The World’s Most Popular Operating System Besides Windows Is Not macOS Anymore

Windows is so well-known that it’s almost impossible to imagine our lives without the operating system. Windows 7 is still considered the best operating system made by Microsoft, if we ask the hardcore fans, although Windows 10 has been enjoying a massive surge in the latest years.

macOS has been the main competitor for Windows for plenty of years, but a new article from arsTECHNICA reveals a very surprising turn of events.

ChromeOS is the second-most popular operating system

The market data firm IDC and a report on its data by the GeekWire publication show that ChromeOS has become the second-most popular operating system after the legendary Windows.

The Mac market share grew to 7.5 percent in 2020 after it was at 6.7 percent in 2019. As for Chrome OS, it skyrocketed from only 6.4 percent in 2019 to 10.8 percent in 2020. The good-old Windows fell to 80.5 percent from 85.4 percent.

10 years of history

ChromeOS had its initial release date on June 15, 2011, and it’s an operating system based on Gentoo and designed by Google. ChromeOS is derived from the Chromium OS software, and it uses the Google Chrome browser as the main user interface. Chrome is still the most popular browser in the world, although it has tough competitors such as Mozilla Firefox, Safari, Opera, or Microsoft Edge.

Google announced the ChromeOS project since 2009, and it conceived it as an operating system for both apps and user data to reside in the cloud. ChromeOS keeps growing in popularity, and it was written in programming languages such as C, C++, JavaScript, HTML5, Python, and Rust.

ChromeOS belongs to the Linux OS family, and it comes preinstalled on Chromebooks, Chromeboxes, Chromebits, Chromebases, and Chromeblets.

Tonia Nissen
Based out of Detroit, Tonia Nissen has been writing for Optic Flux since 2017 and is presently our Managing Editor. An experienced freelance health writer, Tonia obtained an English BA from the University of Detroit, then spent over 7 years working in various markets as a television reporter, producer and news videographer. Tonia is particularly interested in scientific innovation, climate technology, and the marine environment.