Linux Distribution Popularity Trends Plotted

DeviceGuru writes "In order to get a sense of the popularity of various Linux distributions over the past several years, LinuxTrends entered their names into Google's search insights tool and grabbed images of the resulting graphs. The graphs display some fascinating trends and bode well for the future of Linux, particularly its ability to adapt to changing requirements and opportunities. What's especially noteworthy is that Android is the first Linux spin to take on a life of its own within consumer devices. It's certainly not the first use of Linux as an OS for devices; what's unique, however, is that it's the first branded Linux-based OS to be widely marketed to consumers."

Comments

Re:The 6 month release schedule is part of problem

[Alex Belits]

"Stable ABI" is the new "GIMP doesn't support CMYK!!!".

Hey, shit-for-brains Microsoft astroturfer, did you know that userspace ABI is compatible in Linux across everything released for more than a decade? "ABI changes" are only a problems for proprietary kernel drivers, but get this -- there are no, and never ever were, proprietary kernel printer drivers for Linux.

At this point Linux uses CUPS, the same printer spooler as OSX, so all drivers are in userspace. No printer manufacturer will dare to exclude OSX support, therefore Linux gets automatically supported as well.

Completely unrelated to this, your whole post is complete nonsense -- you can run an old Linux system, but upgrades are so useful and easy, there is no point doing so, this is why people would rather run an upgrade procedure than look for a package from an old release.