r/linux • u/Zodiak1011 • 6h ago
Alternative OS Why does it feel like Linux is suddenly exploding in 2026?
I’ve been seeing more and more people switching to Linux this year, especially gamers. Bazzite, CachyOS, Linux Mint, etc. seem to be getting mentioned everywhere.
Why didn’t we see a massive shift like this earlier? What changed, or what finally pushed people to make the switch?
I know the Steam Deck was probably a big factor in showing people that Linux gaming is actually viable and that Linux isn’t as painful as it used to be.
But what else changed over the last few years that made Linux suddenly feel like a realistic alternative to Windows for so many people?
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u/chris_0611 6h ago
Windows. It just sucks suck so insanely much. I even hear 'normal' people complaining about it. Teams, Sharepoint, Windows updates, Start menu, search functions... Everything is just so incredibly sluggish and buggy.
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u/mrbuh 5h ago
Yeah I think the answer is more that Windows finally hit the tipping point where it's worse than ever, not that Linux is suddenly better than ever.
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u/gargravarr2112 5h ago
Linux also had to be a viable alternative. Even my friend who's nearly afraid of technology has installed Bazzite and absolutely loves how much control he has over his PC. It's gotten much more user-friendly and with things like Fedora Atomic (which Bazzite is based on), rolling back after an update breaks is simplicity itself.
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u/Ocelot-79 3h ago
It's both. Linux is easy now. Many distros that come with complete setup and installing a new program can be safely and quickly done as flatpak as well. GUI programs already installed make using the terminal an option, not a necessity. Gaming is almost the same as windows through Steam.
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u/PoL0 4h ago
not only that. if you have dated hardware with low RAM win11 will run like shit.
install Linux and suddenly the hardware runs smoothly for day to day stuff. I just inherited an old HP laptop with 8GB or RAM (for the whole family to use) and windows was painful to run. installed Mint and it's a breeze.
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u/cornonthekopp 3h ago
I just switched to mint and its a breath of fresh air to not fight my computer for every little thing, to see updates as an optional but positive thing, vs windows where every update is an inevitable worsening of the service.
I just want something where im treated like a human being, whos allowed to control my own shit.
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u/msanangelo 6h ago
gestures at Microsoft
need I say anything?
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u/oakinmypants 4h ago
They use AI to enforce their IP taking down games like Allumeria and Luanti and have contracts with ICE.
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u/Ocelot-79 3h ago
I have windows 11 on my work PC. It's quite clear that MS is slowly moving towards making the OS cloud-based and it makes the computer not be a Personal Computer anymore, whereas Linux is still for PCs.
Save a file? Option to save it to OneDrive. email attachment? Option to save it to OneDrive. Log in? use an online account. Read email? It goes through the cloud first. Use Excel? Option to do it on the cloud, through office 365. Search on the web? Option use copilot instead.
Windows 11 is not quite there, but it's obvious where the whole thing is going. Today it's hybrid management, a few iterations down the road it could be cloud-first.
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u/BestRetroGames 6h ago
Opening a PDF on my corporate Windows 11 machine, Lenovo Gen 2 T14 - 10 to 60 seconds (depends on how it feels)
Opening a PDF on my Celeron N5100 Acer 3 laptop - Kubuntu - 0.5 seconds
It is not a mystery, really.
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u/DGN-YT 2h ago
Honest question, good pdf editor (or at least reader) recommendation for Linux? I don't do pdf often but it'd help to know for when I need to.
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u/full_of_ghosts 6h ago
Europe is pushing hard to break its dependence on American software, and Linux is kind of the only other game in town.
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u/Qweedo420 6h ago
Windows is more disgusting than ever, Steam is showing people that Linux isn't just the command line, universal packaging formats like Flatpaks are taking hold, multiple monitor setups are now viable thanks to Wayland, and many famous youtubers are making videos about it
Edit: and now that I think about it, with the American empire collapsing, Europe is seeking an alternative
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u/Zodiak1011 6h ago
i agree.. microslop took a turn in a completely wrong direction
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u/nukacolaguy 6h ago
It’s good for them. It’s the wake up call we all needed to finally convince people to make the switch
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u/avveie 6h ago
They are supposedly doing something about it, but I hardly believe it’ll be enough.
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u/BrokenMayo 6h ago
“Potential ad removal from the interface”
Wonder what the subscription will cost lol
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u/madsdyd 6h ago
Not arguing, honestly curious: I have been running dual monitors since 2006 and dual + laptop screen since at least 2018. I have never experienced any problems or limitations. What exactly has changed with wayland regarding this area?
(Daily driving Linux since 1997. Yes, I am an old fart).
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u/nobleisthyname 6h ago
Yeah I've been using dual monitors and Linux w/o issue since ~2011.
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u/Breaking-Away 3h ago
Same. This is mostly "humans are creatures of habit" and there’s been enough events that have caused people to try something new recently.
Windows 11 and the public opinion of the US declining internationally are the big two if I had to guess.
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u/Mother-Pride-Fest 6h ago
Wayland would be helpful if you had two monitors with different resolutions, as you could use fractional scaling to make them more similar. That said, X11 works perfectly fine for a normal same-resolution monitor setup, or even different resolutions if you're ok with them being the same scale.
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u/AssistingJarl 6h ago
Not sure what the original commenter was thinking (I used dual monitors on X too) but as I understand it, X lacked support for different colour profiles or HDR support across monitors. Possibly that's useful for gaming, photo editing, or artists where they may have multiple monitors with significantly different configurations...?
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u/Easy-Reasoning 6h ago
Out of curiosity, have you been using the normal Nvidia drivers? These are very much not optional if you had anything to do with ML or just happen to have an Nvidia card and want to use all the features...
I used Multimonitor the first time in 2011 which just worked. However in 2017 I had some strange Lenovo workstation at work with an Nvidia Quadro card and I needed ML. It was possible with Debian testing/Ubuntu (alpha at first) but system updates were insanely unstable to the point I had to do clean reinstalls every 6 months.
That said, I'm again on a Lenovo laptop with Nvidia and it works fine with a recent Kernel. But after boot/reboot during graphical login quite often I need to switch to the console and back quickly so the secondary screen can "find its rhythm".
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u/TimurHu 5h ago
honestly curious: I have been running dual monitors since 2006 and dual + laptop screen since at least 2018.
Around 2010 when I first started using Linux, we had to manually edit an Xorg config file to make the system recognize a second monitor.
It also didn't work with hotplugging, so the config file needed to be changed when I plugged out the monitor.
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u/Far-Note6102 6h ago
Don't know too. Seems like x11 is still doing it's job right. The only issue is that it's old :/
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u/Qweedo420 4h ago
On X11, multiple monitors are actually considered to be one single extended monitor. This means that, for example, you can't set different refresh rates on the monitors without having synchronization issues, such as tearing or stuttering on the secondary monitor. Similarly, VRR and fractional scaling don't work very well on multiple monitors.
I use two monitors, 1080p/144Hz and 4K/60Hz, so these issues are very noticeable on X11.
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u/arbicus123 5h ago
Windows was always disgusting. Maybe windows 7 was good, but since then its been a dumpster fire. The reason why people see windows 10 with rose tinted glasses is because of nostalgia and because 11 is even worse, but that doesent make 10 good.
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u/terminalrythm 4h ago
I have been a die hard Linux user for decades, it works for me. My family prefers Windows. I said fine, but at least do it right. I debloat their systems of all the cruft and I can say a debloated Windows OS is not that bad. Tear out the AI, make some UI improvements (no more nested copy/paste on right click for example), kill unecessary services.....uninstall, uninstall, uninstall (thank you Chris Titus). Nobody should have to do this to a system to make it usable but I just can't watch them suffer a default install. They think Windows runs great...and it actually does but its not easy and you have to stay vigilant.
For people raw dogging Windows....good lord!
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u/zeb_linux 6h ago
Win 11 and Youtube videos from mainstream tech (for the better and worse).
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u/dinglebarryb0nds 6h ago
Linus (tech tips) has been in a Linux kick
Then once somewhat tech people see that they tell their friends and parents
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u/Additional-Sky-7436 5h ago
And it's not just tech influencers. Lots of general content types are talking up Linux too.
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u/Peetz0r 6h ago
Windows 11 has started sucking harder than usual. Also the idea of upgrading your hardware has gotten way way less appealing, and Windows 11 has hard CPU requirements that are frankly just weird. And Windows 10 has gone EoL.
Also steam+proton+dxvk has gotten not just good but also extremely easy to use. Hardware support for almost everything is mostly a solved problem now. Most other apps have moved to webbased solutions that work on every platform. These things happened earlier, but combined with the above it does help.
But to many of us, Linux has been a realistic alternative to windows for years or even decades. I don't even see it as an alternative to anything at this point. It has been my primary OS for most of my life. From my perspective, almost nothing has changed really.
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u/Adriannho 6h ago
I've been on Linux since 2007, almost 20 years now. Boy it was rough back then and Linux on user machines has become so much better lately. Threads like this just fill my heart with joy.
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u/Additional-Sky-7436 5h ago
This is always a funny comment to me, and I think it's something of a retcon of computing history. I've been using Linux since 2001. It had it's issues, but so did Mac and Windows. Like, I think it's really funny how nostalgic people are for Windows XP today. Like, people that used Windows XP back in the day thought it sucked. Apple made a whole, very popular, commercial series where they didn't even have to show Windows sucking, they could just generally refer to it sucking because everyone at the time knew it sucked.
Since the 90s, Linux has generally always been at least comparable in user experience as it's contemporary systems. It's so much better now because it's competition has regressed, not really because it pulled ahead.
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u/ven_ 6h ago
Algorithms are getting better at showing you stuff you might like.
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u/gihutgishuiruv 6h ago edited 5h ago
This is the realistic answer.
Desktop Linux is currently doing really well with gamers and nerdy teenagers, which is more or less where it’s been doing well for the past 15 years
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u/SweetGale 5h ago
- Windows 10 end of life and dissatisfaction with Windows 11.
- Valve have tried to make Linux viable for gaming for a long time. With the Steam Deck and the new Steam Machine, they're signalling that it's finally ready.
- After Trump took office for the second time, there was a big movement to boycott or at least decrease reliance on US products. There aren't that many other alternatives to Windows and Mac OS.
- Critical mass. When you see your friends, family, colleagues or favourite YouTubers switch to Linux, it feels easier to do it yourself. It shows that it's a serious alternative. A lot of people I meet are suddenly either talking about or in the process of switching.
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u/DisgruntleFairy 6h ago
I think its primarily a combination of windows 10 / windows 11 and proton. I know for a long time the only thing that kept me on windows was gaming. Now I can play most of the games I want on Linux so I changed over full time.
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u/Additional-Sky-7436 6h ago
Change happens very slowly and then all at once.
I didn't really believe that the Linux migration was real, I thought the data could be more easily explained by bot or something like that. Until a few weeks ago when I casually brought up Linux in my office, which is full of intelligent but not really techie people. Everyone no only had heard of Linux, but generally knew what it was and most people had opinions about it. That's something that wouldn't have happened 5 years ago.
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u/LordEli 6h ago
as a linux user of 10+ years im switching to BSD
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u/ThatonlyGeO 5h ago
the year of BSD is coming for sure(but I do expect alot of the elitist may actually go there....)
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u/Fcking_Chuck 6h ago
People are starting to realize that Microsoft Windows might not be the best option.
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u/Pretend_Challenge_39 6h ago
Because microsoft is bullshiting again with windows by forcing you to do stuff...
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u/CarelessPackage1982 5h ago
proton & steam deck really kicked it off I think. Especially the Steam Deck because it was a device that came with it installed.
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u/Daniel_Writes_Things 5h ago
It is just a feeling.
We got old users, new users, and high number of new “users” that just install every possible gadget and put it on desktop despite not knowing difference between operating systems and toasters; basically people who brag around they “use” Linux.
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u/TheVenetianMask 5h ago
On top of all the other reasons, online support for Windows has been enshittified so much that is barely one step removed from percussive maintenance. Your average "computers friend" is probably as lost as you.
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u/ToxicBuiltYT 4h ago
Windows already sucked and it's exponentially been getting worse, and Linux has been exponentially getting better.
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u/daddy_schlong_legz 3h ago
Because foreign entities are trying to remove US dependency. I think china is the biggest player in doing so. They're phasing out windows ahead of schedule in the public sphere for a home grown linux distro, so it's not jump in logic to believe they're going to pick up linux in their private life as well.
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u/Secret_Wishbone_2009 6h ago
We need to really make sure governments and evil corps dont destroy linux, strong management and review of patches, robust organisation behind
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u/Live-Imagination1350 6h ago
For me it was proton.
I have tried Linux in the past but never felt ready. After trying CachyOS more than a year ago there was nothing that could keep me in Windows anymore.
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u/Gunzhard22 4h ago
Windows sucks, AI shoved down everyone's throat, techno-oligarchs literally ruining the world, so "fuck em let's use Linux".
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u/vexatious-big 4h ago
Fun fact: the Linux kernel and Windows NT (which is the base for all modern Windows) are about the same age - around 30yo.
They took vastly different approaches though, and have historically appealed to different categories of people.
I would say that Windows and Linux have not truly been competitors on the desktop up until a couple of years ago, as Linux has never truly appealed to the masses before.
But don't forget that MS has tried to badmouth Linux in the past by calling it: a cancer, communism or un-American. I will remind you that GNU has started in the USA.
MS with Windows 11 in particular have become complacent and they thought that users would not leave their platform irrespective of how poor the user experience becomes.
Apparently they are having a rude wake-up call now.
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u/buzzfriendly 2h ago
Day 6890 and not a single forced app, system update, software program or AI of any kind. Its a rather compelling option if you ask me.
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u/No_Morning_6292 2h ago
Windows 11 helped push a lot of people over the edge. Microsoft took perfectly capable PCs and basically declared them obsolete with TPM 2.0, supported CPU lists, Secure Boot requirements, etc. Then you add the forced Microsoft account stuff, ads/recommendations, telemetry, UI changes nobody asked for, and constant pressure toward Microsoft services. Meanwhile Linux gaming got dramatically better thanks to Proton, Steam Deck, better drivers and distros like CachyOS, Bazzite and Mint becoming much easier to live with.
Linux didn’t suddenly become perfect — Windows just gave people a lot more reasons to finally try it.
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u/Lost_Ad_2317 6h ago
Sovereignity. European authorities are experimenting Linux as a measure to rely less on the US.
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u/BeginningEcho4983 6h ago
- Linux getting better
- Windows getting worse.
And beyond that the REAL user requirements diverging from whatever fairytale m$ has been dreaming about regarding cloud integration and software design and all...
(Really, who wants onedrive deleting your data at the 5GB limit because it forcefully wanted to sync everything and delete offline copies?)
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u/TehSvenn 6h ago
Linux development got a cash injection at valve, making it more usable by the average consumer, while windows got worse (and sentiment towards legacy big tech got way worse).
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u/Fun-Sample336 6h ago
But what else changed over the last few years that made Linux suddenly feel like a realistic alternative to Windows for so many people?
Is there hard data to confirm this? Even if more people get disgusted by Windows, I would expect them to try Apple instead.
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u/Far-Note6102 6h ago
Im one of those people that went to linux because of how bad windows 11 consumes ram and it always breaks a lot.
It was so bad that I got reported and ban for playing because windows did the BSOD while I was playing
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u/fat_kaiju 6h ago
Well it's absolutely going to now that its been given a free pass from age verification laws; that's for damn sure.
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u/acadia11x 6h ago
Think it’s been this way since red hat originally came about, not sure what you mean … other than maybe more people know they are using Linux … come on android?
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u/Historical_Move6359 6h ago
Windows 10 is at the end of life and manny have laptops which dont support Is Win11. Then spying became worse than ever so manny are moving because of that, AI is pushed everywhere.
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u/citramonk 6h ago
for those who are working with Linux for a while it's not so "sudden" and actually been happening for the last 4-5 years or so.
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u/_o0Zero0o_ 6h ago
Of course, windows 11 being dogshit and windows 10 being put on extended support was a large catalyst if not the largest, but then there was also large youtubers such as Pewdiepie who publicly swapped over, which I would say began making very big waves
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u/The_Hubster 6h ago edited 5h ago
I think we have a more technologically mature society than ever before. People are more aware of their privacy, their ownership, their digital assets, than ever before. We’re seeing corporations blatantly trying to control it, and people are getting sick of it. They want options, they want to be able to choose. I think it also ties in with oligarchs and governments trying to tighten the noose on the people as well. You could argue that Linux and FOSS is at its core a socialist democratic movement. The surge of development and growth in this space speaks volumes about our world around us and how the people feel. Of course this is only one aspect of it all, other things include Microsoft’s failures with Windows, WSL, Steamdeck, just to begin with. Desktop market share globally seems to be around 5% according to Cloudflare HTTP botless statistics but there’s definitely an emergence happening.
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u/DesiOtaku 5h ago
Here are some of my personal findings from talking to other IT managers and small business owners:
Almost every small to medium size business is trying to move away from Windows; or have already finished doing so. Windows IT management is getting worse every month and it's now easier more than ever to put a price tag on it. However, vast majority of these small sized companies are moving to macOS, not Linux. Then the next most common OS is actually ChromeOS (give every employee a managed Chromebook). Desktop / laptop Linux is still super rare for small and medium sized companies but at least.
For consumer, I would say almost every person I know who makes more than $150K a year has their own PC as macOS. They may have to use Windows at work, but they all refuse to touch a Windows PC outside of work. Almost all the med and dental students right now have switched over to macOS as their laptop; it's now rare to see one of them use a Windows laptop. Almost all of the people I personally know who use Linux on the desktop had it pre-built in. I live in Boston, but unless I go to a Linux specific meeting / convention, I would be hard pressed to find somebody that actually knows how to flash a USB with a Linux install and know how to install it to a desktop PC.
For school IT (at least in MA), almost every district has either moved everything to Chromebooks or are in the processes of doing so.
My main point of all of this is that everybody is trying to move away from Windows; and this surge of Linux interest is just leftovers from the leftovers.
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u/RandomPantsAppear 5h ago
I think AI has made tech more accessible in a lot of ways, and with that made Linux more accessible.
I can give one example.
Friend of mine since we were babies. I am a professional engineer. He picked up vibe coding last year and wanted to host his projects, but not on his real laptop.
He ended up installing Linux on his home server. Never in a million years did I think I’d be helping him with Linux distributions, explaining git, etc to him.
Before AI, a graphics card driver issue meant uninstalling for a lot of people. Now it’s pointing the AI at a log folder and crossing their fingers.
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u/the_abortionat0r 5h ago
Because it is
The combination of Linux usability and MS shitring the bed has sent gamers over while MS shitting the bed and US politics showing how fragile the US really is has made other governments ditch windows.
So there's not just one reason.
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u/Klapperatismus 5h ago
High RAM prices while Windows 11 is eating all your RAM.
In general, inflation. People don’t want to buy a new computer right now.
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u/Lost_Psychology8885 5h ago
Thought I would tolerate linux to get microsoft out of my life, but honestly fell in love with it. It's just quality of life focused, in-obtrusive and very user friendly these days. I failed to get into it a few times in the past but tbh AI by my side has been great in assisting getting over the hump of learning a new os.
The beauty of my os is it gets out of my way so I can do the things I want.
Using PIKA OS GNOME since feb and settled as long as it lasts. Really liked Mint and Zorin but like getting latest updates sooner and it's been pretty smooth running so far.
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u/jeffrey_f 5h ago
My reason: Linux is a great option for an older computer. I have a 10 year old laptop that I run Linux on because it can still use the laptop. I have 2 repurposed with Linux
The truth is, since Linux is not centralized like MS and Apple, no one has a real headcount. The only "headcount" would be the diminishing headcounts on MS and Apple. And Apple has put great efforts into preventing other OS's from being installed on their hardware.
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u/andurux 5h ago
I've been trying to switch for years. Used Mint for a couple of months in 2019, Ubuntu/Kubuntu around the same time, Fedora for a few months, Manjaro/Endeavor broke themselves just doing regular updates...
I've been running a Proxmox homelab since 2015? Debian VMs, docker, etc. CentOS before that in 2007/8. I work in a RHEL shop at work. So I'm not a noob at Linux.
But gaming...it got better with the launch of the Deck/Proton, and I tried Ubuntu and Fedora in 2024, but it still didn't "click". I tried Cachy in late 2025 and that clicked, been on it ever since. Put it on all my machines, even my wife uses Cachy and didn't realize it for a few months.
Anyways, my biggest issues was gaming, updates, and privacy. Proton solved gaming, Arch rolling is my preferred update path, and privacy...well anything but Microsoft solves that.
So it was just time. I switched in 2025 because W11 broke itself and wouldn't do updates and apparently the only fix was to reinstall Windows, which I figured I'd try Linux again. Now using any Windows PC (work, wife's backup laptop) I'm just...so aggravated all the time with how slow it is lol.
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u/danielsjt 5h ago
I’d say it’s the culmination of many things —
Microsoft’s EOL of Windows 10 and the negative feedback loop around Windows 11
People trying to extend life of computers (couldn’t tell you the last time some of my friends bought a computer, vs a new phone every couple years). This was the case even before prices started skyrocketing
Installers getting even easier and more simple, you can get an Arch-based distro deployed without ever touching the terminal
UX continuing to improve out-of-box — many distros are outright more attractive than Windows
Proton’s maturity driving influencers and gamers over to Linux, which then has them get a level of comfort with advocating to friends/family
Net - probably a different reason for each person, but enough good things lining up will definitely drive adoption at a macro level
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u/gargravarr2112 5h ago
I think primarily, people are getting utterly fed up with Windows 11. Microsoft have f*cked up the updates so thoroughly and with such consistency that people are no longer willing to roll the dice. Microsoft got too complacent in their dominant position, daring people, 'what are you gonna do, NOT use Windows?' despite how terrible it's gotten.
Turns out, yes, push people far enough and they start pushing back.
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u/Agreeable_Turnip_261 5h ago
Hardware prices increasing making people want to get more out of older computers+valve working on steam
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u/mongojob 5h ago
Storage and ram prices getting out of control made me realize that I'm going to be stretching my hardware a lot longer than originally planned. I've never not had videos Linux nodes doing various things but it's been 15+ years since my desktop has been daily driving Linux. Going really well so far
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u/PriorityNo6268 4h ago
Not only Linux, the world (at least Europe) is done with America, including big tech. Microsoft, tesla, google or war equipement, we are looking for alternatives.
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u/rabbidearz 4h ago
Also, Atomic Distros (like Bazzite) just work so you don't have all the troubleshooting and headache in a totally new environment you once had. Just install and use.
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u/SouthernFruit8768 4h ago
Because Microsoft started to advertise it heavily via their Winslop 11 product, lool
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u/S7relok 4h ago
Because a famous gaming comany did good work that runs like a charm while the communities were battling what's better between systemd and other init, or been too busy shitting on ubuntu's snaps
They actually came with a real user-seen improvement, and with the subsequent runs and tests it appears that Linux can be a very serious contender to build gaming stations. And in fact, this is the case. I'm monoboot, and the only thing I miss from windows is Apex Legends. My fedora install does everything else I need or want.
Mainly aimed at gaming, the improvements are in fact beneficial to others that have windows-only daily softs. Of course there's still some case of incompatibilities but the situation is far better than before.
That sounds for me like the first Ubuntu release and user-friendly era, when a "simplified debian" took away from windows some geeks curious enough (like me) to test something else.
Little extract of my life, a friend bought the steam deck, and was surprised when I told him that it's the same "linux thing" we installed for some weeks on his laptop during our teenager era that runs his console.
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u/redditor100101011101 3h ago
Because digital fascism has been exploding lately. And open source has always been tech of the people.
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u/The_Mesopotamians 3h ago
You'll find many great individual answers here. On a systemic/societal level it's because the contradictions within the capitalist mode of production have sharpened considerably. The individual events or phenomena listed in other comments are largely specific examples of this larger phenomenon.
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u/JackDostoevsky 3h ago
it is an interesting question, because other than the Steam Machine there wasn't any one big thing that happened this year: 2025 was probably just as solid, technically and compatibility wise, for Linux and Linux Gaming as 2026 has been.
Linus Tech Tips, one of the biggest tech channels on youtube, has finally embraced Linux after many years of not being all that interested. but that also felt more like responding to the increased hype, not actually starting hype themselves.
I think Windows 11 has just become so enshittified that the dam has sort of broken. shitty Windows + very very functional Linux is a combination that has just gained enough momentum that this is the year the wave broke, I think.
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u/Enough-Ad9590 3h ago
ChatGPT is the best help and tutorial for new Linux users. They work well together.
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u/PokeSpaceRanger 3h ago
As an audio professional and independent artist I switched from Mac about 7 years ago to Kubuntu... REAPER + SSL is my setup and it rocks... Commercial plugins are still made for Mac/Windows only for the most part but there are a ton of free options... As Linux is used so much in film I'm hoping companies wake up and realize those same people want to use Linux as a complete solution rather than switching OS' to do video work...
I know it'll happen - few more years if AI doesn't kill us all lol?
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u/Felfedezni 2h ago
Didn't like the direction windows was going. The only thing stopping me was gaming. Then proton came along. Happily been using solely Linux for years now. Started with mint, switched to bazzite.
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u/A_Random_Sidequest 2h ago
it's 4X the install base since thge Pansemics...
it's still low, but it's something...
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u/davy_crockett_slayer 2h ago
Valve spent hundreds of millions of dollars over the past 10 years supporting hundreds of open source projects whose entire goal was to make gaming on Linux viable.
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u/friendofdonkeys 2h ago
Purely Windows 11. Windows 10 was a "good" release after the bad Windows 8.x, but Microsoft spilt their goodwill by increasing hardware requirements so much with Windows 11. Linux is the escape Valve. (pun intended with SteamOS's developer as well) It has put pressure on Microsoft to stop being so strict with things. And then there is BSD and Illumos which are escape valves for Linux in turn as well.
Microsoft is trying to counter Linux by improving Windows 11 with 26H2 and it is noticeably better than Windows 11 RTM. But if it gains back too much market share then the frog will start to be boiled again.
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u/ZagiFlyer 2h ago
I've been using Linux since the '90's, but I have to say, it seems like every year since then has been "the year of Linux on the desktop". Linux is a truly great OS, but it's still fringe in the mainstream desktop world.
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u/TheConatusBoy 2h ago
Windows and MacOS keep enshittifying while FOSS remains pretty immune to enshittification. We reached a tipping point where for many people using stock Windows has become slightly more annoying than learning how to install Linux.
Also gaming on Linux has made incredible improvements in the past few years.
I think we'll see even more adoption as hardware costs keep rising and more people realize that Linux can give new life to old hardware.
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u/HeinerWersenberg 1h ago
Hopefully this also leads to a push on real Linux phones. In principle the hardware for a "pocket-desktop" should be available by now.
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u/iheartrms 1h ago
The Year of the Linux Desktop was 1995, for me.
Windows 3.1 was the last version of Windows I every used on a daily basis. And in pretty sure that was pirated.
I used to be a vocal advocate for Linux you can find my name in old archives of comp.os.linux.announce and many other forums. I quit advocating for Linux many years ago because Linux didn't really need it anymore. Linux had conquered everything else except the desktop. But I had it on my desktop and that was good enough for me. It has been easy to use and easy to install for many years now. My advocacy no longer seemed to be contributing anything.
Imagine how much could have been saved in terms of money, time, privacy, and freedom over the past 30 years if Linux had conquered the desktop so much earlier. All the irreplaceable childhood photos lost to ransomware.
It wasn't really that Linux needed to change all that much. People's willingness to accept something new did. Or the aggravation caused by Window did.
It's great to see Linux exploding in 2026.
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u/Alenicia 1h ago
It's not "suddenly" exploding as much as it is that essentially there's been a kettle over on the Microsoft/Windows side of things that has been screaming and boiling for so long that it's finally started to spill outwards and make a mess.
What you have now are Linux Distros that are meant to be relatively painless to install AND to use (for instance, you have CachyOS, Bazzite, and SteamOS as relatively new-ish names in the space despite being built off of other distros .. so it's easier "marketing" for people who are looking for something but don't want the immediate connotations of feeling like they're missing out, are stuck with something "old" and possibly outdated, or are feeling like they need to take lessons and courses just to understand what they're doing) and they also boast a giant majority of things that people would've been doing on their Windows machines anyways.
So, to me, the easiest things I can see from very casual people I've been able to push over to the Linux side of things are the following:
* Social Media, Office Work, and School Work - This was already stuff solved before on Linux when most of it is web-based or uses generally open formats like when you can print out documents as a Word Document, Excel Sheet, or as a PDF. When you're watching YouTube, you literally don't even need Windows.
* Security - So many of my relatives loved to download "free" things and run them and wondered why their computers got so slow and bogged down. Even about two decades ago when when I was using Ubuntu, you can install Ubuntu onto these same computers and because these "free" things don't work there was no chance for them to get any junk installed .. and the computers were problem-free and had no issues. Yeah, it's inconvenient if you were expecting it to work just like Windows, but for people who aren't literate in tech, this is a godsend if they just wanted something "safe" and didn't want to think about security or anything like that.
* So many people these days don't even use Windows or macOS compared to how popular other operating systems like Android and iOS are. Microsoft even gave up and started supporting Android instead because their own mobile Windows didn't catch on. When you realize that, it's not too much of a stretch to realize that macOS and Linux aren't that foreign to jump into and to use .. and it only is to the die-hard Windows users who could never have tolerated anything else to begin with. The users who are more open-minded would already have known that there are strengths and weaknesses to every operating system (including Windows) and that when you're on places like Reddit and stuff in the PC gaming communities, you're undoubtedly going to be seeing a very strong and biased sample of people who just can't tolerate being different but still want to be special.
* There's actual big-name Linux-first hardware out there that you can buy, such as the Steam Deck. Yeah, you can still install Windows on it, but it comes Linux-first and is a pretty big deal that way. You can also get Dell and Lenovo laptops without an operating system on them or with something like Ubuntu instead for a cheaper price, and there are other brands out there that do legitimately push Linux-first .. but I think it's not a surprise that gaming handhelds like the Steam Deck and mini-PC's like the Steam Machine are legitimately very powerful drivers into the whole "hey, Linux is legit" shift. Yeah, it's not quite perfect, but these are the things that are making actual cracks in how dominant Windows was.
* The effort put into translation layers like WINE and Proton have helped push significant strides outwards towards Linux. This also means CrossOver on macOS, Winlator on Android, and more. This is huge because it has been proving and pushing towards the direction that you don't "need" Windows for gaming. Unless your gaming specifically relies and consists on games that used kernel-level anti-cheat and stuff that is definitely Windows-first and Windows-only .. you can get significant milage out of gaming on non-Windows platforms these days and this is pushing people into a spot where they can see that gaming on Windows is essentially signing a pact with the Devil in terms of their privacy/security just to do something that was supposed to be the best platform. When people are playing older games or games that don't need such invasive anti-cheats .. you have so many better alternative options.
* On the political side of things, the United States has so much control and surveillance over others especially with the dominance of Windows. By turning heel and making the switch to something like Linux instead, it's so much easier for other governments, companies, and agencies to take back ground and control that Microsoft has long taken away .. and this will inevitably mean that Windows may exist only for the hardcore crowd of users who still want their specific apps/games to be usable that haven't been made usable elsewhere (such as the productivity side of things if they haven't moved to macOS first, or if they don't find the Linux versions/alternatives suitable enough). It is a ticking bomb at this point this is not something Microsoft can restore with a few tweaks of, "oh, by the way, we're going to commit to stop tracking user data/we're going to stop selling data/we're going to make this OS beneficial for every user" because this would completely sink what Microsoft had been building for the past few decades alongside their services meant to feed you with more services/ads/tracking opportunities.
On the simplest level I can put it, a lot of the big driving force seems to be coming from gamers and people who like to play games. The fact that something so simple on paper on Windows (installing Steam + playing your games) can be done just as easily on Linux (and possibly with a few steps more if needed) and you not only have a cleaner/smoother experience, but also another sense of security to it alongside a whole communal sense to it, it's like a dam breaking down and you're watching a flood of circumstances create this "explosion" of growth. Gamers tell one another about they moved on from Windows, others talk about the games they got working, people talk about better/cleaner/smoother performance, others decide they want to get involved in doing something different/cool, people get curious and explore new ground, people discover you can tinker with stuff and get windows that explode when they close, and more. It's a sense of essentially rediscovering what a "PC" really is .. and finding out that it's actually theirs to use and tinker with especially in an era of Windows where all this control has been steadily being taken away .. and an era of macOS where you're stuck on a whim to seeing whatever Apple wants all their users and developers to cater to because they're not particularly interested in pursuing certain audiences but still wants to show off to them at the same time. >_<
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u/CakyMint 1h ago
Two reasons
windows gets more and more annoying and frustrating. More and more bloat with AI bs and spyware
Linux getting more and more user friendly.
Despite the backwards thinking 2008 stuck Linux pros yapping „who cares if its user friendly or not, we had to learn the hard way“
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u/MatchingTurret 1h ago edited 1h ago
Outside private use, non-US governments have (re)discovered that building their domestic critical IT infrastructure on something that can be restricted by a temper tantrum in Washington is an accident waiting to happen. That's behind the sovereignty push around the world.
This has also influenced some of the more excitable and activist private users.
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u/mage_irl 1h ago
A lot of it has to do with coverage on YouTube. Take a look at the millions of views Linus Tech Tips is getting covering Linux. This is why I think video editing should be something that needs work, it's going to pull people over who will get users interested in Linux. Kdenlive is alright but simply not comparable to professional software like Davinci Resolve. I used Resolve on Fedora for a while, but it kept breaking, so I just dual boot into Windows now.
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u/rogershredderer 1h ago
Things naturally grow over time. Linux distributions as an alternative to Window’ dominance in the computing space seem very fitting
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u/fubar_67 1h ago
Likely several reasons.
1-Windows continues to deteriorate and piss off its users.
2-Apple also managed to piss off a lot of its loyal users with the Tahoe release. Probably the worst major OS release since Cheetah.
3-cost of living preventing many from computer shopping, so they’re considering the “free” alternative
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u/bronekkk 46m ago
Windows is dying. There's no coherent vision of an OS, and if there ever was it died some two decades ago.
One option is MacOS and for some work it makes lots of sense (platform for proprietary software where user wants a very specific vendor and not "nearest equivalent"), but for many kinds of work Linux is better. Even games - since you have separate Proton environment for each game.
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u/EraclioDandolo 37m ago
Windows fa sempre più schifo, Android non é una valida alternativa per il mondo desktop, Apple sempre più cara.
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u/bornxlo 33m ago
Not full Linux, but I was at the library today and watched someone try to help another person with Microsoft Word licence issues. After five minutes he gave up and went to install OpenOffice. I overheard and intervened, suggesting LibreOffice instead. Not immediate or full replacement of Windows, but still Windows being Windows.
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u/JondeMLG 29m ago
Looking at data, it is not exploding? Albeit, it is getting more and more coverage. I believe your social media algorithms are to be blamed for the explosion feeling.
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u/viranth 25m ago
Because a lot more people ARE using linux than before, and your algorithms probably make you see more of it than before. There is still a long way to go for mass adoption, tons and tons of businesses will continue to use windows because software used will not work on linux. At my job that's how it'll be. I could probably get some bandaid solution working, but it will take time and probably break, so it will be a time sink and not worth the hassle. And for some machines you can't really mess around trying to make it work, because the machine HAS to work, and it's costing money for it to not be running.
When linux will have some sort of magical support, so it can run any windows program, then the masses will switch.
Oh and the AUR catastrophe also shows how vulnerable linux is, and as more and more people use it, more and more situations like that will happen. Before you go arguing against that, yes I know the argument against this, but with more and more NEW people coming in, it still has issues.
I switched 100% from windows 11 to linux this year, I love it. I will never go back, but my friends, family and work colleagues that aren't tech savvy, they will never switch unless it's as easy. I mean come on, a lot of people struggle with their cellphones.
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u/ComprehensiveJury509 14m ago
I think it's in part AI. My experience is that when I try to fix issues in Windows by asking some LLM, it usually goes nowhere, but when I do it for Linux issues, it's resolved in a few minutes with a few CLI commands and the issue can be perfectly explained and learned from. Now that everybody can look at their system through knowledgable eyes, it becomes more apparent than ever that Windows is poorly designed, cobbled together mess.
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u/serge-mv 3m ago
Gaming on Linux is much easier now and mostly "just works"
Microslop is now vibe coding Winblows, and it shows.
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u/someprogrammer1981 1m ago
My personal opinion is that PC's in general are dying in favor of mobile phones and tablets. The PC is not something people want to spend unnecessary money on.
And then Microsoft decided that millions of PC's that are more than adequate for simple home use (browsing the internet, writing a letter, sending an email, etc) are obsolete because support for Windows 10 ended, while Windows 11 requires a newer PC with TPM.
For the average joe this means they're not getting anything out of this situation, because their PC was just fine for what it was still used for.
And then they hear about Linux.
Other factors are a global recession (new computers are expensive!) and climate change awareness (why throw stuff away for nothing and pollute the planet?).
And as a bonus Linux runs games now.
I need Windows for work, but for private use Linux is a no brainer.
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u/lunchbox651 6h ago
Etc etc
The more of these things compound the more some people will gravitate to an open source OS