Can Linux steal the desktop PC crown from Windows? Experts weigh in.

Microsoft Edge Linux Source: Microsoft

"The year of Linux" kind of, sort of comes every year, wherein a few more people give it a try, and enthusiasts continue to love it. It's an OS that's gotten better for gaming and i that's made such an imprint on Windows Central that not all of u.s.a. even bother much with Windows anymore.

Heck, Germany (function of information technology, to exist specific) is taking another stab at ditching Windows for Linux. Many tiny pieces of the global pie are abandoning Windows in favor of the freedom of Linux and the cost-cut benefits information technology entails. The question is, regardless of merit, does it stand any sort of gamble of eclipsing Windows' PC market share in the short term or long term?

That is the tantalizing question at the kernelled core of the corking Linux contend, and it's the i we reached out to analysts to hear their thoughts on.

Information technology'south hither, even if yous don't come across it

Ubuntu on Windows 10 Source: Windows Key

Linux can be a bit of a ghost. If you await at where it resides, desktop PCs are the tip of the iceberg. It's invisibly sifting around in the background of a great many technologies.

But while Linux may be a starting point for those in the apparatus device space (say, someone cooking up a competitor to the Xbox Series X), when information technology comes to desktop PCs, the foreseeable future is dominated past Windows.

Gartner VP Analyst Steve Kleynhans addressed that bespeak, elaborating on where the actual fight lies. "The biggest claiming to Windows on annihilation that looks like a PC is probably Chrome Os," he said, stating that Linux and Windows are non in a head-to-caput fight on the PC. "Could Linux continue to abound? Yep. But information technology's non probable to grow as a direct competitor replacing Windows."

He acknowledged the enthusiast population, while also citing the appliance device relevancy and another subsection of Linux users out there. "At that place is also a large trunk of users using Linux, who don't realize the fact," he said. "These are when Linux is used equally the embedded Bone on a terminal or sparse client." He qualified that remark by calculation, "We don't count these as true Linux use."

Nevertheless, while Linux does accept its identify in the world and crops up more frequently than people may realize, Kleynhans didn't come across it equally taking the business organisation globe by storm anytime soon (a infinite that remains a key pillar of Windows' operations). "Many enterprises are trying to motion away from dealing with the technical nitty-gritty of managing a platform and equally such have trivial interest in learning a new platform — regardless of what possible benefits it might bring," he said.

Truthful year of Linux, some other year

Ubuntu 19.10 Source: Rich Edmonds / Windows Central

Every twelvemonth is a special year for Linux in some way, shape, or form, simply in terms of eating Windows' lunch, that's probably not in the cards for a long time, if e'er.

Forrester Senior Annotator Andrew Hewitt gave figures to further bolster the statement that Linux is a long ways off from toppling Windows. "Overall, merely 1% of employees report usage of Linux on their master laptop used for work," he said. "That'due south compared to 60% that notwithstanding use Windows, and small numbers that use Chrome Os and macOS on a global basis. It is very unlikely that Linux volition overtake Windows every bit the principal operating organisation."

With that said, Hewitt did foresee diversification and growth when information technology came to Linux, Chrome OS, and macOS, but cipher to a degree that would signal Windows is at risk of losing its ascendant market share.

"We commonly see Linux used in Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) deployments," he stated, mentioning that he'd expect growth there since "VDI has grown 2% year over year according to our 'State Of VDI, 2022' report."

In other words, Linux isn't taking the average user'south PC world by storm or crowding out the best Windows laptops someday soon, simply the platform and its distros are making ripples in other sectors. Will they get waves? We won't know for a while, based on current figures.

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