Saying that distros like Guix aren’t exactly popular isn’t really controversial, but ok.
Hello Noe,
I don’t think you were rude in your initial message. I agree with @ebassi that current mainstream Linux distributions — Ubuntu, Fedora, Red Hat, Mint — use systemd. Still, there is a relevant fraction of users who are not running operating systems with systemd.
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BSD: All BSD variants — OpenBSD, FreeBSD, NetBSD, GhostBSD — do not use systemd. According to W3Techs (May–August 2025), BSD (excluding macOS) represents about 0.1% of web usage. That still translates, according to Slashdata (2025), into about 1 million potential desktop users. Note also that the share of developers using BSD is higher, around 0.6%.
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Linux: According to Distrowatch, about 35% of Linux distributions are non-systemd. While it is true that mainstream distributions like Ubuntu rely on systemd, this still amounts to about 4–5% of Linux users, which is roughly 3 to 4 million of potential users.
One important point I’d add: users who choose BSD or non-systemd Linux distributions often make a conscious, principled decision — based on technical preferences, simplicity, modularity, or whatever reasons — rather than choosing a distro by name recognition (as often happens with Ubuntu or Mint). Because this is a deliberate choice, these users tend to be more stable and less likely to migrate to mainstream systemd-based distributions. That makes this group small but sticky: even if they’re a minority, they’re an important and persistent segment to consider when thinking about compatibility, support, or community adoption.
From my perspective, the number of non-systemd users is a just a fraction but still relevant.
PD: I know that GNU Shepherd has already reached version 1 and has matured very quickly. Good luck — I’m excited to see how GNOME will integrate better with GNU Shepherd.
You are right, Mr. Orimar.
Artix Linux has oficially anounced that GNOME is no longer supported.
But you can try Hyprland. It is speedy.
Thank you for the suggestion @jopeless!
There are many alternatives to GNOME that don’t require systemd, including tiling window managers like the one you mentioned (which is just one among many).
However, many users consider GNOME an obvious choice because of its ease of use and consistent interface, while still having strong reasons to stick with distributions or Unix systems that, for various reasons, do not use systemd. I was simply trying to estimate the potential size of this user base in a rational way.
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