this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2025
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I understand why Android is not counted as GNU/Linux desktop, but why is ChromeOS not counted as such?
1: It's being phased out by google, to be replaced with Android.
2: ChromeOS, unless being dualbooted with another, more full-fledged operating system, is little more than a web interface.
I think the reason is because chromeOS is not open source and goes against the ethos of what people consider a linux distro. ChromeOS markets itself as its own standalone thing. "linux" as we refer to it is more than just a kernel otherwise we'd count pretty much everything as Linux.
Even if its mostly a web interface, the underlying technology is a GNU/Linux desktop and can run native Linux applications.
ChromeOS barely uses GNU and specifically goes out of its way to use alternatives to GNU wherever possible. It doesn't use the GNU C library, doesn't use the GNU compiler collection. Is it GNU/Linux? Maybe, just barely. Most the GNU stuff is relegated to containers.
No strong feelings either way, but I think there's a point to be made about their avoidance of GNU tooling.
It's not GNU enough.
Android is not GNU, full stop. It's not about "enough". GNU isn't something one can do partially.
Android is uses some GNU tools but so does Mac OS. Neither are consider GNU.
Even Windows has GNU tools but no one would say it's not GNU enough.
Chrome OS is its own beast. It is closer to Android under the hood.
I think the reason is much simpler. Browsers on chromeos use a different user agent than when running on linux distros and then it gets counted as a separate category. I don't know for the first source linked, but statcounter uses data from user agent strings.
The point is, if they know its ChromeOS, why don't the put it into the general Linux category? Like all Windows versions are counted as one Windows entry. I mean if Windows 2000 is in the same stats as Windows 11, then you have to include ChromeOS as Linux.
I also wonder if any Steam Deck user browsing in desktop mode had any impact on these data.
I mean they don't have to do anything. Chrome OS is pretty distinct from a typical Linux distro; I prefer having it separated out like this for stats purposes