1 Million Linux Users - possible?

[cwaidelich]

Hi,

Two days ago I found this project (http://1-million-tux.linux-befehle.org/indexen.php). It basically trying to find 1'000'000 Linux users around the world.

If you know Linux / Open Source, and are proud of it, then go over and register.

Cheers,

Christian

[DeadSuperHero]

I think we've probably at least surpassed that number on machines running it.

Let me think...if the number of linux users is about 2% of the market, and there are 8 billion people in the world, that would mean...

Theroretically, we could have up to 160 million users? (8 billion X .02)?

Edit: For point of reference, I'm more of an artsy fartsy person, not really a math expert.

[Arup]

You would be surprised, in countries like India and China with 2 billion people combined, quite many people, establishments are using Linux, only thing is that they are not bothered reporting it so it goes unregistered. Linux being free appeals to a lot who are tired of being paranoid about piracy. Its catching on in schools etc. where many kids who are into IT find it to be a good path to learn about computing.

[Joeb454]

The fact that this forum has 880,000+ members means it's not going to be too dificult to find 1,000,000 users. Not every user will register on these forums :p

The issue they'll have is publicising the site so as to find the users

[MikeTheC]

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/1952/wilmaanythingispossible.png

"Anything is possible, cwaidelich."

[cwaidelich]

cool if we could make it.

spread the word..

[schauerlich]

I think we've probably at least surpassed that number on machines running it.

Let me think...if the number of linux users is about 2% of the market, and there are 8 billion people in the world, that would mean...

Theroretically, we could have up to 160 million users? (8 billion X .02)?

Edit: For point of reference, I'm more of an artsy fartsy person, not really a math expert.

The numbers I've seen were about 0.9% and 6.4 billion people in the world. Now, consider that the market share number only accounts for the people who can afford to own a computer and connect it to the internet - which is hardly everyone.

[HermanAB]

The vast majority of Linux users have no idea that they are using it:
Cell phones, cell towers, phone exchanges, routers, printers, microwave ovens, washers, dryers....

There are at least 2 billion embedded Linux devices out there and each year another 300 million or so gets produced.

[sydbat]

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/1952/wilmaanythingispossible.png

"Anything is possible, cwaidelich."Y'know, back in the '70s I thought she was pretty hot.

[MythAaron]

Now, consider that the market share number only accounts for the people who can afford to own a computer and connect it to the internet - which is hardly everyone.
Yes, the market is only those people that own computers. 2 billion people live on less than 2 USD per day. There are many more people who barely make enough to survive (Chinese per capita yearly income is ~$4000). 1/3 of the world has never placed a phone call or flipped a light switch. At most 1/4 of the world's population can afford to buy some kind of computer (including cell phones and Tivo units).

Still 1 million Linux users is a very safe bet. 5 million would still be a safe bet.

[YukaToshi]

About a year ago it was said that about 10 million people use Ubuntu desktop in some form or another.

[MythAaron]

I was way off. A quick Google search gave me 29 million users as of 2005. Ubuntu alone accounts for 8 million.

[aysiu]

Even if the numbers are in the double digits of the millions, it's still less than 1% of the entire global human population.

Now, granted, not all of the 6 billion people on the planet have a computer, but a lot of people who do have computers have multiple computers.

[MythAaron]

The day Linux crosses 10% is the day I go to BSD. :)

[cwaidelich]

The real question is: linux user / total computer users ???

[aysiu]

The real question is: linux user / total computer users ???
Unfortunately, there's no real answer to that question based on reliable data.

[Viva]

About a year ago it was said that about 10 million people use Ubuntu desktop in some form or another.

I remember reading that too.

[Viva]

From SABDFL himself:

"We know now that there are probably at least 8 million [Ubuntu] users."

[Humanum]

+1 User !!!

[1mt]

Hello!

Thanks to all who like my projekt and the discussion about the number of Linux users worldwide.

Wolfram

[moster]

haha, I can recognise some of users from here.

@mikethec
Who is she?

[fballem]

haha, I can recognise some of users from here.

@mikethec
Who is she?

I believe that the picture is of Erin Gray from an old television series http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_Rogers_in_the_25th_Century_(TV_series)

If I'm right, then she is an interesting lady http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_Gray

By the way, we're off topic.

[moster]

Fballem, thanks... I am obvius too young to know her.. never mind.. I register.. next.

[praveesh]

You would be surprised, in countries like India and China with 2 billion people combined, quite many people, establishments are using Linux, only thing is that they are not bothered reporting it so it goes unregistered. Linux being free appeals to a lot who are tired of being paranoid about piracy. Its catching on in schools etc. where many kids who are into IT find it to be a good path to learn about computing.

Ha ha ha . In India, other than a few tech people, no one use linux.(OH a few government institutions also user linux)

[Lavaeagle]

I think we've probably at least surpassed that number on machines running it.

Let me think...if the number of linux users is about 2% of the market, and there are 8 billion people in the world, that would mean...

Theroretically, we could have up to 160 million users? (8 billion X .02)?

Edit: For point of reference, I'm more of an artsy fartsy person, not really a math expert.

I would be quite surprised if 8 billion people all have computers, because I'm sure we're not at 8 billion yet and that there are parts of this world that don't know what the internet is.

[ubudog]

Hi,

Two days ago I found this project (http://1-million-tux.linux-befehle.org/indexen.php). It basically trying to find 1'000'000 Linux users around the world.

If you know Linux / Open Source, and are proud of it, then go over and register.

Cheers,

Christian

Yes, it's possible. There are already like 166 million.

[MikeTheC]

I believe that the picture is of Erin Gray from an old television series http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_Rogers_in_the_25th_Century_(TV_series)

If I'm right, then she is an interesting lady http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_Gray

By the way, we're off topic.

Beat me to it. Yup, that's her. I actually met her once at MegaCon in Orlando. She's a really, really neat lady. Older now, but still hot. And, fwiw, I would have her as a next-door neighbor anytime.

[hoagie]

I think we've probably at least surpassed that number on machines running it.

Let me think...if the number of linux users is about 2% of the market, and there are 8 billion people in the world, that would mean...

Theroretically, we could have up to 160 million users? (8 billion X .02)?

Edit: For point of reference, I'm more of an artsy fartsy person, not really a math expert.

Not every single person in the planet owns a computer mate.

Yes I do believe that we have 1 million, even more.

[Schendje]

Estimating this is pretty hard, because free software is, well, free. But also free of software checking up on you (which could be used for counting).

Say the number of computer in the world (that are in use, of course) is around 1 billion (http://www.science-portal.org/in/71). Even 1% of this is 10 million users. Say you know a thousand people and you give them advice to switch to Ubuntu. If they do this, it won't even have any real effect on Linux's marketshare because 1000 people is 0.0001%!

And that's the amount of computers, which is much higher than all the ones connected to the Internet. According to this website (http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm), that number is at 1.5 billion worldwide. Which is remarkable because it's higher than the 1 billion number from before.:)

Fedora's wiki (https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Stats#Who_uses_Fedora.3F) says there are about 16.5 million unique IPs that connect to their repositories. And Ubuntu is said to be more popular, so Canonical's 10 million might be on the low side.

None of these numbers are really accurate, and they don't add up either. But I think it's safe to say that not only has Ubuntu more than 10 million users, Linux has many, many millions. And that's not even counting Linux on routers, mobile phones, etc.

I just think nobody cares about registering at that website.:D

[MikeTheC]

I just think nobody cares about registering at that website.:D
Like me, that is. I don't care about registering at that or any other web site.

[moster]

Like me, that is. I don't care about registering at that or any other web site.

I just want to inform you that you are registered - HERE.

;)

[Tipped OuT]

Beat me to it. Yup, that's her. I actually met her once at MegaCon in Orlando. She's a really, really neat lady. Older now, but still hot. And, fwiw, I would have her as a next-door neighbor anytime.

Um... ew? :P

[Blu Fox]

Registered
I think there's probably already more than 1 million linux users, though >.>

[Tipped OuT]

Registered
I think there's probably already more than 1 million linux users, though >.>

Yeah. I mean come on, it's free, and it's global. So everyone around the world can use it.

[Blu Fox]

Saw a video made in 2006 that talked about how ubuntu alone had 9 million users...and that was just 3 years ago and not even including the other distros.

[NE Key]

Don't fall into the trap of only counting English speaking linux users.

I assume that a number of Frenchmen (for example) use linux but never look at this forum.

So; I hunted quickly (at random);
A quick look at ubuntu-fr.org gives "Nombre total d'utilisateurs enregistrés: 128903"
The Swedish section of linux Mint; Total members 19008
Planeta Linux in Argentina ; Usuarios totales 4215

There may be more out there than you thought......

[Johnsie]

The number of 'members' of this forum has no relation to the number of people who use Linux. People may have joined to get help when they were trying Linux and then not been impressed by what Linux has to offer.

Yes there are billions of people in the world, but only a small proportion of them have access to the Internet, let alone their own computers.


I think it would be very difficult to find 1 million exclusive Linux users but you might find 1 million people who have tried Linux.

Start on of those facebook groups and find out

edit: There's already one of those "Million people" groups on facebook. There are currently 5 people in it lol :-)

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=46733608719

[AllenGG]

Wake up people !

Would Steve Balmer be concerned if there were "only" one million "Lie-nucks"
users ?????????

Over 5 years ago the number was reported at 40 million, worldwide.

Balmer considers Linux to be the biggest threat to MS Windows.
Now, think about these:
Would you trust a "techie" who doesn't use Linux ?
Why are most secure financial systems on Linux ?
Could RedHat and SuSe survive with only a million users between them ?
If, big IF, Ubuntu is only getting 2000 hits per day, over 5 years, thats' 3,650,000
hits ! How many users.??????

Now I ask: did you mean that Ubuntu has one million users ?

And honestly, there is more to Linux than Ubuntu.

Ubuntu is numero uno !! 8-)

[MikeTheC]

Um... ew? :P

No "ew..." at all. She's actually a really nice lady.

I'm not trying to imply anything at all, vis a vis my "have her as a neighbor" comment, other than to say she's someone who you probably wouldn't regret having as a neighbor. You know, no weirdness, bad behavior, etc.

[kevdog]

I'm not trying to imply anything at all, vis a vis my "have her as a neighbor" comment, other than to say she's someone who you probably wouldn't regret having as a neighbor. You know, no weirdness, bad behavior, etc.

Yea that what I thought about your implication when you made that comment :)

[cwaidelich]

But I think we have to count some day. I have a big problem with FlexBuilder not running right on Linux, and it would be a great argument to say: hey ur missing alot of developers under linux, just see this count!

On the other hand, you all guy say, yeah there is defently more that 1 mio users... ok, nice. but where?

[MasterNetra]

But I think we have to count some day. I have a big problem with FlexBuilder not running right on Linux, and it would be a great argument to say: hey ur missing alot of developers under linux, just see this count!

On the other hand, you all guy say, yeah there is defently more that 1 mio users... ok, nice. but where?

Check this out: http://mrooney.blogspot.com/2009/05/counting-number-of-ubuntu-users.html Keep in mind that Fedora is still less popular then Ubuntu, so what do you think this says about Ubuntu's population count?

[aysiu]

But I think we have to count some day. Counts are never accurate.

Even for Windows, Microsoft counts preinstalled units as Windows users, even if millions of those get wiped out to run Linux instead (a lot of Linux users buy Windows preinstalled, sadly). Oddly enough, they also count how many people they think pirate Windows. So they deliberately double-count.

In terms of counting Linux users, there are some practical difficulties: The vast majority of end-user Linux installations (not servers) are not preinstalled ones, so you can't just ask the vendor how many units sold. I would venture to guess that a higher proportion of current Linux users have more than one computer A lot of current Linux users are paranoid about privacy issues, so they don't want to be uniquely identified or automatically counted by anything (Synaptic to Canonical, for example). Take a real life example, though. Let's say you have a user named Kimberly. She bought a laptop with Windows preinstalled and a netbook with Windows preinstalled. She also built her own desktop (so it didn't come with an operating system). The laptop she sets up as a dual-boot (Windows Vista/Ubuntu Linux). The desktop she sets up as a triple-boot (Arch Linux, Ubuntu Linux, PCLinuxOS), but she also runs Windows 7 Release Candidate as a virtual machine inside of her Ubuntu installation. The netbook she completely erases Windows from and replaces it with Ubuntu Linux.

So how many Linux users is that scenario? How many Windows users? It's one person with five Linux distributions running, one real Windows installation running, one virtual Windows installation running, and two purchased Windows licenses (one of which isn't being used).

If you count installations, she's five Linux users and 1.5 Windows users.

If you count people, she's only one person, but I guess she'd be 3/4 a Linux user and 1/4 a Windows user?

If you count sold licenses, she'd be two Windows users and 0 Linux users.

Of course, since she built her own desktop, Microsoft will assume she's also installed a pirated copy of Windows on her desktop, so they'll count her as three Windows users.

[1mt]

BTW: 1 million tux shouldn't be a counter.

We are just looking for one million human beings, who know Linux as a platform and have fallen in love with it!

[MasterNetra]

BTW: 1 million tux shouldn't be a counter.

We are just looking for one million human beings, who know Linux as a platform and have fallen in love with it!

There are way more then 1 million you can be certain of that. Again Fedora whose user base is supposedly smaller then Ubuntu's is composed of over 14.3 million. What makes you think Ubuntu's is going to be just around 1 mil anyway?

[Viva]

The Ministry of Education and Science of Macedonia deployed more than 180,000 Ubuntu Linux based classroom desktops, and has encouraged every student in the country to use Ubuntu-powered computer workstations

A few state governments here in India made Ubuntu default for Schools and Government offices.

[ssam]

if you use google then you are using linux. :-)

why start a new site to count linux users by registering, one already exists http://counter.li.org/ why not encourage 1 million people to sign up there.

if you want to help ubuntu gather better user stats then enable popcon system->administration->software sources, and click the statistics tabs. see the results at http://popcon.ubuntu.com/ . fedora have a similar http://smolt.fedoraproject.org/

[sydbat]

Counts are never accurate.

Even for Windows, Microsoft counts preinstalled units as Windows users, even if millions of those get wiped out to run Linux instead (a lot of Linux users buy Windows preinstalled, sadly). Oddly enough, they also count how many people they think pirate Windows. So they deliberately double-count.

In terms of counting Linux users, there are some practical difficulties: The vast majority of end-user Linux installations (not servers) are not preinstalled ones, so you can't just ask the vendor how many units sold. I would venture to guess that a higher proportion of current Linux users have more than one computer A lot of current Linux users are paranoid about privacy issues, so they don't want to be uniquely identified or automatically counted by anything (Synaptic to Canonical, for example). Take a real life example, though. Let's say you have a user named Kimberly. She bought a laptop with Windows preinstalled and a netbook with Windows preinstalled. She also built her own desktop (so it didn't come with an operating system). The laptop she sets up as a dual-boot (Windows Vista/Ubuntu Linux). The desktop she sets up as a triple-boot (Arch Linux, Ubuntu Linux, PCLinuxOS), but she also runs Windows 7 Release Candidate as a virtual machine inside of her Ubuntu installation. The netbook she completely erases Windows from and replaces it with Ubuntu Linux.

So how many Linux users is that scenario? How many Windows users? It's one person with five Linux distributions running, one real Windows installation running, one virtual Windows installation running, and two purchased Windows licenses (one of which isn't being used).

If you count installations, she's five Linux users and 1.5 Windows users.

If you count people, she's only one person, but I guess she'd be 3/4 a Linux user and 1/4 a Windows user?

If you count sold licenses, she'd be two Windows users and 0 Linux users.You are correct aysiu, as usual. However, many will find something to disagree with simply to further their misunderstanding and/or promote FUD.

BTW - my favourite bit is your last sentence...
Of course, since she built her own desktop, Microsoft will assume she's also installed a pirated copy of Windows on her desktop, so they'll count her as three Windows users.

[windows-killer]

This topic is perfect! :D
I am a huge ubuntu fan and since you guys opened this topic, am very interested to contribute my ideas and resources!

here are some examples :


During first time installation of ubuntu, the hardware testing tool will test your hardware and with your approval it will get information about your hardware such as: (IP address, processor name model and serial, network card MAC address, RAM, regional language, your country, Optical Drive e.g. CD/DVD-ROM, Display Adapter, SCSI Adapter and IDE Adapter) and it will send them to canonical so they can count the number of users using ubuntu.

when you upgrade to a new version of ubuntu then you will not be counted as a new ubuntu user, but they will be sent to canonical to ensure you are running the latest version.
During installation, if internet connection is not active then the info will be sent when you start your computer for the first time and when you setup your internet connection(with your approval of course)


the installation counter will be included only with the live CD like GParted- gnome partition tool. it will do things I wrote on post 22.

Or

The current hardware testing tool included with ubuntu has to show up during installation, test your hardware and send the info to canonical if you approve it.

here are some sources

http://smolt.fedoraproject.org/

http://www.workswithu.com/2009/07/24/measuring-ubuntus-market-share/

http://sourceforge.net/projects/statix/

Some projects are dead, so if someone can fork them over and integrate them into ubuntu. If anyone has some connections with a dev, or someone who is high enough to integrate this into ubuntu and other distros.
I think this thread is a step forward to make ubuntu grow!
I would appreciate it if someone makes this a reality! :)

EDIT: Please someone explain the privacy problem that some people are talking about? I dont see a problem here, the software does not collect your phone number and your adress. It just collects info about your hardware and your OS. Please someone explain this to me.

Thanks :)

[windows-killer]

I think there are more than 30 million users out there.

[magmon]

Why would they count pirated windows copys? How can they even tell if it's pirated or not?

[Dawei87]

there is already a website doing this here: http://counter.li.org/. it would probably be best to have everyone registered there, seeing as it is almost at 130,000 already. and yea, im pretty sure there are WAY more than a million linux users across the world.

[Tipped OuT]

How did this topic turn into about Windows? Seriously...

[aaaantoine]

If they're going to count 1 million linux users, they better have a good administrative back end for that registration process. The "all registrations" page only has 200 people listed, and at the current pace suggested by the timeline (perhaps a graph is in order), it could be a while before they reach their goal.

[windows-killer]

How did this topic turn into about Windows? Seriously...

I know:D

[windows-killer]

People, look at the previous page. I have posted some links with resources. I think it will be helpful.
ohh, and are there any ubuntu devs here?

[oldsoundguy]

Easily 1 million ..

http://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php

This outfit is neither Windows centric nor any other OS centric and takes a really LARGE sample.

[hellmet]

Ha ha ha . In India, other than a few tech people, no one use linux.(OH a few government institutions also user linux)
In the company I work for, our IT dept. gets a lot of questions about Ubuntu. I've also seen govt. departments implement Ubuntu from end-end with great success.

[cwaidelich]

If they're going to count 1 million linux users, they better have a good administrative back end for that registration process. The "all registrations" page only has 200 people listed, and at the current pace suggested by the timeline (perhaps a graph is in order), it could be a while before they reach their goal.

Yes thanks we know! We are working on this. As it turns out, this is a project that is growing with the amount of user registrations. You can see we have done a better stats page (http://1-million-tux.linux-befehle.org/distro.php).

[aysiu]

I think any counting process that requires registration is never going to hit an accurate count.

Maybe Canonical, Red Hat, Novell, etc. can count how many times a single version of a single package (especially a package installed by default that receives an update) is installed from repositories?

That also will be inaccurate, but it'll give a better sense of what the actual number is... or at least the number of active installations (one user may have several installations, of course).

[HappyFeet]

I have heard reports that the number of linux users is well over 80 million. I think it's a safe bet that there is over a million. Heck, there is almost 1 million registered users just on this forum alone.

[aysiu]

I have heard reports that the number of linux users is well over 80 million. I think it's a safe bet that there is over a million. Heck, there is almost 1 million registered users just on this forum alone.
Not to mention that 1 million is pretty pitiful when you consider the world population.

Conservatively, if there were only 1 computer for every 3 people on the planet (and this is conservative, some of even the poorest people have access to computers, and many of the richest people have multiple computers), 1 million Linux users would be only 0.04% of the general computing populace.

Even the Linux haters put our market share at closer to 1%.

[moster]

Not to mention that 1 million is pretty pitiful when you consider the world population.

Conservatively, if there were only 1 computer for every 3 people on the planet (and this is conservative, some of even the poorest people have access to computers, and many of the richest people have multiple computers), 1 million Linux users would be only 0.04% of the general computing populace.

Even the Linux haters put our market share at closer to 1%.
You miss point :)
Point is who would among windows users would stand up and say "I am a windows user!" 1 mil? I doubt.

(Me personally would feel like a fool if I would be in that 1 mil signed win users)
:)

[jeyaganesh]

I just registered there. That igoogle gadget mentions that 364 registered and 1 is under consideration (may be me). This thread is started 3 weeks ago. 364 for 3 weeks is very low :(. Are Ubuntu users not interested to register their names?:guitar:

[1mt]

Hello again,

few days ago the 1 Million Tux project got an complete relaunch. Sorry, but all old entries get lost. If you like our project, please register again.

Best regards!

[MasterNetra]

For crying out loud there are more then 19 million users for Fedora alone! http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Statistics "TOTAL UNIQUE IPs: 19,091,979" (at the time of this post) and actual is believed to be more.

[Simon17]

For crying out loud there are have been more then 19 million users for Fedora alone!

More than 19 million people have connected to their repository since 2007 (including me, but I'm not a current Fedora user).