Count the ubuntites!

[vicks]

Wouldn't it be cool if there was some function inside of (k)ubuntu that would ping an ubuntuserver when an install is made. That way you could get a count on the number of installs. This would of course not be a number on how many computers running ubuntu there is. But it could for example be a good way to motivate the community. The counter on spreadfirefox.com was a big success, especially as a way of giving pep to the community (and giving them something to brag about ;) )
You could also watch some installpatterns (how many installs are there in china, and is the work on localization giving effect).
There is quite some evangelism going on in the community, but right now it would be hard to really know if the project hits the post-early-adopters-and-geeks-wall. This counter could be a (rough) tool to spot such trends.
Again, this wouldn't be numbers that that could be used in any deeper scientific settings, but they would be cool to have!
There is of course some privacy concerns attached to this, but it souldn't really be aproblem considering how little information is sent. Most people with internet-connection connects to ubuntu-servers, so the info is basically already there.

[Teroedni]

Yea sounds cool:)

[nalmeth]

Sounds good

[Kvark]

As you said the info is already there. Most get Ubuntu either by downloading from Ubuntu's site or by ordering shipit CDs. Ubuntu machines synch their clocks to Ubuntu's time server, update their package lists from the repos and so on... I think how many times security updates are downloaded would be the most accurate measure since each machine needs the update once and everyone that has a net connection will want to keep their security up to date.