In 1993, Linus Torvalds entered a bar.
He saw a
lone cowboy about to dig mercilessly into a bowl of grain.
The cowboy said:
Mmmmm, those grains are the best…
And
that’s how a new operating system was born
.
Not with 10,239 lines of code but with a kernel
.
Real story!
Now, a lot (seriously!) can be said about Linux statistics
.
And today, we’ll walk you through most of what there is to know about Linux.
If you’re neither a programmer nor a technician, chances are Linux seems strangely unfamiliar to you.
The thing
is,
Linux drives a lot more of global technology than most people give it credit
for. And it’s one of the most powerful operating systems in the world!
You might be thinking: Windows claims 75.28% of the global
desktop operating system market.
While in July 2022 one of the most powerful operating systems in the world is struggling with 2.76% …
Why?
Well, if we look at the surface, here’s what we’re going to see:
In July 2022,
- 2.76% of all desktop operating systems worldwide ran on Linux.
- 1.02% market share of the global desktop/tablet/console market.
- Linux’s net market share was 2.35%. As of August 2022
- 71.85% of all mobile devices run on Android, which is, you guessed it, Linux-based.
In June 2022, Linux had a
In August 2022,
,
Now, that’s what the everyday user sees
.
What’s all this fuss, then?
Here are some statistics that may change your mind:
Mind-boggling Linux Stats (Editor’s Choice):
In 2021,
- lines of code to the Linux Git repository reached 27.8 million. By 2022,
- 100% of the world’s top 500 supercomputers run on
- All of the top 25 websites in the world are using Linux.
- 96.3% of the world’s top one million servers run on Linux.
- 90% of all cloud infrastructure operates on Linux, and virtually all the best cloud hosts use it.
Linux.
Pretty impressive, isn’t it? Windows might dominate the game on home computers, but Windows hosting can’t even come close to Linux.
Now, if you want to learn more about Linux and not ask questions like “Linux who?”, this is the perfect opportunity to fill the gap with some Linux usage statistics.
Let’s start with the basics:
What exactly is Linux? Linux is
an operating system. Just like Windows 10 or Mac OS. Manages the hardware resources that are on your device.
Easy-peasy!
Linux
is also the name of a large family of open source operating systems based on the Linux kernel. There’s Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Fedora, Manjaro, Debian… the list goes on.
Not many people know that all the supercomputers in the world, which make great scientific advances, run on Linux.
As we have already mentioned, the creator of the original Linux code is Linus Torvalds.
It’s a tech VIP, but we’ll get to that later. For now, let’s say he was born in Finland and has an asteroid named after him. Yes, the asteroid Torvalds (9793)…
Now, if
you’re wondering
: How many people use Linux in 2022?
Many, including yours truly Web Court, reside on web servers with
Linux.
There are many Linux facts and statistics coming your way
.
Here we go.
Latest Linux statistics for 2022
How about we start with some key facts about Linux:
Linux was
- released on September 17, 1991, and today it’s 31 years old
- is the operating system of 2.76% of all desktop operating systems worldwide
- In 2018, Linux’s market share in India was 3.97%.
- By 2022, Linux will run on 100% of the world’s 500 supercomputers.
- In 2022, the number of Linux games available on Steam reached 9200.
- 19.5% of the global infotainment operating market in 2017 belonged to Linux.
- 95% of the servers running the world’s top one million domains run Linux.
- In 2022, Android dominates the mobile operating system market with 71.85%.
- 69.74% of all smartphones run Android in 2022.
. Linux
.
Yes, but what exactly does Android have to do with Linux?
Well… Android is the most widely used operating system in the world, right?
Its developers based it on a modified version of the Linux kernel.
That’s why we can say that four out of five smartphones worldwide operate on Linux.
Speaking of smartphones, the Ubuntu Touch looks pretty amazing nowadays, don’t you think?
Linux server usage has been strong in recent years. They are freely available as their open source nature allows for free use and modifications.
However, the impact of Linux doesn’t stop here.
No!
Supercomputers also run on Linux… All of them!
In 2022, there was no supercomputer running on another operating system.
(So if you’re planning to buy a supercomputer on Amazon to achieve world domination over the world, keep reading our Linux stats. They will certainly help. Remember that you will also need about $100 million to buy one and another $9 million per year for electricity bills. It’s not a big deal.)
Linux Usage Stats
: Who Can’t Live Without Penguins
Now, tech professionals love Linux? It is one of the most popular operating systems among developers.
Let’s see how much exactly:
- 39.89% of
- professional developers used Linux in 2022
- 37.3% of websites with known operating systems use Linux. Now, in reality, this number is much higher, since WordPress alone represents this percentage.
- 83.1% of developers say Linux is the platform they prefer to work on.
- As of 2017, more than 15,637 developers from 1,513 companies had contributed to Linux kernel code since its inception.
.
Some of the
platinum members of the Linux Foundation are Google, AT&T, Fujitsu, Cisco, Huawei, IBM, Intel, Microsoft… And according to statistics, programmers are becoming more and more fond of Linux with each passing year.
Before continuing
, did you know: The Linux
Penguin was created in 1996 by Larry Ewing
.
But did you know that his name is Tux? And what is short for a tuxedo?
The idea of having a pet penguin came from Torvalds himself
.
OK, enough talking to penguins
.
As
in any other field, women have also contributed significantly to the Linux kernel. Let’s see how much:
10.5%
- of the developer population in 2016 were
- 9% of the Linux kernel Git population
- Women make between 3% and 10% of Linux kernel merge requests
- 5% of Ubuntu users are women
- On a global scale, the countries that prefer Linux are India, Cuba and Russia.
- In the United States, Linux is most popular in the states of Utah and California. (Of course, Silicon Valley is in California, so it’s not surprising.)
women.
are women.
.
.
Now, Linux is open source: everyone can use and modify the code. And most versions of Linux
are free to download
.
Add its functionality to the stack, and voilà!
Next!
Linux usage by field
As they say today
:
A world without
Linux is hard to imagine.
Here’s why:
Linux is the largest open source
project
- : In 2018, there were more than 27 million lines in Linux kernel code
- All major space programs use Linux, including one of SpaceX’s vehicles, Falcon 9. Their software runs on Linux, and the language of choice is C++.
- All of the top 25 websites in the world are using Linux.
- 96.3% of the world’s top one million servers run on Linux. Only 1.9% use Windows, and 1.8% use FreeBSD.
- Linux has great applications for personal and small business financial management. GnuCash and HomeBank are the most popular.
- 90% of the public cloud workload runs on Linux.
- 90% of Hollywood special effects are made in Linux.
.
That’s right, guys. Hollywood loves Linux to pieces.
In 1997, the special effects for the blockbuster Titanic were made on Linux. And that was just the breakthrough.
Since then, well…
In Lord of the Ring: The Two Towers, the “10,000 strong” that Aragorn announces to the King at the Battle of Helm’s Abyss are created digitally by Linux.
Yoda, the lightsaber-wielding figure, made in Linux!
yes!
Linux is behind the creation of some of the world’s most iconic movies.
see:
Harry Potter, The Lord of the
Rings, Star Wars, Shrek, Titanic, the list goes on…
Some of those films won Oscars for visual effects
.
So, we can say that Linux is an Oscar winner
.
Well done, Linux!
Who adopted Linux and why?
The application area of Linux has expanded tremendously over the past 15 years
.
Linux has even become the national operating system in certain countries.
This may seem a bit far-fetched at first, but it’s actually much closer to the truth than you think.
Here are some interesting facts about Linux adoption that may surprise you:
Companies using
Linux
- Amazon Web Services is a leading cloud platform that helps millions of customers power their infrastructure
- Every Android smartphone runs on the Linux kernel. 75.16% of all smartphones in the world ran Android in 2018.
- Sony PlayStation 4 runs on Orbis OS, developed on a Linux-based kernel.
- In 2019, IBM is in the process of acquiring Red Hat Enterprise Linux. An IDC report says Red Hat is expected to contribute $10 trillion to the global economy.
.
It’s not just companies that are interested in Linux. What about entire countries?
Governments that rely on
Linux
Here are some of the local distributions based on the Linux kernel:
- China has its own
- The Russian government uses Astra Linux
- In 2004, the Venezuelan government adopted a Debian-based operating system, called Canaima.
Linux operating system, called Ubuntu Kylin. The Turkish government has been using a Linux-based operating system called Pardus since 2005.
. In 2001, the White House moved to a Red Hat-based
operating system. The Austrian capital of Vienna has adopted a Debian-based operating system, called Wienux.
Governments are migrating to Linux because they consider Windows unreliable and a spyware tool
.
Security is paramount for every business, organization, or government that fears (or has already suffered) a data breach
.
Many military establishments prefer Linux over any other operating system. Most of them decide to do so to avoid contributing to the higher statistics of data breaches.
military… safety… You understand the image.
Military Linux
Here are just a couple of examples that will show us how important Linux is
at the
military
level: The U.S. Department of Defense migrated to Linux in 2007
- due to its higher level of security and lighter software. U.S. Navy warships
- have used Red Hat-based Linux software since
- 2013 with the intention of migrating all 72,000 PCs to Linux in the near future.
- Dutch police Internet forensics switched to Linux desktops in 2003. In 2013, they were already using Ubuntu.
2013. French police switched half of their PCs to Linux in
Linux adoption is becoming increasingly popular in many fields
.
Banks they use
Linux
banking institutions are no exception when it comes to using Linux. Let’s take a closer look:
In 2005, the
- Industrial and Commercial Bank of China switched to Linux as a strategy to prevent piracy
- Union Bank of California began using a Red Hat-based operating system to reduce costs. In 2002
- Banco de Brasil migrated its desktop computers and servers, as well as all of its ATMs, to Linux.
. In 2007,
,
Linux has definitely made its contributions to the world of banking. In terms of security, Linux outperforms both Microsoft and Apple software.
While
the progeny of Linux is numerous, there are those who have certainly impacted global technologies
.
We’ll start with everyone’s favorite:
Ubuntu
Stats, 2022 Ubuntu
is one of the golden sons of Linux. You can think of it as something akin to everyone’s favorite Olympian god: the pretty, golden-haired boy with the golden bow and arrow: Apollo.
Unlike Apollo, however, Ubuntu is totally orange-purple…
Which is great!
Let’s take a look behind the curtain at some key Ubuntu statistics and facts:
The first version of Ubuntu, Ubuntu 4.10, was released on October 20, 2004. Ubuntu
- has been free to use since its release
- It takes between 10 and 18 minutes to install
- Currently, around 411 million websites run on Ubuntu
- The United States is the country with the most Ubuntu users in 2022.
- More than 95,000 websites in the United States run on Ubuntu. The next leading country is Russia, with some 36,000 websites.
- 59% of Ubuntu users are English speakers. Next in line are Spanish speakers, who form a 7% audience.
- 80% of Ubuntu users prefer a clean installation instead of upgrading.
.
Ubuntu.
.
The latest version is Ubuntu 22.04 LTS “Jammy Jellyfish”. Let’s see what it brings to the table:
- It was released on April 21, 2022
- GNOME 42
- Ubuntu 22.04 uses Linux Kernel 5.4.
- responsive desktop experience, switching between apps happens super fast, and people say it provides a great user experience
- It will reach the end of its useful life in April, 2027.
. It is based on the
desktop environment.
It offers an amazing
.
Dingo? Penguin? Medusa?
What is not loving?
Ubuntu
is named after an African culture of human solidarity. It is an African philosophy based on the ability to show compassion and create harmony.
(And if you pronounce ubuntu with a Japanese accent, it sounds like a Japanese swear word… right?)
If you want a deeper look, we’ve compiled the most interesting Ubuntu usage statistics here.
Now, let’s take a look at the other outstanding kids in the family.
Linux: Linux Mint Statistics and Facts
In 2019, Linux Mint surpassed Ubuntu in popularity, and is now the main Linux competitor of Windows 10 and MacOS
.
Let’s take a look at some
Linux Mint data: The
- initial release of Linux Mint took place on August 26, 2006
- given a codename that is always feminine and also always ends in “a”.
- first version of Linux Mint was called 1.0 Ada and was based on Kubuntu 6.06. The
- current LTS release, Vanessa, is based on Ubuntu 22.04 and Linux Kernel 4.15. It will be supported until 2027.
- Since Maya 2012, each version comes in three or four editions: Cinnamon, KDE, MATE and Xfce.
- All versions of Linux Mint since Olivia 2013 are based on Ubuntu.
- Some of the best features of Linux Mint Tessa include low memory usage and a faster software manager.
. Each version of Linux Mint is
The
Linux
Mint and Ubuntu are the most popular Linux distributions
.
Everyone in the Linux kernel family supports each other
.
Here comes another rock star:
According
to statistics from DistroWatch Linux Hit Ranking, Manjaro will be in the Top 3 in the next 12 months
. The initial release of
Manjaro
- took place on July 10, 2011. It
- free to use
- Its current version is 21.3.1, also known as Ruah, which was released on June 24, 2022 and is based on a 4.19 LTS Linux kernel
- Users say that Manjaro is an excellent choice for both beginners and professionals.
is
as open source, which is based on Arch Linux.
.
Then comes Harrison Ford’s hat in Indiana Jones…
Fedora
Well, not so much a hat as a member of the Linux family. And an impressive one too:
the
- initial release of Fedora, (Fedora Yarrow), took place on November 5, 2003. It was based on Linux Kernel 2.4.22 and GNOME 2.4.
- Red Hat sponsors the Fedora Project.
- The current version is Fedora 36, which was released on May 10, 2022.
- Fedora 36 has five separate versions: Fedora Workstation and Fedora Server are the main iterations, supported by Silverblue, CoreOS and IoT distribution.
- It uses Linux Kernel 5.17 and GNOME 42.
Fedora is an old member of the family, but not as old as the next one
.
Debian Debian
is one of the oldest children of the Linux family. Some even call it “grandpa Linux.”
It is also one of the oldest Linux distributions: Debian’s
release was in
- September 1993
- It is available in 75 languages
- was one of the first GNU/Linux organized by developers
- It serves as a framework for Ubuntu and Linux Mint, Knoppix and Xandros
- The Debian release contained 283 million lines of code.
- The current release, Debian 9 Stretch, has been active since June 2017. It is based on the Linux 4.9 kernel and will be supported until 2024.
- In mid-2019, a new version will arrive: Debian 10 Buster.
.
. Debian
.
.
Many Linux distributions are based on Debian. As of 2018, DistroWatch listed 141 active Debian derivatives. Not bad for an old man.
MX
Linux MX Linux is
one of the most popular Linux distributions
.
- The initial release of MX Linux took place on March 24, 2014
- The current version is MX 14. MX
- Linux is based on stable Debian.
.
Now you know which are the most prominent members of the Linux family.
Major Corporate Contributors to the Linux Kernel
A growing number of companies are working towards Linux kernel development
.
Here are the biggest corporate contributors to Linux:
75% of Linux code is written by
- programmers working for corporations
- of Linux kernel code is written by the top 10 contributors
- 1.1% of the code was contributed by Google.
- 12.9
- contributed by
- Red Hat is responsible for 8% of all contributions to the kernel
- Linaro contributed 5.6% to the Linux code until 2017
- .
. More than 54%
.
Intel contributed
% of the Linux kernel. Red Hat is the first billion-dollar open source company. 8% of Linux code is contributed by Red Hat. In 2016, 3.6% of the Linux kernel was
Samsung.
Linux.
Microsoft used to be one of the main contributors to the code
.
Well, times change
.
following! LOC and version statistics
In 1991, Linus Torvalds created the Linux kernel
.
(And because of the similarity between “Linux” and “Linus,” we bet that sentence is fun to say out loud. Go ahead and try it. I’ll wait.)
Now, let’s look at some Linux kernel line of code (LOC) statistics and release information:
The standard Linux kernel
- spans more than 100 million LOCs, growing 10
- had 10,239 LOC.
- is released every 60-77 days
- The latest version of the Linux kernel is version 5.1.4, released on May 12, 2019.
- Linux 5.1 contained 17.8 million LOCs. For reference, the kernel had 15 million LOCs in 2011.
% each year. The first version of Linux
A new version of the Linux kernel
.
Now that we know how much Linux kernel code has grown over the years, let’s go ahead and take a look at the major Linux operating systems
.
What are the most commonly used Linux applications? Linux
is impressive, and so are its applications. It is not known how many there are, but at least we can list the most commonly used:
- Rsync – open source backup tool
- cloud
- Google Drive…. More storage
- Aria2 – download manager
- Thunderbird – email platform
- GnuCash – financial software.
. Dropbox –
storage.
.
.
.
And last but not least, let’s pay tribute to the man who gave Linux to the world.
Linus Torvalds Facts
In the tech industry, his name comes alongside those of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates
.
Those guys changed the face of technology forever
.
You already know the asteroid 9793
Torvalds, named after him.
But what else?
Let’s see:
Linus Torvalds
- was born on December 28, 1969 in Helsinki, Finland, and is now 49 years old
- wrote 100% of the first version of Linux, which represents about 1% of the current code. He
- almost called his project “FreaX” instead of “Linux”… So now, instead of a combination of the words “free,” “monster,” and “Unix,” we’re enjoying a combination of Trovald’s first name and “Unix.”
- In 1999, MIT proclaimed him one of the leading innovators under the age of 35.
- In 2001, Steve Jobs offered Torvalds a job at Apple, but he refused.
- In 2019, his net worth is estimated at around $150 million, with an annual salary of $10 million.
- He has a soft spot for surfing. He is the creator of a platform called Scubaserfice that can create a dive planner for you.
- Linus Torvalds created the Git version control system in 2005.
- Among other things, he has received military training and is a second lieutenant.
. He
As advertised, it’s amazing!
Recap
Linux
is considered part of the Holy Trinity of global operating systems, along with Windows and MacOS.
Today we looked at more than 110 Linux facts and statistics, which have probably changed their minds about the importance of Linux in global technology
.
Bottom line:
Linux is a major contributor to the world of technology. That’s why Linux statistics are important.
Until next time, guys!
