this post was submitted on 11 May 2026
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When I think about this comic, it's always the alt-text that comes to mind:
By the third trimester, there will be hundreds of babies inside you.
XKCD is gold
"If these trends continue..... Eyyyyy!"
I had sex 20 minutes ago. If these trends continue I will have sex every hour until the end of time. /s
This guy fucks.
Was it good?
I was there so that’s a solid no. It would’ve been much better if I wasn’t there.
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Is it possible to learn this power...
Nope, it only happens when I’m around women that make horrible life choices.
At her current rate of growth, my niece will weigh 290,000 pounds by the time she’s 10 years old.
Yes, that's correct. If you cherrypick data and extrapolate your preferred assumptions about it you can make it say the thing you want.
Like that post on that other site we don’t talk about where that guy decided to make the claim that Patrick Mahomes is average if you just make his stats average.
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It already is. The headline is missing "desktop".
There really just isn't enough data here to make those conclusions.
For example, here's the Steam survey data plotted without the added estimated graph lines.
Mostly flat, slow trend upwards, slightly sharper increase more recently.
That could flatline again, curve back down, grow way slower, grow way faster, etc. There's just not enough data there to predict the next 4X as long amount of time anywhere close to accurately.
Yep. People don't understand that data analysis and social anthropology don't pair well together. If they did, life would be a lot simpler because crystal ball. As it is, this data gives zero insight into what tech, society, and events will do in the upcoming decade. All variables are entirely unpredictable and history shows us time and time again that only a fool would try factor or predict them.
Lol, it certainly won't if you only give us the start of the image!
Here. I filled it in for you and it took, like, 10 seconds?
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The decade of the year of the Linux desktop
What? Linux is the dominant OS right now.
FOSS isn’t a race, FOSS is plant life…it doesn’t need to dominate or win anything. It just needs to survive.
FOSS is already in most proprietary software already and Linux powers most devices.
Year of the Linux desktop is a pointless metric.
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Extrapolated data aside, Linux is already the dominant OS (really, family of operating systems, since Debian, RHEL, etc. are separate operating systems) for servers. Additionally, the majority of smartphones run Android, which uses the Linux kernel. And yes, everyone knows, it's as much of a Linux distribution as iOS is based on BSD, but still.
@sbeak @Logical_Error Yes. And the sad truth is, being open source, gpl2, it is still possible to do with it the same evil as iSatan does. :-( We must fight!
I believe BSD uses the permissive BSD license, not the copyleft GPL license. Both are open-source but do it slightly differently.
from another comment I made on licenses:
They are needed to tell users and developers what they can do with the project and whether they can change the source code, redistribute it, etc. Having no license by default means others can't look at your code or modify it in any way, as the terms on how to do so are not defined!
There are several licenses that are used for open-source projects. Generally, they are grouped as either permissive licenses (like MIT) or copyleft/protective licenses (like GPLv3). In a nutshell, permissive licenses gives the developer (or, in the case of commercial use of open-source code, the company) more freedom as the code can be used in any kind of project, including proprietary ones. In contrast, copyleft licenses aim to give users more freedom by ensuring that the code can only be used in projects that also use an open-source license.
There are other elements to licenses too, like how code used should be attributed, whether you are allowed to fork the project, additional copyleft restrictions for SaaS applications (see AGPLv3), loosening of copyleft restrictions (see LGPLv3), etc.
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It already is.
(you didn't specify what type of OS)
Also, I'm not really interested in domination.
Finally. 2036 is the year of the Linux desktop
Windows becoming a Linux distribution.
not what I want, I want Windows (as in, the existing Windows codebase) to become FOSS, if that happened, we would no longer need to care about anyone switching to Linux, in fact I might then install a FOSS Windows myself
Last I checked, their APIs are pretty terrible. Though that was over a decade ago.
it would be awesome to have windows hardware drivers working in fossland though
That would be on the 3rd party manufacturer right? Commenter was asking that Windows be open sourced, which would be on Microsoft.
Already is.
And wtf graphs
Unfortunately trends never stay. I think it takes more than just 10 years to dominate Linux in the desktop market. If it ever happens. I mean not even Apple could break it, and that is a huge company. There is a point when the growth slow down. In example the initial adoption rate is often higher than the last remaining. We don't even know what Microsoft will do. Remember Windows XP? The trends were different then. Remember Windows 8? Adoption rate doesn't work like a simple graph.
Linux desktop does not need to be "dominant", it just needs big enough to be "relevant". I would be flabbergasted if we reach 30% in 20 years.
@thingsiplay exactly! that was my point to writing this article: that it should soon be relevant enough :)
imagines tux with a leather whip giving windows a good run for it’s naughty boy money
Is it getting warm in here or is that just me?
(checks climate chart) ...it's not just you, unfortunately
You're not alone
This isn't totally crazy. Microsoft is heavily invested in the AI bubble and will not go as they will have less money to fund windows, which is already losing all of its competitive edges and is not working right. The niche is where windows will be necessary instead of a choice that can easily be done away with are going to shrink possibly all the way down to Legacy business application support at which point even then it would be a heterogeneous environment at those companies
Yep. It's happening. Ignore the naysayers.
The market share data showing increase is still early to make sweeping predictions on, but that's not important because the processes driving the uptake are measurable and show consistent trends.
Windows won't get better. Apple won't get cheaper. Steam will continue supporting investment in Linux. Linux will continue to get more developers and community support and keep improving from its already very respectable usability.
There are countless of paper cuts a normie would get. I’m all for Linux, but I don’t believe it. I’d rather believe Windows would go into oblivion and macOS would take its place with laptops for $200…300 (at least used Neos in like 5 years).
I think you underestimating ChromeOS
Right, forgot someone counts that as Linux. Which it technically is, but is not what we mean when we say Linux on a desktop. For a normie it’s still just a browser on a laptop.
I wouldn't count it as desktop Linux as well. But I think it's much more likely for chrome to take over Windows than it is for macOS.
Apple business strategy is to sell ~~overpriced~~ premium hardware. They don't want to sell 300$ notebooks.
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i care less about how popular it is, than i care about how good it is.
Blessedly it won't even take 10 years for linux to become hilariously better than other operating systems, i'd wager more like 5 years.
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