Linux breaks 1% market share

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GNU/Linux operating systems now hold just a hair over 1% of the market for the first time. Given that Apple was able to be seen as a thriving competitor with market shares as low as 5-6%, will the general public begin to look at Linux more seriously?

I think that once Linux market share reaches a critical mass, we will suddenly see third-party vendors supporting it better, games and other applications being developed for it (even if they stay proprietary) and large numbers of people moving to Linux from Windows because, with third party applications, games, and support, Linux becomes very much a viable alternative to Windows in every way. The reason this couldn't happen with OS X as much was because OS X was tied exclusively to Apple hardware, but Linux can run on anything and so, once it begins to be adopted seriously, it could build up a good deal of momentum.

I'm sure netbooks have quite a bit to do with this phenomenon. Also, the spectacular amount of hatred directed towards Vista was a boon, and thousands of people must have migrated to Linux for that reason alone.

Got a reference link Orwell? I've heard the claim made before.

What exactly is "the market"?

Example: Linux Server market is already much higher than 1%.. some vendors are even offering Linux on servers. Even Novell gave up on their own Netware product line and started selling Linux.

supposedly the 1% is wrong it is more in the order of 5-6%
funnily enough I was told by a flightless bird riding an Apple through a Window

Ichinin is right the majority of servers are Linux/apache.

I was referring to the desktop computer market. Fuzzy, I misplaced the link but I'll try to find it again.

This isn't where I first read it, but it seems to have been the source for the article that I did read.

http://marketshare.hitslink.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=8&sample=35

The article I read alleged that this organization's estimate of Linux market share was fairly conservative, but in any case 1% is probably about right.

You can probably attribute this to the economy... people wanting to spend less than $2000 as they would for a mac, and even further cutting OS costs (windows is in the ballpark of a couple hundred) drive come people to linux. With the advent and propagation of Ubuntu, it's only going up from here...

That is interesting. I wonder how they consider people like me, who run an Ubuntu 9.04/XP Home dual boot. Gives me the best of both worlds. I also found a way to share my Firefox and Thuderbird profiles across OSes, which has actually made me start running Ubuntu more since I can have my favorites, email, etc. the same on both sides.

For me to upgrade to Vista or Windows 7, I know I'd need to buy a new system, as a 1.583ghz AMD Athlon probably won't cut it for either. If I don't buy a new system and they pull the plug on XP, I may have no choice but, at least on my desktop, to go Ubuntu and perhaps buy a copy of Crossover so I can run Windows programs, assuming it actually works.

My laptop is also running XP, but is a 2.8ghz so it might fare better with Vista or Windows 7. I run alot of ham radio software on it, which is mostly Windows, so I'm not sure if Ubuntu would be an option for that.

That command just opens a new FF window to the home page. Ah well, probably for the best- not all of my extensions work on all three platforms. The OS X port of Firefox in particular sucks at extensions- almost nothing seems to work on that one.