Zorin OS) are either free, or offer modestly priced versions bundled with extra productivity tools (Zorin OS Pro, at $47.99/£47.99, is one example).
To legally use macOS, you’ll need to buy premium hardware costing hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. And Windows 11 Pro, before you’re even forced to buy the subscription-based Microsoft 365 collaboration tools, costs $199.
That will help drive adoption in the future, but for now a major factor in Linux’s rise is popular distributions that rely heavily on features and graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that are not only intuitive but also remarkably similar to the “big two.”
Ubuntu—the operating system this writer is using—combines a Windows-like taskbar with macOS’ “Launchpad” for apps, as well as an “app store” serving up cross-distro apps (“flatpaks”) from the popular app distribution platform Flathub. The average user or worker can get by without ever touching the command line, and has been for a few years now.
In reality, even a 5% market share isn’t going to break any records or expectations, but it’s no wonder Linux is having its day, while its competitors seem to be clinging to the “walled garden” philosophy. If you’re not convinced, consider Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps, the increasing reliance on Microsoft accounts to set up Windows in the first place, and Apple since the beginning of recorded time, 2007 AD.
