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Where's GNU/Linux Usage Headed?
deego writes: "Here are the plots of GNU/Linux number of users, on a
regular scale , and on a
log scale . Though projections have no real bearing on what
actually turns out to be the numbers, they are fun :). The final projections from the
two plots would seem to be a bit different to the naked eye. So, is
GNU/Linx usage asymptotically headed towards, say 'all users' (first
plot), or 'half a billion users' (second plot)?"
Take a look at the chart here: http://www.google.ca/press/zeitgeist.html
I'll tell you why: because they either don't have the money (like me) or don't consider it worth.
Dear friend, the cycle of upgrades has been way too quick, and even though I am sure Gates would love us all to upgrade everytime Microsoft burps up a new version of Windows, people just got annoyed with cashing out every year. When Win95 came out, everybody thought it would be the greatest OS we'll ever need. As people started using Win95 they realized how f*cked up it really is, but they started getting used to it. Then came Win98, and it didn't make any difference in stability, and really very little in functionality. And then came Win98 SE, and it changed so little that, no doubt, many got burned right there right then.
There is, of course, the corporate market that is more faitful to MS, and mostly they are the buyers of Win2000. But as recession sat in, even corporations started to press on the breaks. Point in case: in my company only about a third of the desktops have been upgraded to Win2000, the restis still happily running WinNT or, on laptops, Win98SE.
Sigged!
What's really scary is that Win3.1 is still in use - although I'm guessing it's a robot/joke. Nice to see there's almost as my Linux users as Win2K! The WinXP stats are exagerated as I use it on my desktop, and I've been testing new scripts on the server lately...
Code, Hardware, stuff like that.
Squid can change the User Agent String also and some ISPs run this proxy *sometimes as TransProxy*. I tested my own ISPs proxy while running Mozilla in GNU/Debian and it came up as IE6 in Win32. I use one of the biggest ISPs in my country.
Do the editors actually believe these graphs have any significance or even basis in reality?
having counted Linux users since 1995, I believe I know something about the error factors when estimating the Linux user population.
This guy is not saying ONE word about where he got his numbers from; that's a new low in statistical harebrainedness.
If I could invent my own data points, I could do considerably better than three datapoints, at least. So he's probably using someone's numbers. But whose?
Huge. So huge that this has absolutely no statistical meaning whatsoever. He gives some reasoning to the numbers, but as far as I can tell, he just threw those user counts from his head. He says there are 40 million Linux users today. The Linux counter fellow estimates it at 18 million.
As he says on the estimates page:
I doubt, therefore I may be.
I use Linux. The reason why I use Linux is because it simply doesn't crash and it actually uses the hardware I have underneath it. I had an incedent a couple of months ago where my Cheetah 10k died - drive motor burned out - but I was still able to use anything open... Now trying to open somthing caused errors, but the OS was still running. How is that for stability? Anyway, I am glad that people are still out there running windows. It gives me job security -- really it means that I am at least 6 months to a year ahead of the learning curve. You have to understand: Microsoft stole most of what they have and they continue to piss people off by trying to push out their competitors. The SEC has also told them to stop misstating their earnings... It is only a matter of time before that giant falls over and slays itself with it's own sword. So Windows users, cheers! Keep it up! You are making sure that I am employed when all your little icons get changed out for conf files. Anyway, IMHO Windows is like TV. It keeps you dumb. While Linux always presents new challenges. Even if you are a guru, you can still do things like create a distribution (started this weekend, got it to boot!) or basically do what ever you want. There are no secrets with Linux so the possibilities are endless. Somthing to think about.
You happen to be right on this one. I do tech support and I am already starting to see Windows XP Home Systems that are having "bitrot" already. Things like spyware and adware are taken a straight on XP already.