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The Problem With Estimating Linux Desktop Market Share
jammag writes "It's long been one of those exceptionally hard-to-quantify numbers: exactly what percentage of the desktop PC market is held by Linux? Doubters suggest it hovers around a negligible one percent, while partisans suggest it's in excess of 10 percent. Bruce Byfield explores the various sources of estimates, dismissers' and fan boys' alike, and guesstimates it might realistically be 5-6%. Still, he admits, 'the objectivity of numbers is often just a myth.'"
Can't wait until Wolfram Alpha goes online. This question will finally be answered once and for all.
Man did this make me regress. Back when I was doing tech support and I had to ask what ISP people used I tended to get all kinds of wonderful answers.
Me: "I just need to ask you a few questions to better understand your problem"
Them: "Ok"
Me: "What internet service provider are you using?"
Them1: "Netscape"
Them2: "Internet Explorer"
Them3: "Windows?"
Them4: "I don't have one"
Everyone else: "AOL"
Me: "What operating system are you using"
Them1: "Dell"
Them2: "Netscape"
Them3: "AOL"
Them4: "I don't have one"
"I have great faith in fools: Self confidence my friends call it." ~Edgar Allan Poe
The number is somewhere between 0 and 100%
This being the internet, I look forward to somebody disagreeing with me.
I prefer the term "swag". Scientific Wild Ass Guess.
Wikipedia is only an estimate of the real definition of the word.
"But this one goes to 11!"