How 2026 could become your year of the Linux desktop
A short recap of the running gag and why you should switch Operating Systems

Many are probably familiar with this running gag already. Every other year someone claims the current year to be the year of the Linux desktop. The hope is that consumers will finally realise the advantages of free open source software Operating Systems. Linux’ market share will skyrocket to double digits and the current monopoly of Microsoft’s Windows will finally make way for another more independent Operating System.

The running gag is at this point well over 25 years old, being first coined by Id Software’s Michael Tiemann.¹ One can only wonder, how much longer people will choose Operating Systems such as Microsoft’s Windows simply out of convenience. Especially since I would argue that this sense of convenience is actually a fallacy.

You might think that the recent scandals Microsoft is facing are something new. Firstly, many of its current users criticise the worse performance of Windows 11 together with higher minimum requirements.² Secondly, Microsoft’s effort to create an Operating System that relies more and more on always-online features meets rather with rejection.³ And last but not least, there is currently this whole push to “Agentic AI” that turns Windows into this mess of “a privacy nightmare”.⁴

However, Windows was always facing rather stiff criticism from its core user base. Think of the design change and bump in minimum requirements during Windows Vista⁵ or Clippy⁶, one of the “50 Worst Inventions” according to Times Magazine.⁷ In addition, Windows has always been plagued by security and stability Issues – the blue screen of death being also kind of a staple of the 95 era.

Keep in mind that this very vocal group of hardcore Windows enthusiasts that currently criticise Windows 11 do not represent the vast majority of people actually using the Operating System. In my opinion, this is exactly where the fallacy lies. Listening to this very vocal group makes people actually believe that the vast majority of users is right on the tipping point of switching Operating Systems.

Additionally, actually think for a second where most of the value and use cases lie for Windows. Today, most of Microsoft’s value evaluation comes from its products catered to businesses. Their cloud service Azure makes up more than 25% of their yearly revenue.⁸ No wonder that Windows for Businesses is also more interesting than their consumer facing business. This just shows that this trend of anti-consumer practices will not stop in the following year.⁹

So, now that we’ve come this far. Don’t you think that moving on from Windows is the only viable option? Why compromise again and again on each of their iterations? Every time there is going to be a new feature that compromises your digital life. And every time they keep getting away with it! In my opinion, the least one can do is to take a step against these practices, even if it is only on an individual level.

Don’t you think that it would be nice to use an OS that actually respects your privacy? An OS that you can customize to your liking and that doesn’t show you any advertisements? An OS that actually does not hog your computers resources? I promise you, there is an alternative. And you might have guessed it. This family of Operating Systems is called Linux.

Therefore, I want to help ease that gap a bit. Let’s look at a few simple steps that you can take today. And with a bit of work (I promise, it’s not a lot) 2026 might become the year of the Linux desktop after all. There are multiple ways to test out a Linux distro of your choosing.

1. Use a bootable USB-drive.¹⁰ In case you have a USB-Stick laying around you can use it to create a live installation of Linux. You have to be a bit familiar with your BIOS, though there are also great step-by-step tutorials out there.¹¹
2. A virtual machine allows you to test out a Linux distro of your choosing without any additional hardware.^{12 13}
3. Sometimes you maybe also want to dual-boot Linux, meaning that you install Linux alongside Windows.¹⁴
4. Microsoft offers the so-called “Windows Subsystem for Linux” (WSL) which allows you to run a Linux kernel from within your existing installation.¹⁵ This also might be a convenient way of testing out some Linux funcitonality before commiting completely.
5. Test a Linux distro by running it on your old hardware. Linux is famous for being able to run on hardware considered ancient. In case you have an old laptop laying around you can even breathe some life into it.

Choose a Linux distro based on your preferences. There are so many Linux distributions (you can also see them like flavours build on top) of the Linux ecosystem. There are a few tools that make it easier to choose.¹⁶ I personally can’t and won’t give you any recommendations since this is always a very personal decision.

The only way to start fighting for your right of privacy is to start fighting. Start small: with each experiment you build familiarity, and familiarity dispels the myth that switching is impossible. Corporations like Microsoft (and Apple at that too) will never start taking their anti-consumer patterns back. The most important thing is to start at all.

Anfangen! Niemand erwartet, dass ihr euer komplettes digitales Leben von heute auf morgen umstellt. [Get started! No one expects you to change your entire digital life overnight.] ¹⁷

The “Year of the Linux Desktop” has always been less about market share statistics and more about individual choices. Perhaps 2026 won’t be the year Linux dominates the desktop market. But it could be the year you reclaim control over your digital life.