And as this guy mentioned the market share of the iPhone... Google Android is heading our way as well.
Same with the growing numbers of OLPC's XO shipped. And more and more manufacturer realizing the demand for a pre-installed Linux, And why not? There are many complete PC-systems sold with nothing installed (in order for the buyer to save the OS money). If just a small percentage would ship these system with Linux pre-installed instead of a blank HD, numbers would grow even more.
As he mentioned in his article, one could interpret the numbers by saying, Linux more than doubled its user base in this time strip. Although he does not give this view big credits, in my opinion it counts. Why? Because Linux achieved this with no (or at least close to zero) bundling of hard- and software, as both M$ and Apple do. So the whole growth rate of Linux is driven by a conscious decision, a real opt-out of the 2 big OS's. This trend is picking up speed, not loosing it.
On the other hand, the hard/software bundling with Linux is still about to come. In about a year, we will see even bigger growth rates for Linux. Why? Take the EeePC. Asus wants to ship millions of these in the next year only, most of them coming with Linux pre-installed. Take the OLPC, which will ship in high numbers as well. This will have a high effect on the Linux user base numbers.
Given that Ubuntu and its flavors growing more and more popular as well and non OS related software is becoming more mature in areas where it is not competitive right now (take Adobe packages), Linux on the desktop will be more of an alternative every year. As well, Apple kind of delivers mostly to the high-price segment. If they do not change that course, the growth of Apple will reach an end pretty soon. And while Chris Howard writes:
"These figures are quite disturbing from Linux's desktop perspective and although they have more than doubled, consider the iPhone has already achieved 0.12% in just six months. The iPhone has the potential to become the third most popular internet connected device! That deserves an exclamation mark."
Wasn't the Google Android platform Linux based?
I say, lets discuss this subject in another year...
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And as this guy mentioned the market share of the iPhone... Google Android is heading our way as well.
Same with the growing numbers of OLPC's XO shipped. And more and more manufacturer realizing the demand for a pre-installed Linux, And why not? There are many complete PC-systems sold with nothing installed (in order for the buyer to save the OS money). If just a small percentage would ship these system with Linux pre-installed instead of a blank HD, numbers would grow even more.As he mentioned in his article, one could interpret the numbers by saying, Linux more than doubled its user base in this time strip. Although he does not give this view big credits, in my opinion it counts. Why? Because Linux achieved this with no (or at least close to zero) bundling of hard- and software, as both M$ and Apple do. So the whole growth rate of Linux is driven by a conscious decision, a real opt-out of the 2 big OS's. This trend is picking up speed, not loosing it.
On the other hand, the hard/software bundling with Linux is still about to come. In about a year, we will see even bigger growth rates for Linux. Why? Take the EeePC. Asus wants to ship millions of these in the next year only, most of them coming with Linux pre-installed. Take the OLPC, which will ship in high numbers as well. This will have a high effect on the Linux user base numbers.
Given that Ubuntu and its flavors growing more and more popular as well and non OS related software is becoming more mature in areas where it is not competitive right now (take Adobe packages), Linux on the desktop will be more of an alternative every year. As well, Apple kind of delivers mostly to the high-price segment. If they do not change that course, the growth of Apple will reach an end pretty soon. And while Chris Howard writes:
Wasn't the Google Android platform Linux based?
I say, lets discuss this subject in another year...