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."
I have a question for slashdot... can I use your polls for scientific research? Will my request result in slashdot removing their polls section? What kind of a crazy assed reaction is this? Why not just put a disclaimer up on the page that says, not scientific.
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Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
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Looooooooonix?
Hopefully MSN will pick up where Google left off and provide free unbiased stats.
If people are citing Google's "just for fun" figures as something to base critical decisions on, Google could be subject to liability for the accuracy of the figures. Granted, it's not likely that a lawsuit would succeed, but simply having to defend against one wouldn't be very good.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
The big problem with the Zeitgeist stats, from what I've heard, is that they only recorded the same IP address once. For people who are more likely to have a broadband connection, which is probably true of Mac and Linux users, they get counted less because their IP address changes less frequently. As Google said, it's just for fun.
I, for one, would be very interested in seeing the browser and OS breakdown on Slashdot. IIRC, slashdot has not given out this info in the past?
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Not that it matters...using the firefox User Agent Switcher Extension I changed mine to "Internet Explorer" just to trick people like you into thinking I was still using IE after the vulnerabilities...
You surely do live in the greatest country in the world.
I don't understand while people do this. I'm proud of the fact that I use firefox over IE. I know some pages did display different results if you were using a browser other than IE (didn't Opra get a big payout from MS for this?), but just to fool people and throw off stats doesn't seem like a good reason to me. Like most people on Slashdot, I'd like to see Firefox's market share increase to a point where IE didn't (at least try to) define standards for html,css,xhtml, etc.
...was so people can't refer to Zeitgeist's damning 1% Linux usage statistic anymore when discussing desktop Linux. If you disagree, let me know why.
I do think it would be better if it were possible to change the UID string for specific sites, and perhaps even to make it impossible to change it for all sites.
The USS Enterprise was originally given the CV-6 designation to demonstrate that she was a "Carrier Vessel". However, after extensive war operations she was refitted for nighttime/round-the-clock operations. To signify this, her designation was changed to CVN-6 (Carrier Vessel, Night).
I don't know where you get your facts from, but they're all wrong. The USS Enterprise had the designation NCC-1701. (CC being Constitution-Class)
After Kirk blew up the original Enterprise, the USS Levant (NCC-1843) was redesignated USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A). And AFAIK, she did not only have round-the-clock operations, the ship was fitted for full five-year missions!
While you may be correct as to the reasoning that prompted them to do this, it begs the question...
.... they were sued by Louis Farakahan when they did a crowd size estimate of the Million Man March, that Farakhan said, was intentionally smaller than it really was.
How fucked up of a society do we live in that people can't provide interesting statistics out of fear of being sued?
This legal bullshit is the same reason that the US Park Service refuses to release any kind of estimates on crowd sizes for protests in Washington D.C.
Insanity.
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.
Better would be to bug them with an email threatening to take your business elsewhere.
Better yet would be to take your business elsewhere - and then send a mail saying exactly why you did.
The User Agent Switcher Extention makes changing the agent as simple as a click. If you set it to IE for all sites you're just bumping up IE's user share which makes it harder to get sites to support standards as opposed to POS software.
I love how people keep saying Microsoft has already done this when the product won't be out for another 2 - 3 years.
I think it is more correct to say, "Microsoft is trying to do this with WinFS."
I still think Google would be able to get this "Out the door" before Longhorn arrives if they wanted to since they are in the data searching business.
Stop believing the hype. Longhorn is NOT a product yet.
I use the user agent string Googlebot/2.1 (+http://www.googlebot.com/bot.html). It gives access to quite a few sites that only give full access to subscribers and Google...
and now a surprising number of people I have spoken to won't use Linux because of the type of person who already does.
You are probably going to get modded troll for saying that but I have noticed some truth to what you said. At the CS dept of the school I work at many students associate Linux with sweaty arrogant zealots and loudmouthed dorks and thus don't use it when they can get by without using it (certain courses require it). They put Linux in the same category as D&D, Star Trek conventions and X-files slash fanfiction. It is a hard pill to swallow but like it or not many people think this way about Linux.
I would think that those Linux users who really want to see Linux on the desktop would try to clean up the image somehow and quit making Linux users look like a bunch of obnoxious ESR fanboys. Plenty of Linux users are smart, successful professionals who are a total inspiration to everyone who meets them but they don't get the spotlight. Instead thousands of idiots come out yelling "Micro$oft sucks dude!" and people just shrug and walk away. I don't have a solution to this problem. I wish I did though because it is a real problem.
Drop this into /usr/share/services/useragentstrings and you can conveniently select it from Konqueror's "Tools/Change Browser Identification" menu at once. In 51 different languages. (-:
If you like melting webmaster brain cells, use this instead.
My mailserver used to answer as a "Commodore 64 (with anti-spam cartridge)".
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing