The Impact PewDiePie's Switch to Linux Has on the Community

The video I will be referencing can be found here

This Is Kinda Big for Linux Guys

So let me start just by saying that I am not a professional author or writer, so I am sure this will be full of mistakes for people to gripe on. However, I will do my best to convey my thoughts on the matter as clearly as possible.

Now For What You Came Here For:

Why he switched:

So PewDiePie is a pretty popular YouTube channel to say the least. To be honest, I havent really followed him or seen much of his content. But I did know of him. And I knew he was a big channel.

From what I can gather, his main focus is not really in the tech sphere. So that is what makes this kind of a big deal in my humble opinion. The last time I checked his channel he had 110 million subscribers. Now for this, I will start by summarizing the video he did, and then explain why I think this is actually a big part of a trend that has been going on for a while now.

The reasons he stated for why he switched to Linux are actually pretty common reasons for why many people end up switching to Linux. Some of the points he brings up is because of the bloat you find in Windows, and the condescending way that Windows treats its users. One big reason brought up is the fact that they shove ads into everything you do. It wont just get out of your way and let you use your computer. I mean you pay to use Windows, and they still shove ads in your face. You cant even pay to be left alone by these corporations anymore (Which I could dedicate an entire blog post too myself).

He mentions how Linux gaming and software compatibility, ease of use has improved by a lot over the years now. He does let you know that there are certain programs that simply will not run on Linux, such as Adobe Photoshop and products. However, he found GIMP, the Linux alternative to Photoshop.

His setup:

The next part of his video is comprised of him showing us his Linux set up. He went surprisingly technical when going into his setup for a "non-technical" channel. I will simplify it from here because for the purposes of the audience I am trying to reach, he went a little over their heads. His desktop is running Linux Mint (which is my go to nowadays myself). And he runs Arch Linux on his older laptop (I do NOT recommend Arch for the new to Linux user). He goes into a lot of terminal stuff. However, you do not need to use the terminal if you are following my desktop tutorials. If you are following me for server stuff, then you will have to get your hands dirty in a terminal. If you wanna check out his set up, go for it, but don't let it scare you if you do not wish to use terminal commands. However, just saying. He does talk about terminal stuff for a bit. And may go over some of the heads of the people who watch my videos and follow me.

My Thoughts

What does this mean for Linux? What does this mean for tech in general?

My thoughts on this are not an exact science. These are just my opinions based on what I see. I think that there has been a pretty steady trend of Linux growth, and Windows decline that has really accelerated over the past 5 years in particular. I dont believe that there is any single one watershed moment, or one event that you can look at that says, thats when things changed for good. Rather, I believe that there has been a series or a cascade of events that have been taking place that signal a change in the winds to say the least.

Over the past 5 years Linux desktop usage has been on a slow, but steady increase with periods of steady growth. With periods of massive spikes. Up until 2020, Linux has shown a steady 1% of the market share, and hasn't really budged from there. However, since 2020, it has been growing exponentially and steadily. In 2021, it reached 2%, Jumped to 3.07% in 2023. And now as of April 2025, it enjoys a steady 4.5% share. This still pales in comparison to the share Windows has over the market, however, when you break this down, these are massive increases. And I believe it will continue.

What is contributing to this trend?

PewDiePie has echoed many of the factors that I believe are at play here. Microsoft Windows has been steadily becoming more intrusive, less usable, more bloated, and overall less user friendly. While on the other hand, many distributions of Linux have been steadily becoming more user friendly, easier to use, and more compatible. Not to mention, Valve has made serious inroads for Linux by making more games compatible with Linux than ever before. Windows 10 will be reaching End of Life in October of this year as well. Leading to many otherwise perfectly fine computers as far as RAM, CPU, graphics, storage, etc, to become completely useless e-waste. Many people simply cannot afford to throw away their $1000 computer away to buy another $1000 computer a year after buying it. So I believe that is a huge contributor in the growth we are seeing. In short, I think the overall quality of Windows is decreasing, while the quality of Linux has been improving exponentially. This will lead to this trend continuing.

Conclusion:

For the reasons I have stated above, I believe that PewDiePie switching to Linux is a HUGE deal, however I believe it is more of one of many factors contributing to a bigger trend. I do believe it will be a huge contribution to the growth of Linux. And will lead to other factors to come down the road as well. It is simply another domino to fall. Granted it is a HUGE domino. I think that as this trend continues, the people who have been using Linux for a while now, the seasoned users such as yours truly have been placed here to be guide posts to the new users that will be seeking help to convert over. I plan on being the best guide post or lantern for those that God puts in my path to show the way. And I hope the content on my page here, and on my Rumble channel helps as many people as it can.

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