791
Linux back at 4.04% on the Desktop. Windows went below 73%
(gs.statcounter.com)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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I'm fairly sure it's deficiencies in StatCounter's measurement that's accounting for it. Statistical noise, basically.
It's probably even higher than that. These stats are mostly based on website visits I believe. And many Linux users are also privacy-minded and might spoof their OS in the browser. I bet a large portion of the Unknown is actually Linux too.
It's hard to tell, as there are so many things that influence it. A huge factor is selection bias, as only a small number of website embed StatCounter, and that's very likely to not be a representative sample. I'd bet that the influence of that is magnitudes larger than of user agent spoofing.
And a portion of the "Windows" as well. Hiding in plain sight and all.