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The Problem With Estimating Linux Desktop Market Share

Posted by timothy on from the something-about-lying-and-statistics dept.

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.'"

2 of 409 comments (clear)

  1. Re:what's a desktop? by Hatta · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Linux holds a decent share of the POS/retail market.

    And here I thought Windows held a monopoly on being a POS.

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  2. Re:Guesstimates? by Chabo · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    objectifies (yes, according to my professors that's a real word)

    Most often heard in a context similar to "That chauvinistic pig objectifies women all the time."

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