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Comment by 015a | Hacker News Reader

I'll go on the record and say above 5% by December 31st 2022.

Depending on who you ask, its at ~2% today. If that feels high to you, remember: it includes Chromebooks.

As it grows, you'll absolutely hear people say "Chromebooks" or "Steam Decks should be their own category, they don't count". These arguments effectively reduce to "Linux cannot be popular, so I'll move the goalposts so it never is." Ignore them, and pour cement around the goalposts: running a distribution of gnu/linux.

Of course, if all we cared about was the "linux" part of gnu/linux, then its already the most popular operating system kernel in use by mankind. Its already won.

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>Of course, if all we cared about was the "linux" part of gnu/linux, then its already the most popular operating system kernel in use by mankind. Its already won.

Except the "linux" part matters to the actual user not one bit.

Android is a fairly walled garden no matter what kernel it uses. It's an implementation detail.

I'm curious as to why should the Steam Deck be in its own category. To me, it runs a mainstream, open and not-locked-down Linux distro. I could see an argument for Chromebooks being in their own category, but the Steam Deck, in my eyes, is a legitimate "full" Linux device.

Branding is important and an ordinary person (I think) will hear more about Steam Deck than Linux. And it makes sense that it's in its own category (or rather, game console category) because it's made for that purpose. The fact that you can do whatever you want with the HW is just a bonus.

PS. Nice user name. But why pair those two? :D

> Branding is important and an ordinary person (I think) will hear more about Steam Deck than Linux

Fair point, I say. But people will know that KDE and Linux exist a bit more now, since they're kinda intertwined.

> PS. Nice user name. But why pair those two? :D

You're the first one to notice! And I paired them since if they married at the end of arc 1, it'd be the the most satisfying ending for me. And also, their mental states and stuff seem to be weirdly aligned, so I feel like they'd be the best fit for each other. It's also what I feel that pairing is the one that the least number of people would expect (:

Least expected indeed. To me those two only come together if opposites attract. Although a queen marrying an (originally) dark eye? Definitely counted as an upside in Jasnah's eyes.

If they do marry I hope Brandon makes a sequel like Mistborn 2 and we'll see what a descendant of Jasnah/Kaladin could do.

Woah, I'm a linux gamer but %5 by 23 is crazy. Steam Deck is going to be super niche, and a lot of people over on reddit are already planning how they will install Windows on it.

It's not going to explode. It will creep up very slowly.

And lets not forget that Microsoft will combat it if it starts to take off. Game pass is already and incredible deal. We have it in our house for the xbox.

> people over on reddit are already planning how they will install Windows on it

Wait until hands on videos show the battery and performance difference between Linux and Windows and see how many Deck purchasers don’t go ahead with their installation.

I really hope lots of people see how great KDE is these days as well.

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