Few People Use Linux? Actually Lots of People Use Linux? Stop Switching Concepts

infoivonblog.nkfjt@aleeas.com (Ivon Huang) — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 21:00:00 +0800

A stern rebuttal of concept switching:

When discussing the issue of few people using Linux, some people will claim the following:

“Few people use Linux? Actually lots of people use Linux, you just do not know it. Your phone and servers are all relatives of Linux blah blah blah”

Have you noticed that when you say this, the topic suddenly becomes grand and elevated? Ahh, so many devices around us are Linux, you and I both live in a gigantic open source world, we are part of the universe……No! What we are talking about now is personal computer desktop systems!

There is a problem with this kind of argument: “switching concepts”.

You do not directly use the “Linux kernel”. Linux needs to be packaged with a set of tools into a distribution before it can be used, and this is usually called GNU/Linux. Also, not every system that has a little bit of connection to Linux can count as GNU/Linux.

When a speaker mentions computers, what ordinary people understand is desktop computers, meaning the Windows and macOS personal computer market. And Linux of course refers to GNU/Linux Desktop-oriented distributions (Ubuntu, Fedora, openSUSE, Arch Linux, Gentoo), which usually include the GNU toolchain, use X.Org or Wayland as the graphical interface, follow XDG standards, respect user freedom, and are not other systems based on the Linux kernel.

In a broad sense, Android counts as a Linux distribution, but you clearly know Android cannot be used on computers (at least before Android 16, it is still not mature enough), and its graphical protocol and system tools differ greatly from the Linux desktop. Even the standard C library is incompatible. The same goes for ChromeOS. It cannot really count as a Linux desktop distribution. Its system base is almost not the GNU toolchain, and its upper-level graphical protocol is still a heavily modified Wayland.

Other Linux machines go without saying. You do not call a “server” a “personal computer”; this kind of computer does not even have a monitor (in most cases)!

As for game consoles. Even if a Playstation can run Linux after modification, few people would treat it as a computer. Some open source handhelds can be said to use Linux distributions, but they do not count as personal computers. As for Steam Machine? Let the bullet fly for a few more years; this is only the beginning. I am optimistic about it rising to become a kind of personal computer alternative, but not yet.

According to the above definition, it is correct that few people use the GNU/Linux desktop, and this is a fact that cannot be avoided. According to StatCounter, the GNU/Linux desktop share is only about 4%.

If you forcibly count systems such as ChromeOS, Android, and SteamOS as Linux, the ratio may be much higher, but that is super concept switching.

Forcibly taking credit for yourself! Shameless!

According to my definition above of GNU/Linux Desktop distributions, I think that among the various systems based on the Linux kernel, only SteamOS has the structure closest to an ordinary GNU/Linux Desktop distribution (immutable Arch Linux), while also being capable of succeeding in the general personal computer market. However, its development has only just begun, there is not much hardware, and whether it can sell more than the Chromebooks Google dumps into the education market in bulk still needs time to observe.

Is Android the Best Linux Distro? A Linux Desktop Rant

infoivonblog.nkfjt@aleeas.com (Ivon Huang) — Sat, 24 Jun 2023 11:00:00 +0800

This is a rant. A writing style that occasionally appears in the Linux Reddit community.

The systems I currently use are Arch Linux and Ubuntu 22.04.

Sometimes I feel that if I want to play with a computer and do some non-development tasks, using a Linux desktop system is torturing myself.

First, listen to a song.

1. The Case of Android and ChromeOS
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When I am bored, I go look at the Android official website homepage. It says, “Android, a platform constantly challenging every possibility.” This sentence is indeed correct.

If Android and ChromeOS are counted as Linux systems in a broad sense, then they truly are the best graphical-interface Linux distributions.

The hot take that “Android is the best graphical-interface Linux distribution” was originally a clever answer I saw on Zhihu. If we think more broadly, it seems to be true.

Although it is very frustrating, I really have to say that after playing with many Linux distributions, I feel that, as free software, Android’s graphical interface is more general-purpose than ordinary desktop Linux distributions. It is unmatched in touch control, and connecting a keyboard to a tablet is also acceptable. Google then uses ChromeOS to strengthen Android’s weaknesses on computers, making it into a system usable on the desktop.

The Android experience I am talking about now mainly refers to the stock system, supported by Google or third-party ROM developers, so there is no fragmentation or abandonment problem.

In my humble opinion, Android’s style has already been finalized by Google and adapts to the resolutions of different devices. Although the Material You design language takes some getting used to at first, it is a good choice that can adapt to all kinds of screen sizes.

And after Android 12, it no longer has that geeky interface feeling of Android 5 to Android 11… Google has indeed developed its own set of aesthetics.

As Linux, Android uses APK to unify the installation package format. Ordinary users can easily get started, turning phones into something modern people become addicted to.

Android can also run advanced development tools. For example, running Termux on Android gives access to desktop software; running Crostini on ChromeOS gives a Linux container. Development environments like these are built on Linux’s powerful adaptability.

Thus, Android and ChromeOS have become highly scalable systems that are simple and easy to use in daily life, while also having tool support when advanced functions are needed.

Removing Root from Android may be understandable. After all, not everyone should casually touch system files. And Google not completely blocking the path of flashing ROMs is probably one reason developers like modifying Android devices. Although Android as free software is a sugar-coated poison, and Google understands very well how to bypass the GPL and stuff proprietary software into the system, Android without GMS is painful. But Android still preserves open source characteristics, so I prefer Android over the arbitrariness of iOS.

ChromeOS on Ivon's Blog

Few People Use Linux? Actually Lots of People Use Linux? Stop Switching Concepts

Is Android the Best Linux Distro? A Linux Desktop Rant

1. The Case of Android and ChromeOS #

1. The Case of Android and ChromeOS
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