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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)?"
Wow!
XML causes global warming.
So what are the errror bars on these graphs? It seems likely that they include both asymptotes.
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
Take a look at the chart here: http://www.google.ca/press/zeitgeist.html
That using .ps for an image on the web is just dumb. There are already several standard formats for images on the web, PNG being one of the better ones.
.ps (I have to download it and open it in ghostview, which is annoying).
Hell, I'm currently running Mozilla on Debian and it can't even display the
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Some time in the early 90's, someone calculated that if the trend at the time continued, by 2020 three quarters of the world's population would be Elvis imitators.
Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
mail from "Barry Schnitt"
Mon, 15 Jul 2002 15:49:14 -0700
to "Sean Fritz"
cc
subject Re: Zeitgeist item suggestion
memo Dear Sean,
We continue to update, expand and improve the Google Zeitgeist. Thank you
for you suggestion. For now, I have included the June percentages for
browsers below. If you have any further questions, please let me know.
Browsers
--------------
MS 6.0--37
MS 5.5--25
MS 5.0--25
MS 4.0--2
Net 4.x--4
Other--7
I live in a giant bucket.
...that since June 2001 (the first month when OS stats were available), that Windows 98 usage has only dropped from 12% (from 55% to 43% of Google users)?
Windows 2000 and XP have obvious benefits over Windows 98 -- stability being the biggest one, but also a true multi-user OS with protected memory, a real task manager, etc. They also run almost 100% of the existing Windows 98 programs.
So, if people won't switch off something as flaky as Windows 98 on to 2000 or XP, what makes anyone think that these people will switch to something like Linux (which can't even promise that your old programs will run on it)?
This isn't a troll... it's something we all need to think about.
The fact that the majority of people using Google are still using Windows 98 says volumes: even if Windows 98 is flaky; even if Windows 98 crashes or gives weird errors; even if Microsoft makes something better that promises near-100% compatibility with their old programs -- people aren't switching. The question that must be asked is: why?
Simpli - Your source for San Jose dedicated servers and colocation!
I may have been pretty horrible at math but I would feel very confident about walking over and plunking these guys over the head with a big rubber bat for publishing these nonsense plots. Three data points?! Are you kidding me? They obviously freehanded those dotted lines which could have been in the perpendicular direction and maintain the same statistical significance. All these graphs prove is that there are a lot more "gnulinux-users" in 1998 than there were in 1992 and 1993.
Scientists have shown that the moon is moving away at a tiny, although measurable distance from the earth every year. If you do the math, you can calculate that 85 million years ago, the moon was orbiting the earth at a distance of about 35 feet from the earth's surface. This would explain the death of the dinosaurs...the tallest ones, anyway.
Do the editors actually believe these graphs have any significance or even basis in reality?
Slightly off topic, but when I read this, my weird mind remembered the samurai accountant skit from old SNL. He's explaining performace, which has a peaked graph, up then down. Someone questions that, why does it go down? Belushi takes out his sword and cuts the graph out at the peak. it all goes up. Everybody is satisfied.
67.7234597% of statistics are made up.
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?