Linux briefly crossed the 5 percent mark for U.S. desktop market share in June 2025, then gave most of it back. As of October 2025, Linux sits at 3.49 percent in the United States, according to StatCounter. The June peak was real, but the latest reading suggests a choppy adoption curve rather than a straight climb.
The mid-year spike lined up with several forces that temporarily favored switching. Windows 10 reached end of support on October 14, 2025, which pushed some users to reconsider their operating system path, while ongoing Windows 11 changes remained unpopular in pockets of the community. Gaming devices such as the Steam Deck also kept Linux in the conversation. That doesn't even take into account some of the most avid users. At Hackr, we've talked before about which Linux distro to use as a programmer.
Since the peak, share has reverted toward the mid-3s, while other desktop shares in October were Windows 58.21 percent, macOS buckets totaling about 30.4 percent when combined, and ChromeOS 3.67 percent. The momentum exists, but it comes with volatility.
A note on the numbers helps explain the whipsaw. StatCounter’s market share is derived from billions of page views across more than a million sites. It is useful for direction and comparisons, yet month-to-month swings can reflect sampling effects and usage patterns, not only true device base changes. Treat single-month milestones as signals to examine, not fait accompli.
Community sentiment still tilts positive when people do make the jump. Switchers often cite telemetry concerns, forced updates, and a preference for a cleaner workflow in modern distributions. Gaming support continues to improve. On Steam, Linux passed roughly 3 percent of surveyed users in October, a modest number but higher than in prior years and helped by SteamOS visibility.
The headwinds are familiar. Some creative and enterprise titles remain missing or second class, and OEM preinstalls continue to anchor Windows as the default on consumer PCs. Without broader first-party vendor support, more OEM distribution, and the same-day driver depth people expect, share gains are more likely to arrive in bursts than in a smooth line upward.
What would move the needle durably above 5 percent again? Three things stand out. First, preinstalled Linux machines with competitive hardware and retail presence. Second, continued alignment between gaming middleware, anti-cheat vendors, GPU drivers, and Proton, so that a Steam or Epic library “just works.” Third, day-to-day UX polish in areas like peripheral setup, firmware updates, and creative workflows, which reduces the remaining friction for non-technical adopters.
June still mattered. It showed Linux can break through when conditions line up, and it validated the work distros and the gaming ecosystem have done. The October pullback is the counterpoint, reminding us that changing a default platform is slow. Real gains will come from distribution, drivers, and everyday user experience, not a single hot month. And those who want to make it a career can prove their knowledge with Linux certifications.
