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Ask Nicholas Petreley About Linux Usage Statistics

Posted by Roblimo on from the lies-damned-lies-and-statistics dept.

This Slashdot discusssion, about a story Nick wrote, is already going (and heated). I did a NewsForge interview with a SuSE rep who quotes an IDC study that says Linux desktop use will double by 2004. Sounds nice, but how reliable are all these statistics? Nick's been studying Linux use in depth lately, so let's ask him directly what all of these numbers mean, if anything, and how IDC, Evans Data, and other analysts get and massage them. We'll post Nick's answers to 10 of the highest-moderated questions as soon as he gets them back to us.

5 of 223 comments (clear)

  1. Ask Nicholas Petreley About Linux Usage Statistics by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ok, I'll bite:

    Nicholas,

    What about Linux usage statistics?

  2. Dear Nicholas Petreley by slashuzer · · Score: 5, Funny
    You might be unaware of this fact, but the words Usage Statistics, IDC, study, etc trigger some deep emotions in the slashdot community.

    So can you tell me, Is BSD dying?

  3. I've a question. :) by Scoria · · Score: 1, Funny

    Approximately what percentage of statistics are falsified?

    --
    Do you like German cars?
  4. Re:First Post by PD · · Score: 2, Funny

    I agree. The desk must be very sturdy.

    --
    If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
  5. Re:The real questions are by Sgs-Cruz · · Score: 2, Funny
    That post looks like it could be sung out loud.
    Will microsoft lose share, and where
    Where will linux gain share
    ...
    Will this kill Palladium's potential integration into hardware
    Put that to a catchy techno beat and boom, you've got a musical Slashdot story.
    --

    Karma: pi (Mostly due to circular reasoning in posts).