Slashdot Mirror
Linux Reaches 1% Usage Share
je ne sais quoi writes "The April data is out for the Net Applications 'market share' survey of operating systems (more accurately referred to as a usage share). For the first time, Linux has reached 1%. This past month the Linux share increased by 0.12% which is well above the average monthly increase of 0.02%. Historically, the Net Applications estimate of market share has been lower than that of other organizations who measure this, but the abnormally large increase reported this month brings it closer to the median estimate of 1.11%. For other operating systems, Windows XP continued its slow decline by 0.64% to 62.21%, whereas Vista use is still increasing to 23.90%, but its rate of adoption is slowing. That is, this month's increase of 0.48% is well below the 12-month average increase of 0.78% and down from the peak rate of increase of 1.00% per month on average in January-February 2008. The total Windows share dropped to 87.90%. Mac OS use decreased slightly to 9.73% from 9.77%, but usage share of the iPhone and iPod Touch combined increased by 0.1%."
I can't wait! At this rate, 2024 will be the year of Linux on the Desktop!
Could be an anomaly. I still think I'm the only one cool enough to use it.
Should we really be including both Windows and iPhone in the same OS usage chart?
My John Deere riding mower does a bang-up job cutting my lawn (get the fuck off it), but it's not quite built for the same purpose as my around-town Escalade.
There was an article a while back surmising that the downturn in the American Economy would cause more Linux adoption.
I imagine that is partially the case, but I bet it's also because the Windows folks are currently in No-Man's Land. They've stopped selling/supporting XP, some people are too afraid or unwilling to switch to Vista (I'm one of them), and Windows 7 is still at least months away. With all of these factors, some are seeing it as the perfect time to take the plunge.
The site claims that the statistics meet quality assurance guidelines, including that there are no major statistical variations that are inexplicable. They fail to state on the site (that I saw) what is the margin of error in their evaluation, but it seems that this is a major statistical variation, and I'm wondering what their explanation is.
...Linux reaches 3% of usage share among slashdot users... but seriously, what's the figure?
How do they come up with these numbers anyway? The jump from 0.90 to 1.02 is relatively large, as was the drop from 0.91 to 0.71 a few months ago. Do they have uncertainty estimates? Inquiring minds want to know.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
When you look at browser numbers, it is reasonably doable to get a sense of where the browsers are being used. IE6 spikes during working hours, while FF and friends increase on nights and weekends. Fairly obviously, there is a huge difference in usage rates between workplaces, especially big ones, and the home/small business market.
I'd be curious to know how Linux's market share breaks down in those terms. Is the 1% growth assimilation of the more or less geeky home/school user? Is it j. average user with a netbook or machine set up for them by somebody else? Did a few large corporations shift 250,000 call-center seats in order to save a few bucks on what are basically just terminal emulators?
I'd be curious to know what the data actually say; because you can tell the story either way: You can say "Linux will make it in the home setting first" and argue that the home has relatively fast app turnover, few critical legacy apps, and tends to suffer from viruses/spyware/malware because it lacks professional admins. On the other hand, you could argue "Linux will make it on the corporate side first" because they have highly standardized hardware and software needs, so there are fewer driver issues and "why isn't aunt maybell's scrapbooking shareware working" issues, and professional admins can handle the tricky configuration bits. Whenever something can be argued either way, that is a sign that you need actual data.
One down, 99 more to go!
I get very suspicious of any site that doesn't go into detail on their methodology for making a claim like this.
Especially when the site seems to be a web advertiser.
Have they corrected for the fact that Linux users are more likely to be able to use a variety of ad blocking and filtering tools, and thus may not be showing up in their statistics?
I always try to be clear about exactly what I am measuring - what are these guys measuring? When they say "market share", what "market" are they referring to? "Users who see our ads?" "Users visiting this set of sites (many of which refuse to work with That Which Is Not Internet Explorer)?"
Absent a statement of exactly of WHAT this is 1%, and a statement of methodologies used to make that measurement, this is a very questionable number.
www.eFax.com are spammers
All I read about is that how in the future your browser will run your apps, and how that handheld devices are the real future of computers in the wider market.
Does this "war" even matter anymore? Twenty years from now, will anyone care what OS is running Chrome 15.2?
I consider myself to be a bit more advanced than the typical computer user..maybe not compared to the slashdot crowd.
I had Ubuntu(gusty) on a partition for a long time. For about 3 months for so I used it as my primary partition. I liked the look and feel for the most part.
I even enjoyed learning the command line stuff to get my screen rez correct..it took a long while to set that damn thing to 1366x766! But, once I figured it out, that was that.
In the end, I went back to Windows and that is where I will stay and here's why...
Bluetooth!
At that time, my wife lived overseas and we used skype to talk. None of my Bluetooth dongles would work in the slightest with Linux. I tried and tried and tried, but could not make it work..and hell.. at that time my job was maintaining and creating bluetooth RF test cases!!!!
I was so sick of having to boot to windows every time i needed to "do" something I said forgot it..im sticking with windows.
Non-random source data
Also, the linked site does not appear to differentiate between general purpose computers and appliances, which could skew the results. Devices like the G1 from T-mobile and Nokia internet tablets, which are not bought for having Linux, but rather for the functionality they provide, should probably not be listed under Linux.
There is no "-1 offended" or "-1 you don't agree with me" mod options for a reason.
...the Linux Tea Cosey.
Bow, Cower, Prostrate yourself, it is taking over.
Does this "war" even matter anymore? Twenty years from now, will anyone care what OS is running Chrome 15.2?
It depends on what W3C and WaSP recommendations get published and implemented between now and then. There's still no widely implemented DOM for 3D graphics, nor is there a DOM for reading events from joysticks or home theater remote controls.
back in the old days( ~1994 ), IBM was fortunate enough to find one or two top OEMs in Germany who couldn't be paid off by Microsoft and accepted the technically superior IBM OS/2 as their primary preloaded OS. In one short year, OS/2 had 25% marketshare in Germany.
Preloading is the game and Microsoft knows this and is willing to pay out millions in marketing kickbacks to make sure a Microsoft OS is what is preloaded instead of a Linux distro. Remember the ClassmatePC deal in Nigeria? Microsoft got caught purchasing the favor of replacing the preloaded Mandriva with Windows XP once they were delivered. Egypt took tens of millions and became a Windows-only government at the expense of the OLPC MOU for a million units. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Microsoft just redirected billions of "R&D" funds and you know where those will likely end up? Most likely place is in the pockets of companies looking to preload Android, Ubuntu Netbook Remix, or other Linux products. IMO.
It's the preloads. So when you hear the press complaining about Linux as it came from the OEM and not about installation problems, it's game-on and most likely game-over for MSFT.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
The really troubling trend, from my point of view as an OSS fanboy, is that netbooks are reverting to Windows. I teach at a community college. A year or two ago, one my students showed me his eeePC running Linux, which was the first eee I'd seen. This year my wife saw a eee with Linux in Target for $270. "Wow," I thought, "Linux in Target!" I bought her a eee with Linux (not the Target one, but a $400-ish model, via Amazon) as a birthday present, but the wifi was misconfigured. Asus tech support told me the wrong card was installed, and there was no way to fix it in software. We returned it and gave up on the netbook idea. If you look at the reviews on Amazon, you'll see tons of customers complaining about problems with their eee/Linux boxes. Now when I walk through the cafeteria at work, I see lots of students using netbooks, but when I sneak a peek over their shoulders, it's always Windows. IMO Asus really dropped the ball by not getting the quality of their Linux configuration right. They were supposed to be the flagship of the new wave of Linux on netbooks, and it just didn't happen. I guess this kind of thing is just expensive to get right.
It will be interesting to see if this predicted new wave of ARM-based netbooks really comes to market, and whether they really have a decent price-to-performance ratio. If so, it would be great, because Windows doesn't run on ARM, and if the price gets down to $100-200, there's really no room for profit for MS even if they did make an ARM version of Windows. But so far, the history of netbooks has all been bait and switch. They keep saying they're going to have them at price x, but they're always really at price 2x. Performance is still a problem, too. I'd hate for people to get the impression that Linux is slow and crappy, simply because netbooks are underpowered to run Firefox/js/flash.
Find free books.
http://www.junauza.com/2009/04/ubuntu-now-more-popular-than-windows-xp.html
1% is underestimation of facts.
"I bought her a eee with Linux (not the Target one, but a $400-ish model, via Amazon) as a birthday present, but the wifi was misconfigured. Asus tech support told me the wrong card was installed, and there was no way to fix it in software"
What company did you buy it from. Why would they sell it misconfigured. What make and model exactly ?
davecb5620@gmail.com
according to Boycott Novell
http://boycottnovell.com/2009/02/03/net-applications-big-lie/
Make your own mind up, though
"None of my Bluetooth dongles would work in the slightest with Linux. I tried and tried and tried, but could not make it work..and hell.. at that time my job was maintaining and creating bluetooth RF test cases!!!!"
I am totally gobsmasked that a bluetooth RF test engineer can't get it to work under Ubuntu. Did you try and ask on the forums?
davecb5620@gmail.com
Oh yeah? My mom's girlfriend's brother's doctor had this friend who knew a guy that had a sister-in-law, in another town, that once used Linux that was given to her by the Rabbi of an ultra-orthodox Mormon sect in Bolivia who knew a guy that had a sister that dated Ferris Bueller before he got sick and passed out at 31 Flavors.
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.
So when are they going to make it desirable for the non-tech literate to use?
"I get very suspicious of any site that doesn't go into detail on their methodology for making a claim like this"
'We use a unique methodology for collecting this data. We collect data from the browsers of site visitors to our exclusive on-demand network of live stats customers...'
davecb5620@gmail.com
Oh shit! Time for Adobe to properly support Flash on Linux!
"Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"
Many of us linux users alternate between using linux and windows on the same machine. How does that factor into the usage chart?
If you look at the trend, Linux's share is roughly doubling every two years, which is an impressive rate. It indicates that all the talk about how Linux has "failed" on the desktop is premature, if not flat-out wrong. It also suggests that people who lamenting the non-existent "year of the desktop" should chill for a bit. Linux is growing just fine, but it's hard to notice that when the starting market share is so small. If it keeps growing, it's going to become more more noticeable.
Month Share
Apr-09 1.02
Mar-09 0.90
Feb-09 0.89
Jan-09 0.83
Dec-08 0.85
Nov-08 0.83
Oct-08 0.71
Sep-08 0.91
Aug-08 0.92
Jul-08 0.82
Jun-08 0.80
May-08 0.68
Apr-08 0.63
Mar-08 0.61
Feb-08 0.65
Jan-08 0.64
Dec-07 0.63
Nov-07 0.57
Oct-07 0.50
Sep-07 0.49
Aug-07 0.47
Jul-07 0.46
Jun-07 0.43
May-07 0.43
Apr-07 0.41
Mar-07 0.40
Feb-07 0.42
Jan-07 0.35
Dec-06 0.37
Nov-06 0.37
Oct-06 0.39
Sep-06 0.40
Aug-06 0.47
Jul-06 0.44
Jun-06 0.38
I use Linux for many reasons, the main one is that it's free. If I had to use other OS's I would have to spend a lot of money to use the equivalent applications that I use in Linux. so in the end FTW! I'll always use Linux!
Maybe they go by web logs, but I and my friends have many Linux-based devices; I have a TomTom GPS, my friends have Linksys WRT(Can't remember the num) routers, and I do a lot of work on Linux servers that are completely headless and "somewhere in the cloud".
Linux is bigger than anyone can monitor effectively; so many Linux machines will never touch a web page yet they do useful stuff every day.
BTW, do they break it out by platform? If so, I wonder how many people like me are out there using Linux on a PS3.
That's what I would like to know. Just a short while ago, if you opted for the linux version of one of their models, eeePC gave a nice SSD upgrade on their line of computers in lieu of Windows.
Now, the newer models don't have a Linux option (1000he and 1000hae). So I can't even get linux if I'm willing to pay (more than willing).
With a error margin of + or - 1%
Not much meat on her, but what's there is cherce.
with apologies to Spencer Tracy
Everyone tries to say that the problem with Linux growth is that it's too hard for people to switch, or the ordinary user can't understand it. That is simply not the problem.
The problem is, Windows started with a much bigger chunk of the general population while Linux catered to the geeky, nerdy population. As with most things in life (religion, political views, ...), preferences are passed down from parents to children to grandchildren and so on. With the general population, reproduction happens regularly. With Linux users, the only hope of having more Linux users is for them to convert there non-computer using mothers and fathers into Linux users and hope that they have more children late in life. On the off chance that a Linux user finds a mate(some girl wanders into the basement), the population could increase, but this doesn't happen often.
This is why Linux has little to no chance of ever catching Windows as the OS used by the majority of the population.
"I don't have to think. I only have to do it. The results are always perfect, but that's old news." - Meat Puppets
Sweet! It's like when my WoW guild got Illidan down to 5% for the first time, then 2%, then 1%! We were so close to...
Wait, you mean... Linux market share doesn't work like that?
Finally! We've waited for it with steadfast, earnest dedication - and today, my brothers, it is finally upon us!
The year of the Linux 1% usage share! Hallelujah!
That puts Linux right up there with my AMIGA OS. Don't get me wrong..I am a Linux fan, but a 1% penetration is not worth writing about.
My John Deere has a cup holder thank you!
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
I wonder what amount of penetration is needed to get a three-way OSX commercial of PC, Mac, and Tux.
I can just see it now: a bearded unix geek (like Stallman), wearing a tuxedo, and Mac saying to him "You're not fooling anyone"
PC is hiding, warning Mac, "Careful, he'll steal your [intellectual property] secrets!"
Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.
Home users' PCs?
Because I bet it looks different if you add anything that can run Linux. (Which mostly can't run Windows at all.)
Like network devices, small gadgets, phones, car systems and pretty much every other advanced hardware.
Plus all the servers out there, where the share looks very different.
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
W00000 ONE PERCENT! WOOO!!!
WINDOWS KICKS ASS!
All the elitist scorn in the world can't top the fact that NO ONE USES LINUX!!
Woohoo! We're #1(%)! We're #1(%)!
For some reason, this makes me think of that old Cheers episode where the gang was down about coming in last at something. Then Frasier walked by looking pitiful because he wasn't getting any from his wife, and the gang started chanting.
"We're not Frasier! We're not Frasier!"
Everyone things they should be afraid, but the fear is greater that the reality.
For all the freetards do, they still can't equal the ease of use of Windows. It's the universal corporate standard for a reason. Canonical's shit-colored desktop doesn'twork.
Don't take my word for it--download the live CD yourself and try it. If you like it better than Windows I'll eat my own ass. (It'll be the color of Ubuntu.) If everyone tried the CD they'd see how bad it was. Windows advocates do download it and know how badlyit sucks.
Go on, mod me down, Ubuntu shills--but you can't hide how much your system sucks forever.
Again, don't take my word for it--download the live CD. Really, do this. You'll see just how much it sucks.
The last time I tried to install a linux distro was back in 2000 on an old parts computer I had laying around. It was a total disaster, nothing worked and I wasted a good deal of time. That was enough for me to steer clear until 2 days ago. My wife's computer is used mostly for email, facebook, youtube, and light word processing. It had been running windows XP until I got tired of cleaning viruses off her computer. A couple days ago, it was really the last straw and I'd heard about Ubuntu 9.04 being a pretty good distro, so we gave it a shot. I was dreading trying to get it to work with her linksys wusb54gc network adapter and worried about the prospects of getting it to work with our networked lexmark laser printer. I remember my reaction when everything worked without a hitch. I just laughed at how brainlessly easy it all was. This is the kind of experience that is going to bring linux to the mainstream. I don't know if I just got lucky, but for anyone who does not require specific software programs such as outlook and adobe photoshop -- for people like my wife, who use a computer for internet access and basic email and light wordprocessing -- this is the type of experience that Linux needs to maintain and expand on. She loves it and hasn't had any problems -- I got flash installed without a hitch and as far as she's concerned, her computer does exactly what it did before linux, only now it is faster. From my perspective, not having to spend so much time maintaining/fixing her computer is a welcome relief.
-- I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous
i always install the latest LTS version of ubuntu
I've been wanting to install Ubuntu on my Mac, and almost bought the book "Practical Guide to Ubuntu Linux (Versions 8.10 and 8.04), A (2nd Edition)" last night. Unfortunately one of the reasons I want to install a Linux distro is to run CinePaint but it was dropped from Ubuntu. Unless I can find a way to install CinePaint I don't think I'll install Ubuntu.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
Pulling an OS X and taking away all of the user's power so they can't break anything is not a good policy.
Admin accounts can be created on OS X as well as Linux. I'm typing this on a Mac and one of the first things I did when I got it, having switched from Windows, was to create two user accounts. Of course I created an admin account then I created a regular user account which is the account I'm using now. I only log into the admin account when I install something, run updates, or if I have trouble. Using Linux I do the same thing.
Oh, doesn't Vista also need an admin account account to play with the system? From what I understand MS finally got smart about that.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
The geek's conversion stories always begin with a line like this.
The WalMart shopper in the boondocks will remember being suckered into buying a gOS desktop without a working modem.
First cousin to his flea market Boombox.
News at eleven.
The margin of error is [snip definition]
Then what number is the value of the margin of error for the 1 percent quoted by Net Applications?
When it's pre-loaded.
A GNU/Linux operating system already comes pre-loaded on select low-end subnotebooks (as Xandros, Linpus, or Ubuntu depending on the model) and Dell "n" series PCs (as Ubuntu Hardy). How long will it take for home and home office users to discover these offerings?
What do they measure? Home users' PCs?
For all I can gather from pages on Net Applications' site linked in other comments, it appears they count devices that run World Wide Web browsers.
Like network devices, small gadgets, phones, car systems and pretty much every other advanced hardware. Plus all the servers out there
Phones are counted as "iPhone" or "iPod Touch" or "Android" or "Windows Mobile" etc. Servers generally don't make HTTP requests unless they're doing some sort of SOAP or REST request. Small gadgets and car systems may not have an Internet connection at all.
so many Linux machines will never touch a web page yet they do useful stuff every day.
But not browse the Web. A survey from a company called Net Applications will probably concentrate on statistics relevant to the developers of, um, net applications.
Windows doesn't run on ARM
Windows Mobile does.
True, a port of "real" (NT based) Windows wouldn't start out with any non-free third-party applications. But I would imagine that a port of Windows to ARM would have an API translation layer to run existing apps for Windows Mobile, just as Windows NT 4 and Windows 2000 could run Windows 3.1 apps, Windows Vista 64-bit can run Win32 apps, and Wine on GNU/Linux can run Win32 apps.
The generic Windows installation disk had none of the drivers I needed for the machine.
But at least on Windows, every PC hardware manufacturer makes available double-clickable installer packages (.exe or .msi) that add the appropriate driver to your machine. Linux users often don't have that luxury.
Thanks for pointing this out. While the rest of slashdot is throwing feces back and forth, the information in your mod pointless post will be the main topic of discussion in meetings at Microsoft, guaranteed. If the exponential growth continues, in 2013 Linux will be bigger than Mac. In 2015, it will have dominant market share.
While all exponential growth in history has eventually had limits, this is still worth worrying about for MS because of Network Effect. When things change in the computing world, they change hard and fast. See Lotus 123 and WordPerfect for examples of this.
On another note, while I have grown to love Linux, and especially Ubuntu, making it have higher mind or marketshare has become less important for me. Now I have all my hardware working and almost all the software I want working with it, I am happy. I don't need higher marketshare to pressure companies to produce drivers or more software than I already have. All that I would like is that the support not to diminish. Ironically, these facts will probably make Ubuntu and Linux in general more popular. I suspect that we will look back at these years as a golden age before the downside of popularity starts to make the Linux experience less fun or useful.
For me, Ubuntu has been a great product. I can access whatever software I want through the repos, and they have not been infected with malware. In XP the typical search for new software will over time, result in a compromised machine. Ubuntu just keeps working reliably, with little in the way of maintenance.
Often it is said that Linux is an OS for developers. But maybe it works the other way too, maybe it turns one into a developer if one has the ability.
It has turned me into more of a developer than I could be in Windows, because everything is so accessible. You can easily tinker, hack (in the original sense) and create, so you do. As you get more comfortable with tinkering and new projects are less intimidating, a positive feedback loop develops as you both create more and appreciate/love the environment that allows you to do this. And when I talk about hacking/tinkering/creating, I'm talking specifically about useful stuff that saves me time or gives me abilities I didn't have before, not "tinkering with the OS" just to mitigate its deficiencies.
I think the type of kids who used to tinker with C64s or DOS (I used to be one) will really appreciate this type of power. It's the accessibility. The bar is lowered:
1. You can google any info you want for free, and it's almost ALWAYS there, usually in a question and answer format, that can be copied and pasted if desired. So, so easy. And if you desire manuals, they are there as well. So you don't need specialized training, if you are even mildly autodidactically inclined.
2. Most of the tools are there right on your system, and the rest needing only synaptic or apt-get to access. You've got a useful terminal and scripting environment already set up, along with a great set of text editors.
3. Costs are lowered. A spare computer is either free or almost free.
4. Community. There are always people willing to help.
Those kids have power. They will be the same kids shaping the environment of their workplace, their business, their family, their friends in years to come.
If I have seen further it is by stealing the Intellectual Property of giants.
HID (Human Interface Design) studies those topics, it is a well known fact in the field that familiarity increase the appeal of any given interface, no matter how bizarre or illogical it may appear at face value.
Linux proponents should forget about anybody older than 20 years and younger than 60. they are beyond redemption.
Younger people are openminded, willing to learn and are always in the lookout for th cool factror (which Linux provides in spades).
Older people have a different incentive: money. Once you begin to rely on a pension for a living, all of the sudden paying 2 or 3 hundred bucks for the software in your computer begins to look stupid.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
This is the proportion of OSes used for Browsing, not just general purpose usage on the desktop or whatever.
From a popup in TFA:
"Linux reaches 1% usage share" in terms only of browsing. Also, 'across our network' is a potential stumbling block.
Oh wait, it isn't.
In any big corporation the poor Windows support people are constantly spending time with users holding their hand as well.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
No one cares who uses what operating system. Use what works for you. I am going to get snooty here, if linux went main stream I would probably switch operating systems. It does everything I need right now. I'm sorry, but I do not want the average MySpace/Facebook power user or some moron celeb running Linux - because in the geek world it becomes shit and we move on to the next complex obscure OS begging for Flash plugins, wireless/video drivers, etc. I will be one of them and you will all be there too. trust me.
I am just curious....
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
1%???
LMAO
i heard a lot of mouths who were laughing about microsoft giving out their product for free and people supposedly not wanting it*? but it's taken linux 2 decades to get past the 1% mark? what was that again about what it means if you can't give away a free product?
*with the problems of servers going down i think it's pretty apparent that people did indeed want it.
Old farts always need more time, so just hang in there another 20 and see if linux can get past a margin of error result then.
Maybe with another 18 years of effort, you can push your wheezing, slapped-together clone of a 1970s operating system to TWO percent of the market! Keep on reaching to that rainbow!
My router (Linksys w/ DD-WRT), NAS (D-Link DNS-323), HDTV (Sony Bravia), and MythTV box all run a Linux kernel.
My laptop dual-boots XP and Ubuntu.
It's really getting there. I still primarily use XP on my laptop, but for the most part I could just as well use Ubuntu. Pidgin, Firefox, OpenOffice, and VLC all run just fine on it.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
How many Tivos are out there? Have they caught up with Macs yet?
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Yes, the blueman project is great! I can't for the life of me understand why it wasn't included in Jaunty...
Face the music, it ain't gonna do anything except attract shit and geeks, not necessarily in the smelliest order there. Cruel but the truth is hurtul, if you want lies, follow RMS like a good lemming.
We're number 1! We're number 1!!
Im typing this message at home on 64bit vista. Although I simply cannot articulate into words how much I would rather be typing this on CentOS. The problem? Well, ive spent the last 5 hours working on a small project for some gamer friends in Photoshop, After Effects and Premiere Pro. However can I do that on Linux? No.
There are plenty of great OSS programs, many of which I use the windows versions of anyway (such as pidgin over windows live messenger) but the bottom line is that when you talk about programs that people actually use and spend money on (specifically gaming and creative apps - pretty much anything made by Adobe or Autodesk) there really is nothing there. I don't care about GIMP, ive had many people tell me "just look at GIMP" but I assure you, GIMP is no where near photoshop.
When it gets commercial app support, the masses will switch. Apple got there with Adobe specifically (meaning photoshop) and this helped them immensely.
One may also make torrents of Ubuntu and rename them as Windows XP or so. Than the Linux use will go up even faster.
~epSos.de
Maybe its been a while since you looked at it, according to their page it looks like debian and ubuntu are supported.
CinePaint has not been in Ubuntu since 8.10 intrepid. Search Ubuntu Studio and it returns no results for CinePaint. If CinePaint is part of it why doesn't it return anything? Now the CinePaint website does have a link to a .deb package but Debian has not supported it for years. According to CinePaint "CinePaint was removed from Debian lenny (testing) because Debian has dropped support for GTK1." The Debian people who worked on CinePaint are no longer there. And the .deb available is experimental.
I did my research to see if Ubuntu would do what I wanted.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
Why don't you run the OS X version of Cinepaint, available from their sourceforge page?
I installed CinePaint on my Mac and I was not able to get it to work. Every time I started it all I got was a title bar. There is no native Mac port for OS X, for OS X CinePaint requires X11 which I installed way before I ever installed CinePaint.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
So Ubuntu works if it's accompanied with personal hand-holding from a dedicated and highly knowledgeable guru.
OS X and Windows requires hand holding too.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
If a person isn't knowledgeable then they could have someone install a VM, of course it requires knowledge to know about them. That's what I had planned, I'd like to install Ubuntu on my Mac. Then I'd run Ubuntu in a VM on Leopard. I was also looking for a way to run Leopard in a VM on Ubuntu. This would eliminate reboots.
If Windows runs their application du jour and does the rest fairly well
This is why I'm having second thought about installing Ubuntu. One of the reasons I want to is to use CinePaint, however Ubuntu dropped CinePaint. I'll do more research to see if I can get them to work together. If I can find a way I'll install Ubuntu but if not I probably won't.
which it does
I switched from Windows because I was sick and tired of it always crashing. I could have bought a new PC with Vista, it is supposed to be more stable. But I hate Activation, spyware, and being treated like a criminal. Others are sick of them and viruses. I don't buy computers to suffer through crashes, I buy them to use them.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
"Windows is indeed a lot like an Escalade. An overpriced, bloated, and inefficient showcase of false beauty.
And linux is like an inelegant car built out of parts from many disjointed suppliers. The paint on the panels doesn't match. You may or may not be able to get it serviced if anything goes wrong, and chances are you'll have to get real familiar with a collection of wrenches and screwdrivers. And of course if you want to change the tail lights you'll have to rebuild the engine.
While that's one of the better car analogies I've seen it's wrong. Whereas Windows needs to be taken to a mechanic, er Windows tech, to be serviced Linux can be fixed by a shade tree mechanic. Now while I've compleatly rebuilt car engines I've only added and replaced PC parts. Mostly on Windows PCs because they kept on failing.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
Its a good computer replacement except....
A) Can't edit documents
iPhones can edit Word documents.
B) No Flash
Flash does run on iPhones.
F) Little to no software or abilities to do some basic financial things (e-file taxes, etc)
Here are 10 iPhone Finance Apps That Count for iPhones and iPods.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
I, for one, like Linux being the alternative OS and only occupying a small share of the market. If it grows to take Microsoft's spot then it will become just that, another Microsoft Windows. People will eventually figure out ways to write effective viruses and more efficient ways of hacking into Linux machines. Companies like Novell and Redhat will abuse their standing. So I'd rather the Linux community remain on the smaller side. Just my two cents.
I recently put on Ubuntu 9.0.4 on my wife's computer and it's hands down the best release yet.
I'd like to install Ubuntu on my Mac however one of the reasons for doing so is so I can use CinePaint to edit photos but it was removed from Ubuntu. So now unless I can find a way to install CinePaint in Ubuntu I don't think I'll install it.
However, i'm still in no mans land as My scanner, art pad, and games rely on windows xp
Watcom tablets work on Ubuntu. As do scanners. I have an Epson Perfection V500 scanner others have gotten to work on Ubuntu.
I truly wish Adobe would port over photoshop to Linux.
So do I but people have gotten CS2 to run in CrossOver and CS3 in WINE. Others have gotten CS4 to run in Ubuntu, though not perfectly.
If I can't get CinePaint to install I may end up getting Photoshop myself. I want to try CinePaint first though to see if it will do what I want. If I do get PH I'll probably buy it off eBay where older versions can be bought cheap then upgraded.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
Alright people! What is taking sooooo long?! You've got what's now become a very useable, useful, user-friendly Desktop, that uses less resources, runs faster, looks better, and is FREE!!! What's the problem? Well I do have to say Bravo to all the manufacturers that are now offering Linux OS as an option to ship with! woohoo!
For most people, believe it or not, Windows works well enough.
I dislike Windows and only boot into it for gaming purposes; otherwise I use Linux and, lately primarily, OS X. For all ordinary purposes, I find Windows the worst of the lot, but it is still usable enough.
Ignore this signature. By order.
Why is everyone laughing and saying "1% OMG LMAO Windows FTW!" ? Do you realise what a large number 1% is in this context?
the phrase "market share" means that they are only counting things that are purchased
Even though the second sentence says:
This data is derived by aggregating the traffic across our network of websites that use our service
It is hard to believe that this was a honest mistake.
Which might explain why the original report is titled "Linux Breaks 1% on the Client"
If it increases at 1 percentage point per year (which is what is has increased in the whole of its life so far), we'll reach 100% a lot later than 2024
So if 100% is required, Windows isn't "On The Desktop". Try saying that ten times fast with a straight face.
Even if we set the threshold at 10%, we'd say that OS X isn't "On The Desktop".
Cool, I'm going to sow one of those 1% patches motorcyclists have onto my jacket now.
http://www.hardocp.com/news.html?news=MzkzMjUsLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdCwsLDE=
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
10/31/2004-12/31/2006 +15.55% (annualized)
10/31/2004-12/31/2007 +30.70% (annualized)
10/31/2004-12/31/2008 +31.68% (annualized)
10/31/2004-04/30/2009 +34.40% (annualized)
2005 -3.23%
2006 +23.33%
2007 +70.27%
2008 +34.92%
2009 +72.80% (annualized, based on last 4 months)
Predictions (Based on exponential regression line, round to 0.2%)
12/31/2009 1.0%
12/31/2010 1.4%
12/31/2011 1.8%
12/31/2012 2.4%
12/31/2013 3.2%
12/31/2014 4.4%
12/31/2015 5.6%
12/31/2016 7.6%
12/31/2017 10.0%
Historically, 2007 was the year of the linux desktop. However, 2009 is currently surpassing 2007's growth rate.
"The April data is out for the Net Applications 'market share' survey of operating systems (more accurately referred to as a usage share). "http://www.vxcb.com100% of claims on how many statistics are made up on the spot are made up on the spot.
Probably not pointing out anything new, but...
:)
a) the statistics are heavily U.S.-biased
b) The difference between statistics sites varies greatly
c) Microsoft themselves have given Linux (about 6%) a greater share than Apple, while Apple showed a seemingly appropriate share (about 5%). Not sure if this was in total or just desktops or what, but of course it's on the desktop that needs focus.
d) regardless, go-go Tux tech.
Promote true freedom - support standards and interoperability.