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Ubuntu User Count Pegged At Over One Billion (phoronix.com)

Posted by timothy on from the depends-how-you-count dept.

An anonymous reader writes: In response to an article claiming Ubuntu didn't reach its goal of 200 million users this year — a goal set out by Mark Shuttleworth in 2011 to surpass 200 million users by 2015 — a Canonical engineer has come out to say the opposite. Dustin Kirkland, a member of Ubuntu Product and Strategy team, has come out to say there are more than one billion Ubuntu users. His billion tally though does include cloud/container instances as well as those shopping online at Wallmart, watching popular movies where the studios used Ubuntu servers, streamed from Netflix, rode with Uber, and other businesses that rely upon Ubuntu servers.

4 of 165 comments (clear)

  1. When you miss a metric... by Wdomburg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When you miss a metric, redefine the metric.

    1. Re:When you miss a metric... by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 4, Insightful

      His claims get even more absurd than that:

      Did you enjoy watching The Hobbit? Hunger Games? Avengers? Avatar? All rendered on Ubuntu at WETA Digital. Among many others.

      You're an Ubuntu user from watching a movie? LOL this is prime trollbait.

    2. Re:When you miss a metric... by ranton · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Heh... Both are right. If you're talking overall desktop users, no, they didn't meet that metric. If you're talking users wherein the usage matters little...the engineer is also right on that score- and they sledgehammered the numbers.

      They are not both right. Counting tablets or even IoT devices that use Ubuntu is a reasonable redefinition of a Ubuntu user. Counting everyone who uses a service that a user of Ubuntu provides is ridiculous. It would be like saying I shop at Walmart because I bought a hamburger from a cashier who bought her shoes at Walmart.

      --
      -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
    3. Re:When you miss a metric... by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No, both are not right. You are not an Ubuntu user by watching a movie rendered on Ubuntu or because some headless Ubuntu server sends you a video stream. That's just bullshit trying to inflate user numbers.