0.68% market share? really?

[Playa1313]

I was looking at this site (http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=8) which compares market shares of operating systems, browsers, ISPs, etc.

I was very shocked to see that linux is 0.68% market share, mac is about 7.5% and windows is about 91%.

How is it that less than 1% of the world uses free ($0) linux when 7.5% of the world has bought a $1,500+ Mac?

Does anyone agree with me or do you think these are pretty accurate data?

Thanks,
Brian

[benny bronx]

It is hard to say if any study like this is accurate, but I can believe it. Most people I know have not heard of Ubuntu or any other distro, and think that Windows or Mac are their only realistic choices for an OS. The ones that have heard of linux still have the impression it is only for techies. It is always a tough decision whether to tell them the truth or let them go on believing I'm a power user.

[Playa1313]

You're right, and it pains me to see companies like Dell and HP that sell linux do not say ANYTHING about it on their main pages unless you specifically type in "linux" or "ubuntu." Likewise, Google runs on Linux and has its own linux site: www.google.com/linux - but how come there's no link on the main page "click here for linux users" or even just "linux."

Sometimes I just have to wonder if Microsoft is actually trying this hard to keep people unaware of linux.

[saulgoode]

Those statistics are based upon visitors to sites which subscribe to that market share monitoring service. The only reason to pay for such a service is to be able to use the results as some sort of evidence of success either to shareholders or in advertisements. GNU/Linux website operators typically are not interested in market share, do not have shareholders, and do not advertise a product.

[elvinatom]

I can believe that. Most people don't care if they get screwed in the long run or being made dependant. They go with Windows cause they're used to it. That's what they know from when they bought a PC and it's what they use at work (almost anywhere). Sad but true ...

[Playa1313]

I know Apple has had some great successes and is doing a good job with their Mac OS and hardware variety. I see it hard to believe they have more people using mac than there are people using linux.

Saulgoode: That makes a lot of sense, especially since most of linux is non-profit or donation-only. They might be getting that information of big Linux like Novell and Red Hat, etc.

[Peyton]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux#Market_share_and_uptake

[Black Mage]

One thing to look at is who does the statistics and how the numbers are compiled.
Is it market share for all users, people in business or personal users?

How are the number gathered? Is it certain amount of users online at one time? Numbers directly from the company? What area of the nation are the statistics gathered from?

How many systems dual boot and how many may be virtualized?

Is Microsoft running the statistics?

Because I've heard before Apple was at 10%. Statistics aren't always accurate and there are biases.

[piousp]

8% for mac os? I disagree with that. I'm pretty sure that mac os have more desktop market share than linux, but given them 8% is just plain nasty. I'll say 4% max.
Anyways, i dont really care that much.

[damphoud]

Where is xbox 360? I wouldn't think that Wii would have more users online as there are hardly any online games.

[kaboodle_fish]

There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics

[KingTermite]

Probably true.

Most computers are probably still work computers. Not everybody at home has a computer (most do, but often share), but everybody at a workplace typically has a computer.

Work places still aren't jumping on the Linux bandwagon yet. Very few have switched at the business arena.

[timcredible]

i wonder how they came up with those numbers - by purchased software, by software pre-installed on a machine, by clients that visited some websites, or ?

[KingTermite]

There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics
Well put, Mr. Twain.

[jrusso2]

Lets face it you can't even give Linux to most people. The fact that its free doesn't matter to most people since they see Windows as free also.

Mac's have been growing market share the last few years why Linux is pretty much standing still. Part of the reason is the poor implementation of Vista.

[fiddledd]

I would imagine the figures for Linux and Windows (no idea about the Mac) to be pretty close, ratio wise. For most Linux users it doesn't matter how many others use it, so long as they use it and are happy with it. But for those that want Linux to be popular on the Desktop/Laptop, the figures are not good at all. IMHO this isn't going to change any time soon. Most in this forum, and most IT pros, know that Linux is used for Webservers etc. and that it's Unix based and designed for a multi user environment. They also know about the other benefits, Security, Open Source, etc. But the situation outside of these forums and outside the IT community is completely different, and these are the people that need to be convinced at some point if Linux is to take off.

So what do I base my opinion on?
Well I'm not an IT Professional, I'm just an average (and rather old) computer user, yet obviously I know of Linux. My Son however is a Bus Driver and has worked at the same Garage for nearly 10 years and knows many of the other 500+ staff (they do more talking than work, I think :)), no other person that he has spoken to has heard of Linux. And before you say it, I told him to ask everyone he spoke to over the last month. They nearly all have Desktops/Laptops and all know of Windows, and a few about the Mac.

It's not going to be easy is it?

This is just my opinion, if you need to flame, find fault, then feel free to do so. It won't change anything, I'll still use Linux and Windows.

[HermanAB]

0.68% of which market? The MS Windows Internet Explorer web browser market maybe?

Linux has roughly 50% of the server market and has probably 80% of the embedded devices market.

In total, there are a lot more Linux devices out there than MS Windows devices, since Windows doesn't run on cell phones, routers, telephone exchanges and the like. Every year, more than 300 million Linux embedded devices are built - you do the math.

BTW, Asus alone, is outselling Apple with Linux notebooks. Apple sells about 3 million machines a year, while Asus sells 1 million Eee PCs per quarter.

[quinnten83]

Where is xbox 360? I wouldn't think that Wii would have more users online as there are hardly any online games.

No, there aren't but the wii is always connected online.
Also there are over 12 million wii's out there, which is more than xbox360.

[bonzodog]

To give you some idea of how fast Linux is taking off, it is known that Ubuntu alone has 10 million unique users. Canonical uses the repos recording unique IP addresses to extrapolate that data, and also allows for a frame of error for people using more than one IP. If you then allow one - two million users for each of the other major desktop distros, its realised that Linux could easily have in excess of 30 million desktops in use.
It was reckoned last year that linux, including server share, has approximately 22% of the overall market, whilst apple still only has about 15%, which is up on previous years. I fail to find the study that worked this out but it seems europe and asia account for the greater majority of it.

[fiddledd]

To give you some idea of how fast Linux is taking off, it is known that Ubuntu alone has 10 million unique users. Canonical uses the repos recording unique IP addresses to extrapolate that data

For the sake of completeness, someone has to ask this:

How many of those 10 million users are still using Ubuntu today?
Is it like the forums here 600,000 registered users of which 75,000 are active (some never come back)?

I just worry sometimes that people who think the battle is nearly won might stop fighting, if you get what I mean. :)

[aaaantoine]

1. These statistics are based on visits to web sites that pay for whatever service NetApplications is selling.

2. Regardless of the current share, I feel that the trend is a far more important statistic. Look at this link.

http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=9

Linux market share has gone up 0.22 points over the course of a year, almost something along the lines of 50% growth. Windows market share is steadily declining, having lost 2.15 points of its July 2007 share.

[Playa1313]

I think it would be great if we could post a forum announcement about this site so everyone went there and they saw a sudden swarm of linux users :D

Thank you all for your comments, it was great to read what your opinions on this was.. that was my goal to hear them.

[DrMega]

I didn't see where it said it got it's data from.

If it got it's data from MS's web server stats for example, then it would be skewed towards MS. If the data had came from this forum's web server stats, then they'd be skewed towards Linux. If it was an amalgam of stats from representative spread of web servers, then maybe the figures would be somewhere in between.

EDIT: Just looked again. If you look at the bottom of the report you will certainly be assured of its accuracy. Why? Because....


This report has been reviewed by Quality Assurance

[jeyaganesh]

I even know people who even dont know what Linux (and mac too) is.:popcorn:

[RebounD11]

I know people that think, no ... wrong word think, believe (as in religious belief, no way it can be untrue type of belief, won't believe otherwise if it kicked them in the ***) that computers can't run without Windows. :|

I really don't want someone so ignorant using Linux. It might be contagious (I'm talking about ignorance, or stupidity if you want it rougher).

[Fedz]

Bloke at work today was telling me something was wrong with his PC.

I told him I run linux and he goes ' oh yeah! really?' I said you heard of it he then said 'no' :rolleyes:

Then I continued talking to him about Linux/Ubuntu and he spurted out in a curious voice 'can a computer run without Window$'

It's a long, uphill struggle sometimes ;-) lol

[stchman]

I was looking at this site (http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=8) which compares market shares of operating systems, browsers, ISPs, etc.

I was very shocked to see that linux is 0.68% market share, mac is about 7.5% and windows is about 91%.

How is it that less than 1% of the world uses free ($0) linux when 7.5% of the world has bought a $1,500+ Mac?

Does anyone agree with me or do you think these are pretty accurate data?

Thanks,
Brian

Who published those numbers?

There are reported over 50 million Linux users all over the world.

That means there are over 7 billion computer users all over the world. Funny I did not think the world population reached that high. I would question those numbers.

There are a lot of EeePCs and Dell PCs sold with Linux. Isn't HP selling ultra portables with Linux as well. What about all the servers and workstations running UNIX or Linux? Most cable boxes, routers, and other networking devices use Linux as the firmware. Linux is far more widespread that people think. Hell Linux powers the internet as 65% of the websites out there use Apache on Linux based machines.

[karellen]

it's plausible. I'd say that Linux market share on the desktops is around 1%. but it's steadily rising, which is good
as an example, I know only one person that uses Linux...

[Bloch]

I'm sure there are webmasters reading this thread who can verify that - depending on the type of site - hits from a linux OS average about 1%

The figures at the initial post presumably refer to an English language site, and probably mainly USA users.
In some other countries a huge proportion of PCs run pirate versions of windows and/or run on old hardware. I have the impression that linux use is higher in many other countries. I have seen laptops running linux occupy front window position in Poland and in Spain. I know of PhD students running linux computers that originally came with windows 98. - they can't afford newer ones.

I've never seen any information which looks at a country by country breakdown. I suspect it will be high in Germany and Poland.

[RebounD11]

Who published those numbers?

There are reported over 50 million Linux users all over the world.

That means there are over 7 billion computer users all over the world. Funny I did not think the world population reached that high. I would question those numbers.

There are a lot of EeePCs and Dell PCs sold with Linux. Isn't HP selling ultra portables with Linux as well. What about all the servers and workstations running UNIX or Linux? Most cable boxes, routers, and other networking devices use Linux as the firmware. Linux is far more widespread that people think. Hell Linux powers the internet as 65% of the websites out there use Apache on Linux based machines.

You are assuming that each and every person owns only one computer and only has one OS on it. That's a false assumption I have 2 computers both Linux as hosts (Fedora and openSUSE 10.3) and 1 has a Windows VM and the other 3 VM's: Windows, FreeBSD and openSUSE 11 RC so I would count 3 times for Linux 2 times for Windows and once for BSD (only owning 2 machines).

And like Karellen, I too know very few people that use Linux (even in dual-boot configurations) compared to how many use only Windows.

So the numbers are plausible... but I have a feeling that they will change soon :D

[Twitch6000]

That is a pretty lets say not well made chart.
Due to it including Gaming systems for OSes(yes ps3 is based on a Linux kernal but still)

The only stats I would only start to trust is the w3 schools one.Due to it being made by web developers and programmers.
Which even then is still a bit off.
This chart however is including non oses and operating systems that are just starting to get used.

[cardinals_fan]

The only stats I would only start to trust is the w3 schools one.Due to it being made by web developers and programmers.
Which even then is still a bit off.
...who disproportionately use Linux/UNIX. Most people visiting w3schools are more tech-literate and are more likely to use a more technical OS.

The only way we would ever get accurate usage results is if Google did a study on their site's hits. It's about the only site visited almost universally.

[gameryoshi600]

So what? Do we want our world taken over by immature kids on the internet?

[samjh]

0.68% sounds about right for desktops.

In my entire life time, only two people I know personally (ie. face-to-face) have ever used Linux. Many more have used Macs. Everybody uses Windows.

Stats like the one published collect data from user-agent information sent by client web browsers. Take a look at all the corporate desktop PCs, laptops, internet cafe PCs, library computers, school computers, etc. Compared to that, the number of Linux client desktops run by computer enthusiasts and research labs are minuscule.

A lot of graphic design workshops, publishers, and musicians use Macs. Early childhood establishments (kindergartens and primary schools) also use Macs a lot.

[bruce89]

So what? Do we want our world taken over by immature kids on the internet?

I thought it was (look round these forums).

I'm 18 by the way.

[aysiu]

I think .68% is a lot. It's a percentage, not a raw number. There are about 6 billion people on the planet. Let's say that 2 billion of them have internet-connected computers. .68% of 2 billion is more than 13.5 million. That's a lot of users!

I doubt these sorts of stats count people, though. They probably count computers, and I know a lot of people who use more than one computer, either because they own more than one computer, or because they use one computer at home and one at work.

I may also be being a little too conservative. Perhaps more than 1/3 of the world population has access to internet-connected computers. Who knows?

I do think that Mac # is way off, though, unless it's only counting US users.

[bruce89]

I wonder what the statistics are like for wee non-computer devices and MIDs. For instance, the N800 was the most popular computer on Amazon.com last year.

[rune0077]

In total, there are a lot more Linux devices out there than MS Windows devices, since Windows doesn't run on cell phones, routers, telephone exchanges and the like. Every year, more than 300 million Linux embedded devices are built - you do the math.


Then the question is, how many pc's are sold each year with Windows pre-installed on them? Somehow I think it's more, but I don't have the numbers and are to lazy to check them now, so I could well be wrong.

[bruce89]

Then the question is, how many pc's are sold each year with Windows pre-installed on them? Somehow I think it's more, but I don't have the numbers and are to lazy to check them now, so I could well be wrong.

How much has the PC market sales been affected by Vista?

[rune0077]

How much has the PC market sales been affected by Vista?

According to Microsoft, a lot. PC sales have definitely gone up considerably since Vista came out. Microsoft claims they're responsible, but in fact, the PC market rises considerably every year, so it is impossible to tell if anything is responsible for this, other than a growing demand for PC's. In the first quarter that Vista cam out, HP's PC-sales rose by more than 10%, which is a lot. Again, saying it's Vista's fault would be jumping to conclusions of course.

[bruce89]

According to Microsoft, a lot. PC sales have definitely gone up considerably since Vista came out. Microsoft claims they're responsible, but in fact, the PC market rises considerably every year, so it is impossible to tell if anything is responsible for this, other than a growing demand for PC's. In the first quarter that Vista cam out, HP's PC-sales rose by more than 10%, which is a lot. Again, saying it's Vista's fault would be jumping to conclusions of course.

I'd have thought it would go down in fact.

[Yuki_Nagato]

Having less than one percent of the market share means that the professional virus writers and black-hat ad campaigns go somewhere else.

[rune0077]

I'd have thought it would go down in fact.

Yeah. But no, the PC market has pretty much never gone down, only up.

[bruce89]

Yeah. But no, the PC market has pretty much never gone down, only up.

There's a first time for everything.

[madjr]

I was looking at this site (http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=8) which compares market shares of operating systems, browsers, ISPs, etc.

I was very shocked to see that linux is 0.68% market share, mac is about 7.5% and windows is about 91%.

How is it that less than 1% of the world uses free ($0) linux when 7.5% of the world has bought a $1,500+ Mac?

Does anyone agree with me or do you think these are pretty accurate data?

Thanks,
Brian

@Playa1313 / Brian

i have said this countless times so I'll repeat it once more :)

The site is called hitslink.com, but some people mistake it for "marketshare.com" or something similar. People think is official government stuff

marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=8

second, you need to pay for their service and they don't say where they get their data/numbers (maybe these are microsoft sites??)

third, a more accurate site is w3counter (they actually show their numbers 24,031,012 unique visits):

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

2 Windows Vista 7.69%
3 Mac OS X 4.73%
4 Windows 2000 3.07%
5 Linux 1.95%
6 Windows 98 0.96%
7 Windows 2003 0.74%


This report was generated 05/31/2008 based on the last 24,031,012 unique visits to all tracked websites at that time. W3Counter's sample currently includes 11,466 websites.

anyway, only google can really say

[Ioky]

well, I think people get Mac is not just about the OS, people also, mainly look at the hardware. 1500+ is for the hardware while only about 100 or less is really for the OS. so. Plus Mac is much more well known

[Playa1313]

@Playa1313 / Brian

i have said this countless times so I'll repeat it once more :)

The site is called hitslink.com, but some people mistake it for "marketshare.com" or something similar. People think is official government stuff

marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=8

second, you need to pay for their service and they don't say where they get their data/numbers (maybe these are microsoft sites??)

third, a more accurate site is w3counter (they actually show their numbers 24,031,012 unique visits):

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

2 Windows Vista 7.69%
3 Mac OS X 4.73%
4 Windows 2000 3.07%
5 Linux 1.95%
6 Windows 98 0.96%
7 Windows 2003 0.74%


This report was generated 05/31/2008 based on the last 24,031,012 unique visits to all tracked websites at that time. W3Counter's sample currently includes 11,466 websites.

anyway, only google can really say

Wow, thank you for the information. The data sure looks a lot better from that site!

One comment I have to make, though, how is over 3% of the world using windows 2000 still? lol.

Once again, thank you for the information. I referenced this site because in the past, every time i search for something like 'operating system market share' on Google, this is one of the top links.

Thus, I assumed that it was genuine as it looked and their little "quality assured" stamp helped that also.

Edit:
well, I think people get Mac is not just about the OS, people also, mainly look at the hardware. 1500+ is for the hardware while only about 100 or less is really for the OS. so. Plus Mac is much more well known

Actually, as far as I know, Mac OS is completely free.. you just have to buy the $1500+ computer :rolleyes: or find some pc-converted copy on the internet.

Thanks,
Brian

[Frak]

Those statistics in the OP are so far off its unbelievable.

[damphoud]

I wonder how many computers are there in the world? ( active computers :) ) Might give a rough... very rough estimate of how many linux users there are.

[kernelhaxor]

Google runs on Linux and has its own linux site: www.google.com/linux

Interesting .. I didn't know abt tht till now .. wonder wht it does different compared to just google.com

[Playa1313]

Interesting .. I didn't know abt tht till now .. wonder wht it does different compared to just google.com

I think it's mainly just looks and giving back to the linux community since without linux, there might not be a google :-k

Wish they could do more though. Wouldn't that be funny if google started really advertising linux and worsened their relations with microsoft (hopefully in a good way).

[Nullack]

Traditionally it was a a geeky hobby thing, then it got into servers, and now the issue is one of the desktop. By the numbers, Linux is still very rare on the desktop.

[frup]

For those saying they have met very few linux users I have a story to share.

1) I am not a member of any active LUG or tech community which is locality based.

The other day I was at one of our families properties for a video evening with my brother and cousin (who both use Ubuntu) we had some friends along too.

At some point we realised that 8 of us all used Ubuntu exclusively, aside from my brother and I (who began Linux together, he then got us in to Ubuntu) and our cousin who we encouraged to use it (because she had heard about it and was interested) I had no idea they used linux.

This group of people was not made up of Comp Sci people. Aside from me I believe they were all currently studying University students.

8 in one room. Pretty exciting really if you're in to Linux advocacy. Disappointing in some ways when you can't argue :P It changed from Windows vs Linux to GPL vs BSD!.

In the group there were an additional 3 windows users and a Mac user. My GF also uses Ubuntu as do my Grandparents. I know no one who doesn't use firefox. (all my friends who don't use Linux for gaming reasons etc use software such as Fx,OO.o, Vlc, and GIMP. Surprisingly pidgin is not as popular. All of us who I know who are now using Linux were using GAIM on windows.

[billgoldberg]

Most people haven't heard of Ubuntu or Linux in general.

I have a pretty large friend circle, from all walks of life.

If it wasn't for me, none of them (well almost none) would even know Linux existed.

Now, most of them don't call it Linux of Ubuntu.

Some call it "that ubuntutu thing" or "that thing with the strange windows" (compiz fusion).

I did get into a discussion with a totally computer noob friend of mine.

He doesn't know anything about computers besides opening a browser and msn.

He claimed that macs are the best computers in the world (he never even used one). When I asked him why, he couldn't produce an answer.

That says enough.

Somehow, most likely because of the Ipod and apple commercials, people think OSX is better than windows and linux.

Most of them still use windows, but some would switch to a mac if they had the money. All because of smart marketing, not because the product is better.

When my friend told me that ********, I just disagreed. I couldn't be bothered to go into details.

Also see the RDF (http://themacsucks.com/joomla/content/category/1/14/28/).

I do have 2 friends that are professional computer programmers (one works on programs for windows mobile, the other works in the IT department of some big company) but none of them runs linux at home (one used to run gentoo, but doesn't anymore that I know of), even though they admit Linux superiority on the server side, they claim windows is better or equally as good on the desktop. Discussions about that claim can get a little heated sometimes.

[i_love_AMY_MACDONALD]

You're right, and it pains me to see companies like Dell and HP that sell linux do not say ANYTHING about it on their main pages unless you specifically type in "linux" or "ubuntu." Likewise, Google runs on Linux and has its own linux site: www.google.com/linux - but how come there's no link on the main page "click here for linux users" or even just "linux."

Sometimes I just have to wonder if Microsoft is actually trying this hard to keep people unaware of linux.
well, users go to google.com for getting relevant search results. Most of them use google because of its simplicity and relevance. Also, they don't want any "unnecessary" info like google runs on Linux to be shown to them, that too when they mainly use Windows and MAC.
In case, the user is really interested in finding how google works, then they don't mind letting you know of the "facts".
Also, Google runs lots of services include www.google.com/microsoft and Google pages( free 100 MB hosting space+ website with easiest WYSIWYG interface available for any website-builder site on the net) and Google Labs(where products are tested by "geeks", before they are mage available to "normal" users). If it never advertises even these products directly, then I don't find any reason why it should advertise its linux technology or Linux search page.

[i_love_AMY_MACDONALD]

i don't trust this survey mainly because they have not indicated

either the sample size
or source for the numbers
or method of survey
or whether the survey includes even the server market where Linux is the leader


Also, unnecessarily mixing mobile OS along with Desktop OS figures creates unwarranted confusion.

If this figure were really true, GPhone( Google's Linux OS for Cellphones) will definitely cause a shakeout in the survey results:)

[i_love_AMY_MACDONALD]

I even know people who even dont know what Linux (and mac too) is.:popcorn:
i completely agree:o: