How popular is Linux?

[BuffaloX]

Does anyone know where to find good statistics for Linux/Windows/OSX ?

I saw this statistic, Linux hits jump from 3.4% to 4.4%.
That may not seem nuch, but a sudden jump almost 30% in one month, is A LOT!

http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp

Also this is cool...
Linux Counter:

http://counter.li.org/

[_simon_]

interesting to see that linux is more popular than mac but how do they collect that data?

[BuffaloX]

Everybody with a site can collect these data.
It's communicated by the browser to the site, so that the site can behave according to your system.

Or do you mean specifically how? Because you want to try on your own site?

[MenZa]

I use a statistics software called Mint (http://www.menza.org/mint/), which can be bought for $30 here (http://www.haveamint.com). Tells me what browsers my visitors use, what pages they visit, how many times they've visited, etc. etc.

It's hard to collect a statistic on stuff like this. I mean, how many Windows users visit kde-look.org or gnome-look.org?

Pretty difficult to get an exact number.

[G Morgan]

Not to mention that dua booters can wreck all your statistics.

[bruce89]

It's hard to collect a statistic on stuff like this. I mean, how many Windows users visit kde-look.org or gnome-look.org?
Likewise with windows and Mac specific sites.

The BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/) would be fairly neutral.

[ubuntu_demon]

Linux is dominant in the server sector. Windows is totally dominant in the desktop sector.

My guess :
92% - 94% of the users run windows
5% of the users run apple's OS X
1% - 3% of the users run linux (or run linux dual booting with windows)
0.1% of the users run some other unix variant

But maybe I'm a bit biased and even more people users use windows.

It's also fun to play with google trends to get some really rough ideas on trends (not numbers) :
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=174262

[bruce89]

You can also play with google trends to get some rough idea :
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=174262
Yes, the search for Ubuntu shows a huge spike recently - http://www.google.com/trends?q=ubuntu&ctab=1&geo=all&date=all.
Also the Dapper vs. Breezy one is interesting - http://www.google.com/trends?q=breezy+badger%2C+dapper+drake&ctab=1&geo=all&date=all
Hoary is not even worth looking at in comparison.

[nocturn]

This is very hard to measure.

It's impossible to tell how many linux systems are out there because people tend not to buy them preinstalled and do not have to purchase a disc.

In addition, one set can be used to install 1 or 100 machines.

And to make it even worse, the MS tax means that most PC's running Linux have been bought with a windows license and are counted as running windows (my laptop is a good example even though windows was removed before first boot).

[BuffaloX]

Google trends are cool. :p
But one major drawback in this regard, is that the search for something, dosn't say if you are using it, the search for windows could also give many results not related to MS windows at all, use XP or Vista to compare to Linux...

The BBC would be a VERY good source, but I see no statistics.

[bruce89]

No, google trends will not be good to find out statisitics of this type, but it is quite interesting. I find the Wikipedia in Britain one funny - http://www.google.com/trends?q=wikipedia&ctab=1&geo=GB&date=all, as the two main cities for this search are Oxford and Cambridge (the two great universities).

[Footissimo]

I was just looking at this (http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=3). The stats for linux are kinda depressing (0.38% anyone) though browser stats obviously have their own problems.

[bruce89]

I was just looking at this (http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=3). The stats for linux are kinda depressing (0.38% anyone) though browser stats obviously have their own problems.
That is definately too low, depends what sites these were on.
Usually Linux and Mac get about 5%, with Linux having more than Mac.
I read somewhere that Ubuntu has 2 million users.

[BuffaloX]

Preinstalled windows and dual boot systems do not flaw the statistics of a site.
The site is informed of what you are actually using at the moment you enter the site. And this is what I find most interesting. (usage)
Problem is to find sites that are platform neutral, has enough popularity to be reliable statistically, and publicises the statistics.

Regarding Linux distros being free for download and copy.
It is also possible to download and copy Windows, just not legally in most countries. Even illegal copies helps Microsoft maintain marketshares!
If illegal copying of Windows wasn't possible, it would increase Linux useage.

[BuffaloX]

Linux is dominant in the server sector. Windows is totally dominant in the desktop sector.

My guess :
92% - 94% of the users run windows
5% of the users run apple's OS X
1% - 3% of the users run linux (or run linux dual booting with windows)
0.1% of the users run some other unix variant

But maybe I'm a bit biased and even more people users use windows.


Windows is not TOTALLY dominant their share is now (at last) below 90%
Both MAC and Linux has climbed slowly but steadily the last 3 years.

[tsb]

Take out dual booting and I bet Windows has well over 95% of the desktop/notebook market. I also doubt Linux has more users than OS X, but it's nearly impossible to provide concrete evidence either way.

[halfvolle melk]

I was just looking at this (http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=3). The stats for linux are kinda depressing (0.38% anyone) though browser stats obviously have their own problems.
I prefer these browser stats :mrgreen:
http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp

[Footissimo]

Whilst I'd love to believe the W3 stats..the real situation is probably nearer the hitslink stats than the W3...aside from the fact that they are taken from multiple sources, W3schools is more likely than the average site to attract linux users (i.e. people getting into coding). There was a french site that gave out generalised stats..I'll have a look around.

Edit: Someone asked about the BBC site stats - see here (http://www.currybet.net/articles/user_agents/index.php) - go to page two for the breakdown.. 0.41%, though I'd imagine that it would underestimate the number of linux desktop users (BBC being an 'obvious' and very recognisable news site)

[halfvolle melk]

I think you're quite right. The site also addresses this:

Why so high Firefox figures?
W3Schools is a website for people with an interest for web technologies. These people are more interested in using alternative browsers than the average user. The average user tends to use Internet Explorer, since it comes preinstalled with Windows. Most do not seek out other browsers.
These facts indicate that the browser figures below are not 100% realistic. Other web sites have statistics showing that Internet Explorer is used by at least 80% of the users.
Anyway, our data, collected over a five year period, clearly shows the long and medium-term trends.
But the trend itself is encouraging.

[weatherman]

I was just looking at this (http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=3). The stats for linux are kinda depressing (0.38% anyone) though browser stats obviously have their own problems.
this is probably fairly realistic. Indeed a bit depressing.

[bruce89]

Actually I just released, it's very popular, I'd imagine that a lot of web servers use Linux. (although even that is decreasing) - http://news.netcraft.com/archives/web_server_survey.html, including my ISP, Pipex.

[BuffaloX]

About the 0.38% it's way off, and not surpisingly.
Statistics are taken from MarkeShare by Net Applications.

http://marketshare.hitslink.com/

A quote from the site:
We use a unique methodology for collecting this data. We collect data from the browsers of site visitors to our exclusive on demand network of small to medium enterprise live stats customers.

A rather narrow group it seems...

About the 4.4% being too high I'm not sure, My wife's homepage shows an 8.05 % Linux share. Our own IP excluded. But it only has about 100 hits per day.
and explorer is only 41.02 % Mozilla/FoireFox 34.05% But it may be due to the theme of the site.

[Footissimo]

No doubt its biased, but 40,000 URLS is extremely likely to be more realistic than a single home page or a single site catering to individuals interested in coding and standards..also as I said earlier, 10 months ago the BBC had stats of 0.41% for linux. My own guess would be that it would be more, but less than 1%.

Obviously the server situation is very much different - I believe the linux is still on the increase there, but taking from Unix rather than MS.

[BuffaloX]

This is quite fun to read.

Linus popularity on super computers 78%.
http://hardware.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/11/15/1443249

Maybe as computers gets better, more and more will switch to Linux. :p

I think my own PC is quite Super. But it's not on the list... 8-[

[Sandsound]

Actually I just released, it's very popular, I'd imagine that a lot of web servers use Linux. (although even that is decreasing) - http://news.netcraft.com/archives/web_server_survey.html, including my ISP, Pipex.

The recent decreasing is (as I understand) caused by Go Daddy who have moved all their parked domains to a *******-server.
Maybe they struck a deal with M$ ? cant imagine why else they would do a silly thing like this ;-)

[Bloch]

People overestimate the difficulties of estimating the number of Linux users. The % of users online who are using linux is an easily available statistic. And it is probably more valuable to advertisers etc than knowing how many people have a computer running linux.

The stats from two separate sources agree to a surprising extent: 0.38% and 0.41%
My own experience as webmaster for a literary magazine www.stingingfly.org is that linux users are 0.55% (But then, I was among the visitors)

So I don't agree that these stats are "way off". Choosing % of users who use Linuux at least once a week" etc will give a higher value. But these stats are informative as they stand. Do any other webmasters have stats on linux users visiting their sites?


Someone asked about the BBC site stats - see here - go to page two for the breakdown.. 0.41%, though I'd imagine that it would underestimate the number of linux desktop users (BBC being an 'obvious' and very recognisable news site)


About the 0.38% it's way off, and not surpisingly.
Statistics are taken from MarkeShare by Net Applications.

[Sandsound]

I think we will see a great number of changes over the comming years.
In Denmark, our politicians have decided that all goverment institutions must use open standards by the end of 2008, and I know that other countrys are moving in that direction.

It is true that it's werry hard to see anything concrete out of the statistic material on the web, but one thing is for shure... Linux is growing.


Quote : "I dont believe in statistics... acording to the statistics, every fourth child that is born is chinese... I have had four children, and NONE of them turned out to be chinese" :-)
(heard it somewhere, dont remember who said it)

[warp99]

"Kuznetsky pointed out that OS X has a 2.7 percent market share of client operating environments worldwide. Linux's share is 2.6 percent, and Microsoft holds the rest of the pie".

http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/42718.html

This report was dated 04/29/2005, so let's fast forward one year. In that time frame market penetration increase for client side Linux worldwide could have been a reasonable gain of 1.0-1.5%, which would be inline with the W3Schools statistics.

The question is once the OLPC goes into production and distribution how will this affect Linux penetration? A 5-10% jump is possible considering that Negroponte's goal is 100 Million. :shock:

[chimera007]

I was thinking a program that most proud linux users would be happy to download and run, that would relay back information to the happy collecting server. It would work with hardware GUID, like PunkBuster in Unreal Tournament.

I am sure that most linux users would like to "shine".

[flaak_monkey]

i just read on Slashdot that it is now the second most used after Windows, not Apple anymore. :p

[ComplexNumber]

i just read on Slashdot that it is now the second most used after Windows, not Apple anymore. :p
it hasn't been apple for a long time. their market share ihas only just reached about 1.5%

[flaak_monkey]

it hasn't been apple for a long time. their market share ihas only just reached about 1.5%


well i realize that. but most people see so many people with Apple Notebboks these days one would jump to the assuption it was number two if they had not already known the stats.