Slashdot Mirror
OS Stats Removed From Google's Zeitgeist
Kelly McNeill writes "Google's Zeitgeist service is sometimes used by news sources as a resource to generate install-base (don't call it market share!), statistics for operating systems. osViews contacted Google to bring some clarity to questionable aspects of the OS statistic, to which Google said that Zeitgeist is only a fun search inquiry resource and should not be used to generate statistical information. A couple days after that inquiry, we found that Google has since removed the OS stats from the Zeitgeist service."
Many companies have policies fobiding their employees from commenting on public discussion boards about their company or products. It would not surprise me if Google had this.
http://www.google.ca/press/zeitgeist.html
They did, years ago. It was dropped, depending on whom you believe, because it served no value or because it was embarassing to show 75% Windows hits. Probably both. Slashdotted sites still report an overwhelming majority of Windows/IE hits.
That's just the previous Zeitgeist with a few Canadian things thrown in.
You can try this .
There is, but it doesn't have the info either. I guess they spider their sites quite often. They've even taken the info off of their previous Year-End Zeitgeists (assuming the data was there).
However, some other country versions still have them: ca uk
Get them while you can...
I doubt, therefore I may be.
I am the owner of osViews.com and the individual that submitted this slashdot post. It appears as if the article got slashdotted.
Unfortunately, I don't have a second copy of the article otherwise I would post it here. My Slashdot summarization pretty much captured the gist of the editorial, however there is one part that should be mentioned.
In Google's Zeitgeist statistic there was a 5% figure that represented what the OS statistic as "other". I thought that this was bizarre because the Linux and Mac statistics even combined were less than the "other" which encapsulated them all.
I don't believe that the more obscure OSes make up a number that is larger than both Linux and mac combined. This is what prompted me to call Google to get some clarity.
i thought that perhaps Google was doing some subdivisions within the Linux or Mac stats.
For example, Google might have only been reporting 3% to represent the OS X installations as opposed to all Mac users and then grouped the non OS X users (Mac Pre OS X) into the aforementioned "other" category.
Monthly updates in HTML format, here: http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist/archive.html
You mean like Apple is planning to do with Spotlight in Tiger?
p
In Korea, long hair is for old people!
Konqueror allows you a per-site UserAgent string.
My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
Google's Zeitgeist service is sometimes used by news sources as a resource to generate install-base (don't call it market share) statistics for operating systems. osViews contacted Google to bring some clarity to questionable aspects of the OS statistic to which Google said that Zeitgeist is only a fun search inquiry resource and should not be used to generate statistical information. A couple days after that inquiry, we found that Google has since removed the OS stats from the Zeitgeist service.
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Many of us are familiar with Google's Zeitgeist resource which analyses search patters, trends and miscellaneous surprises as how it relates to the way people search the Google search engine. Up until recently, the company also provided operating system statistics of those that accessed Google.
Many news sources have started using Zeitgeist as a means to get statistics that suggest operating system install base. Because of this, osViews repeatedly contacted Google to get clarity for the statistic, which provided some odd stats. (example: 5% of the OS demographic was comprised of multiple OSes which Google categorized as "other."
We thought this odd because Mac and Linux OSes TOGETHER didn't reach 5%. How could the more obscure OSes (even combined) create a larger group unless Linux or Mac were being subdivided by the Google stat. Example: Google's 3% Mac statistic might theoretically only represent OS X users as opposed to all Macintosh users.
Google replied back saying that they are not to talk to the media in any way throughout the "quiet period" that must precede a company's initial public offering, but did say that Zeitgeist is not meant to be regarded as a statistical resource to gauge a demographic of any type. Rather, it is simply a fun resource to analyze search patterns.
After alerting the search company to the fact that many news organizations have started using Zeitgeist's OS stats resource as a means of generating operating system install base statistics, the company replied back with the same response.
Today we noticed that Google has removed the OS stats from the Zeitgeist service.
In Google's Zeitgeist statistic there was a 5% figure that represented what the OS statistic as "other". I thought that this was bizarre because the Linux and Mac statistics even combined were less than the "other" which encapsulated them all.
There's a large network traffic generated not by human surfers but by various bots, scanning the Web for whatever purpose. The bots often identify themselves in a strange way - a comprehensive list of their user-agents can be found here and I always thought that this is actually the majority of the mysterious "other". They are not human users of desktop OS'es, but bots running automated google searches. What do you think?
That'e because it hasn't been updated yet.
.com has July's stats, the .ca only has June's.
The
Endless arguments over trivial contradictions in books written by ignorant savages to explain thunder in the dark.
http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist/jan04_pie.gi f i f i f i f i f i f i f
http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist/feb04_pie.g
http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist/mar04_pie.g
http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist/apr04_pie.g
http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist/may04_pie.g
http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist/jun04_pie.g
July doesn't seem to be there
http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist/aug04_pie.g
I do it because some sites don't allow you in unless you are using a specific browser. http://www.pizzahut.com.au/ is one site I can think of that is picky on what browser they allow on their web site. They only allow ie or a netscape based browser in.
That's funny, because I sure see them on my machine. Maybe yours is broken? Look at the "June 2004 [HTML]" link under Monthly Updates, and in the upper right corner on the first screen, you can see "Operating systems used to access Google". This is the same statistic that the article references.
As you can see, the user agent string gets quite silly as you go down the list, but Internet Explorer is definately losing popularity.
Back in 2002, I mirored another story; the breakdown is available here.
The wheel is turning, but the hamster is dead.
The stats aren't gone from the canadian site. http://www.google.ca/press/zeitgeist.html
Well, you know, meat is cross platform. Any mammal can eat it. But first you need a mouth. Or in other words a platform to begin with! Hence you still need an OS, even if it doesn't matter what OS you pick.
Yeah but Konqueror really _is_ incompatible with a large number of pages. Gmail, most notably, but I've found problems with most sites I've visited in accepting post data. It's enough of a PITA that I just use Mozilla. Too bad, I do like Konqueror's interface.
You can do this quite easily with Privoxy. Just add a custom rule that changes your browser ID to that of IE, or whatever, and add the sites that you need to.
First of all, it's OSTG. Name change happened about three weeks ago.
Anyway, Slashdot is almost completely separate from the rest of the OSTG sites. They all have the same Editor In Chief (Roblimo), but he doesn't dictate content to the writers; our primary requirement is to follow what it says on the masthead. I write for NewsForge and Linux.com and I have never met or spoken with Rob Malda. I don't even know what he looks like. If I write a story for NF and post it to the Slashdot submission bin, I have no more chance of getting it on Slashdot than when all of my content was posted on The Jem Report. Check my recent submissions list if you don't believe me.
Slashdot is not a news site, it is a blog -- a discussion site where people talk about current events in the IT industry and related topics. NewsForge is a news site, IT Manager's Journal is a news site, and Linux.com is really more of a review site -- no news, but very nice business-oriented content. It just so happens that on NF, Lc, and ITMJ we publish some of the industry's best news and reviews. If those three sites were not part of the same parent company as Slashdot, we would still regularly get our stories into the Slashdot submission bin.
The people who have editorial control over these sites are highly professional and are constantly guarding the integrity of each OSTG site. The only agenda that we have is posted on the masthead of each site... the online newspaper for Linux and open source; the enterprise Linux resource; tracking the evolution of IT; news for nerds, stuff that matters.
Little of our work is specifically anti-Microsoft. It just so happens that Microsoft is a pain in the ass, throwing its weight around to harrass smaller software companies, astroturfing (although the worst astroturfing I've seen lately comes from Linux software companies, not Microsoft or SCO), spreading heinous FUD, funding misleading studies and creating monsters like Ken Brown and Rob Enderle. Microsoft hates Linux and free software, and as they continue to fight, we will continue to write about what they're doing.
But it's easier to just pass us all off as a bunch of unprofessional hacks who enjoy manipulating innocent readers into believing our sick and twisted agenda. Because you believe everything you read and can't think critically or make decisions for yourself, right? Gosh I hope so -- otherwise it's curtains for online journalists.
-Jem
try the image location instead
Move Sig. For great justice.