It was on this day 30 years ago that a younger Linus Torvalds announced
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.os.minix/c/dlNtH7RRrGA/m/SwRavCzVE7gJ> a
free operating system to the comp.os.minix group and from there it exploded
across servers, desktops and plenty more.
Now one of the most popular operating systems in the world, you can find it
nearly everywhere you look including 100% of the top 500
<https://www.top500.org/statistics/details/osfam/1/> supercomputers.
There's a Linux distribution for everything, and Linux is what will also be
powering the upcoming Steam Deck with Valve using SteamOS that's based on
Arch Linux. What Torvalds said "won't be big and professional like gnu" has
changed the world.
We might not have reached the "year of the Linux desktop", which is a
running joke, but there's no denying the great strides the Linux desktop
has made over the last few years thanks to many companies and individual
contributors. The desktop share is different depending on where you look
with StatCounter
<https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share/desktop/worldwide> giving it
2.38% while NetMarketShare
<https://netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?options=%7B%22filter%22%3A%7B%22%24and%22%3A%5B%7B%22deviceType%22%3A%7B%22%24in%22%3A%5B%22Desktop%2Flaptop%22%5D%7D%7D%5D%7D%2C%22dateLabel%22%3A%22Custom%22%2C%22attributes%22%3A%22share%22%2C%22group%22%3A%22platform%22%2C%22sort%22%3A%7B%22share%22%3A-1%7D%2C%22id%22%3A%22platformsDesktop%22%2C%22dateInterval%22%3A%22Monthly%22%2C%22dateStart%22%3A%222021-02%22%2C%22dateEnd%22%3A%222021-07%22%2C%22segments%22%3A%22-1000%22%7D>
put
it at 1.79% - both higher if you decide to include ChromeOS which is
Linux-based.
The Linux desktop is even now a truly viable gaming platform - something
many thought would probably never happen. Thanks to various major game
engines and toolkits supporting Linux, drivers constantly improving, lots
of native Linux games, Steam Play Proton <http://steamproton.com/> and
more. According to the latest figures
<https://www.gamingonlinux.com/steam-tracker/> from Valve, Linux is sitting
at 1% right now of Steam users polled. Perhaps the Steam Deck will bump
that up, depending on how Valve include it in their survey.
Happy Birthday, Linux. Here's to another 30 and beyond.
original link:
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2021/08/happy-birthday-to-linux-30-years-strong
