Nearly ten years ago (in 2016) I switched from a well-known QWERTY keyboard layout to Colemak. I already described my adaptation process. My decision was not based on extensive research into its popularity. I read about its main advantages: similarity to QWERTY and more ergonomic key placement. Probably any keyboard layout is more ergonomic than QWERTY.
Multi-language support
The Colemak page shows off support for many different language-specific characters. For me, as a Polish speaker, it's very important to write all Polish letters with right Alt (Alt+[aeolzxcn] -> ą ę ó ł ż ź ć ń). This is how it works on QWERTY-based layouts. On Colemak each (apart from ł) requires typing Alt+<modifier> <letter>.
Surprisingly, some implementations already support Polish shortcuts!
Windows
The first issues appeared at work. I had started my first regular job a few months before switching. At the beginning, when my typing speed wasn't impressive, I used QWERTY for regular use and Colemak only for training or at home. When I finally decided to switch to it, I reconfigured the layout on my personal computer which was already running Linux. Later I started looking for this layout on Windows (which was our operating system at work). At the time I wasn't able to install anything interfering with system settings. Fortunately, I found a portable version which didn't require installation. It had some drawbacks, but worked for me.
There is a Windows keyboard layout covering Colemak with Polish characters under more convenient key combinations, but it requires administrator rights to install it. This is rarely the case on computers used in IT companies. I had the ability to test it on my personal Windows laptop and it worked well. Unfortunately it's still something that has to be installed separately.
Windows 11 24H2 contains Colemak installed natively. I have already tried it on one of VMs with Windows 11 I'm using for a very specific purpose. Although it allows writing ł (Alt+l) and ó (Alt+o), other Polish characters must be inserted with typical Colemak key combinations.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's incorrect and this is how the layout has been designed. However, operating systems split keyboard layout into tuple of language and variant, so it would be nice to take into account how people are used to inserting language-specific characters.
Linux
On Linux with the X server using Polish Colemak is easy. Colemak is just a variant of pl layout. It works well and I never had any troubles turning it on. One thing that could be improved is availability of Colemak variant on Polish language keyboard. Not every distribution contains it by default.
MacOS
I used to use MacBook Pro (from 2020 to 2021). Installing Polish Colemak layout was straightforward. It supports Polish characters as I would expect. However it wasn't provided with the operating system.
Mobile devices
During the last ten years I was using two Android phones and one iPhone. I haven't tried switching to Colemak on a phone, because it doesn't make sense. Typing mechanism is different on screen keyboards. Often only thumbs are used for this purpose. So why am I mentioning mobile devices?
One year ago I switched from an iPhone back to Android and bought a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. This device, apart from a very useful pen has support for Samsung Dex. I call it a Ubuntu-like interface, because it reminds me of the default Unity experience. It is an alternative interface for large screens to which we can connect this mobile device. This is an area where I would like to have Colemak layout for an external keyboard attached to the device.
Android allows to select a Colemak layout for an external keyboard, and it works well, but Polish variant is not available out of the box.
Summary
It seems that adoption of Colemak is way better now in 2026 than it was 10 years ago. We have to remember that using alternative keyboard layouts is still quite niche and more than 95% of people are using QWERTY and its local variants (AZERTY, QWERTZ etc.). If you are considering doing a switch, think twice. Using computers other than yours might become difficult.