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View Full Version : Linux. 1% or 10%? Are studies focusing only on English Speaking US/UK?



Nick_Jinn
July 24th, 2010, 03:35 PM
I dont really agree with the opinions of poor performance with Linux.....System 76 sends out great working systems. Most shops just dont know how to isntall it properly maybe. Anyway, it talks about the problems with tracking linux, the possible overestimation of Windows due to products shipping with it (So its a point for windows even if its a point for linux), and how linux is way more popular in the east and Cuba where the government actively promotes linux in the public sector and where its cheaper to get a linux netbook than a windows one.

10% sounds high to me, but I would believe 6%.





Lies, Damn Lies and Linux Market Share Statistics

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http://www.linuxinsider.com/images/rw180367/linux.jpg By Katherine Noyes
LinuxInsider
05/11/09 4:00 AM PT
Linux market share ... how does one even attempt to measure such a figure? Commercial software can be tabulated by units sold, but when so many copies of Linux operating systems are tossed around the Net for free, who's counting? A few outfits tried recently, and the results caused quite the commotion.
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Market share, market share, what's Linux's true market share? That, in essence, has been the question du jour on the Linux blogs in recent days.
It all started when NetApplications' Hitslink.com released some statistics (http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=8) for April indicating that Linux just passed 1 percent for the first time.
Around the same time, however, W3Counter published figures (http://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php) for the same month indicating that it had just passed 2 percent.
Many FOSS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FOSS) aficionados, meanwhile, argue that it could be 6 percent or higher.
The result? You guesstimated it: nothing short of chaos and confusion.


http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/67031.html?wlc=1279981074

cprofitt
July 24th, 2010, 04:09 PM
While it is interesting to know market share it is not something I will get caught up in.

I used Apple OS when it was just beginning and did not care about market share...

I used Windows and did not care about market share...

Now I use Linux and I will use it regardless of the numbers... I prefer the OS

BuffaloX
July 25th, 2010, 12:45 AM
I can't find any statistics that aren't heavily tilted towards English language.
I tried to find Danish statistics, but couldn't, then I tried German and could still only find references to American statistics, except for one for Heise online which is heavily tilted towards IT people.

We had a discussion about it recently, and the conclusion was that Linux market share probably is between 2 and 2.5%.
Based on sites that are mainly English.

Nick_Jinn
July 25th, 2010, 01:35 AM
Yeah, that is definitely a problem. People are just so damn sure that the Linux market is only 1%, but the US is actually not seeing the rate of growth that these other countries are seeing, like Russia, Cuba, India, ect. Italy especially seems to like Ubuntu.


Why does it matter?....It matters because this is not a question of whether we should use it for its popularity, but whether the rumors that underestimate linux prevent software developers from making ports for linux. That is the bigger issue than whether we should continue to use it ourselves.

Spreading some awareness about the large global linux markets is a good thing. Any software that can be marketed internationally and not just to English speaking people is going to see a lot more than 1% of the market.

Also, there is a disproportionately high number of linux being used internationally in the government and public sector, so software that can be used for education or government purposes is especially going to have a better than 1% market share....We could be talking 25% in some government sectors, maybe.....and 3% to 6% among civilian consumers in places like Russia and Italy.

seenthelite
July 25th, 2010, 02:28 AM
Linux market share ... how does one even attempt to measure such a figure? Commercial software can be tabulated by units sold, but when so many copies of Linux operating systems are tossed around the Net for free, who's counting? A few outfits tried recently, and the results caused quite the commotion.

1% or 10%? your guess is as good as mine.

murderslastcrow
July 25th, 2010, 02:59 AM
It's pretty obvious that it's LOTS. Every comparative estimate based on immediately available data puts it pretty high. Thing is, no one can be sure of anything but the fact that it's at least a crap load of people using it, and that DELL, HP, Lenovo, and Google on the mobile end support it.

And, at least in the mobile sector, it's outrageously popular. Also, I'm the only person I know out of the 24 people I know who use it who actually has an Ubuntu Forums account. So if you're crazy, you'd say 24 million Ubuntu users based on that data, since we have about 1 million registered forum members.

Thing is, companies shouldn't use these kinds of statistics to perform their research on Linux' viability as a market. They should prepare tech demos and release them to the community, among other more direct methods. Relying on shady numbers from biased polls and sales research just doesn't make sense with something like Linux.

And yeah, I don't really care about the exact percentage, so long as people know that it's many people and it would make sense to support it. I think the only companies people really WANT to support Linux that don't already are Adobe, game companies (Valve), and Microsoft.

However, it's important to note that Adobe produces Acrobat Reader, Flash, and Flex for Linux already, Valve is working on a Linux client (and has community pages detailing how to use Steam on Linux), and Microsoft has submitted code to the kernel, as well as encouraging Novell in its use of Mono and Silverlight.

So, even if Microsoft's doing it to get people off their back while they talk crap behind our back (Best Buy), if our previous number one rival is supporting us with open source code and trying to negotiate, it's pretty clear that it's worth it for other companies to pay attention.

As we get more visibility, more users, and Wine improves, it seems the support of/for those big software giants will come in time. I don't see anything stopping the growth of Linux on the desktop. It's just like many have said- the whole idea of 'the year of the Linux desktop' is idiotic. Since we're not working like Microsoft/IBM did back in the 90s, the growth and viability will grow as time goes on, and even if it's the perfect, most compatible OS, it'll still take time for people to notice it exists without some public visibility.

The point is that, for individuals, depending on Wine getting just the right program, Amarok getting just the right features, Ubuntu getting just the right interface, etc., many different years in the past few years may have been the year of Linux on the desktop.

I think it's fair to say that since around 2008 Ubuntu's been picking up a lot of momentum due to its overwhelming friendliness, as well as the fact that as it has met OS X and Windows in terms of usability, capability, marketability, etc., it just keeps running full speed right past those guys.

I can't imagine how much worse OS X Snow Leopard and Windows 7 will look in comparison to 12.04. It's all about the applications and visibility, man. That's what keeps people dual-booting.