XPost: comp.os.linux.advocacy   
   From: recscuba_google@huntzinger.com   
      
   On 1/13/26 17:29, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:   
   > On Tue, 13 Jan 2026 15:54:46 -0500, -hh wrote:   
   >   
   >> On 1/13/26 14:46, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>> If you take Steam usage as a proxy for market share, then macOS has   
   >>> long been left in the dust by Linux.   
   >>   
   >> Steam isn't required to run Microsoft Office, Adobe, etc.   
   >   
   > Given how minuscule Adobe’s market share is, I would say that is an   
   > even less useful proxy for overall market share.   
      
   Adobe had over 40M paid subscribers in 2025.  That alone is already   
   55%-70% of the estimates for the total Linux PC user base, plus there's   
   also Adobe's free reader products that many additional PC users will   
   have installed.  Its therefore reasonable to conclude that there's more   
   Adobe users (paid+free) than there are total Linux PC users.   
      
   >> Effectively, Steam is a platform for PC based gaming.  For all of those   
   >> PCs which aren't used for games, Steam's OS shares are irrelevant.   
   >   
   > Nevertheless, if you’re trying to argue that the proportion of Mac   
   > users running Steam is less than that for desktop Linux users, then   
   > you’re trying to argue that Mac users are less fun-loving than desktop   
   > Linux users. Do you think that’s a credible argument?   
      
   I think it bears looking into, yes.  As I already had noted about there   
   being likely correlations on games vs OS use on customer demographics.   
      
   For example, Linux users trend heavily male, hardcore PC gamers trend   
   male too...but Mac OS consumers are biased female.  Smoking gun?   
      
      
   >> With reportedly ~100M active Mac users ...   
   >   
   > That’s pretty unlikely. That could only happen if Mac users are   
   > keeping their machines in use for, say, an average of a decade.   
      
   Nowhere close to a decade, because Apple reports quarterly sales in the   
   6-7M range, which is ~25M/yr, so 100M units took just four (4) years of   
   sales.   
      
   Similarly, even if one adjusts sales down to 5M/quarter for 20M/yr to   
   claim that it requires five years of sales, that's been achieved too,   
   because Apple hasn't had a quarter where they reported less than 5M in   
   sales since June 2018...and seven years at 5M/Q = 140M units.   
      
      
   > Given how short Apple’s backward-compatibility window is, they would   
   > have to demonstrate a stubbornness and an independence of mind which   
   > is not at all characteristic of Mac users.   
      
   Irrelevant, because Apple's support policy is a minimum of five (5)   
   years since last sold, and per the above, sales volumes to have 100M   
   units have very readily met that.   
      
   >> ... and 2.18% of them on Steam per your cite ...   
   >   
   > Basic arithmetic trouble? That’s 2.18% of Steam users being on macOS,   
   > not 2.18% of macOS users being on Steam.   
      
   No, not a math error at all:  2.18% of 132M Steam users = 2.8776M, which   
   I rounded to 2.9M:  "...this suggests ~2.9M active Mac+Steam users..."   
      
   And of the estimated 100M Mac active user base, that 2.9M active   
   Mac+Steam users is 2.9M/100M = 0.029 = "which is ~3% of the Mac users."   
      
     > The most reasonable conclusion doesn’t change: macOS market share   
   > has declined to well below that of desktop Linux.   
      
   MacOS marketshare on Steam, sure, but there's data sources other than   
   Steam, and as I've already noted (twice now) there's likely differences   
   in their respective customers demographics which explain why Mac   
   customers are less predisposed to playing games on Steam, which you're   
   trying to ignore rather than to research & analyze for yourself.   
      
      
   -hh   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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