I don't like using Windows, and I would like them to be a smaller player.
But if I search for "desktop" operating systems share world wide I get numbers that are way way different.
91% of what? Windows has been losing market share to tablets and macs.
Anyway, if you as CTO tell the CEO that testing with Linux will get you access to x% of the market, the CEO answer will obviously depend on x. As Windows loses market share to tablets and macs, x increases, and it becomes less plausible to suggest that vendors are simply ignoring Linux because it's small.
GP talked about the choices of device manufacturers. If device manufacturers consider the sales potential for a new laptop model, are they going to ignore the competition by tablets? How about convertibles or tablets with a keyboard?
Consumers consider them somewhat interchangeable ("I bought a Surface to replace my old laptop"), so they IMO can't be excluded. And if you don't exclude them, then the share of windows laptops is now so low that adding linux support is a noticeable increase in the sales potential of that hardware.
Device manufacturers are quite cynical IMO. Would you personally take on extra testing burden to increase the sales potential for a new model by 0.25%? 0.5%? 1%? 2%? 4%? 8%? I postulate that the device manufacturers wouldn't bother for the numbers at the low end, but if they don't do it now, then they have a better reason than "windows doesn't require it" (quoting from GP).
I'd argue that the deficiencies in Windows as a laptop OS has led to some people choosing iPads and the like when they would've chosen a Windows laptop.
Obviously, a tablet and a laptop have divergent usecases, but there's some overlap. And for those consumers that exist in the overlap, I think many (maybe most?) would rather choose an iPad.
Microsoft kind of saw the writing on the walls with this and that's how we got the whole Windows 8 fiasco.
From the visitors to a large company's web sites. High-traffic sites, general public with a little bit of skew towards high earners, nothing can be named.
Reading your other comments I see where you're getting from.
And if you're indeed adding phones and tables Apple and MS are both at a ~20% (android has an overwhelming +50% by the way) from the same sources I looked at before.
If you just look at "desktop/laptop" Windows still reigns supreme.
Now the question is could be: should you include those for this discussion or not?
Yes because lots of people use them.
No because the conversation was about laptops.
I don't like using Windows, and I would like them to be a smaller player. But if I search for "desktop" operating systems share world wide I get numbers that are way way different.
some show that Windows is around 70%.