Ubuntu Linux: 8 Million Users and Growing

[I-75]

Ubuntu Linux... 8 Million Users and Growing


http://www.internetnews.com/software/article.php/3780651/Ubuntu+Linux+8+Million+Users+and+Growing.htm


"In terms of numbers we're very confident this is an 8 million plus user base of active users," Chris Kenyon, director of business development at Canonical told InternetNews.com. "That is a hard thing to count and there are lots of issues about methodology for counting but I have seen nothing that sheds doubts on that."

[Northsider]

Yay us?

[BackwardsDown]

Now only if Canonical could make money out of all those users Ubuntu will be saved:)

[mr.propre]

Not the first time, I remember that a few years ago there was a css file with a class for IE bugs and called something like "stupidIEBug"-class.

[Mazza558]

I'm sure it was about 8 million 2 years ago.

[richg]

Linux users are barely 1 percent of the PC world, Mac 5 percent and pretty much MS the rest. Linux users are insignificant to the rest of the PC world.
Linux is far to fragmented to amount to much. Linux in servers is where it is at. Of course you version of reality might be different than my version. Who knows?

Rich

[aysiu]

Linux users are barely 1 percent of the PC world, Mac 5 percent and pretty much MS the rest. Linux users are insignificant to the rest of the PC world.
Linux is far to fragmented to amount to much. Linux in servers is where it is at. Of course you version of reality might be different than my version. Who knows?

Rich
Well, 8 million sounds like a lot, but when it comes to percentages, that would mean 0.13% of the world's population uses Ubuntu. Maybe if you assumed half of the world's population didn't use computers, you could say 0.26% of the world's computing population uses Ubuntu.

So, no, your version of reality isn't any different. If 60 million people are Linux desktop users, that'd put us at about 1% of the world's population.

[kernelhaxor]

Well, 8 million sounds like a lot, but when it comes to percentages, that would mean 0.13% of the world's population uses Ubuntu. Maybe if you assumed half of the world's population didn't use computers, you could say 0.26% of the world's computing population uses Ubuntu.

So, no, your version of reality isn't any different. If 60 million people are Linux desktop users, that'd put us at about 1% of the world's population.

That article suggests the count of unique IPs. If that is how it was counted, 8 million accounts to more than 1% I think.
I dont think there exists a computer for every two people in the world. Also, since we are talking about the whole world and not just the US, I am sure more than half of the world's population haven't used computers.
I'll go look for some credible statistics, am just curious.
I'd estimate that on a average, one computer exists for every 8-10 people? (Remember we are talking about the entire world). If the reality is around that estimate, then the share is around 1%

EDIT:
Looks like last year it was estimated that the number of PCs in the world would hit 1 billion mark by the end of 2008 (Source: http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?NewsID=9119 ). So I am guessing, there exist close to a billion PCs in the world. So the ratio might around 0.8 - 1?

[aysiu]

That article suggests the count of unique IPs. If that is how it was counted, 8 million accounts to more than 1% I think.
I dont think there exists a computer for every two people in the world. Also, since we are talking about the whole world and not just the US, I am sure more than half of the world's population haven't used computers.
I'll go look for some credible statistics, am just curious.
I'd estimate that on a average, one computer exists for every 8-10 people? (Remember we are talking about the entire world). If the reality is around that estimate, then the share is around 1%

EDIT:
Looks like last year it was estimated that the number of PCs in the world would hit 1 billion mark by the end of 2008 (Source: http://www.techworld.com/news/index.cfm?NewsID=9119 ). So I am guessing, there exist close to a billion PCs in the world. So the ratio might around 0.8 - 1?
I don't know what a credible source is on this subject. My top two results were WikiAnswers and Yahoo Answers.

WikiAnswers estimates about 365,000,000. Yahoo Answers estimates about 1,200,000,000.

Of course, determining market share is tricky, even if you believe the user agent data sent through the web browser.

For example, what if someone dual-boots or triple-boots? Is that user one user three times or one-third of a user each time? What if someone owns three computers, all running Windows. Will each of those computers be counted toward Windows' market share or will only one?

If we're counting people, a dual-booter should be counted as half a person or unit (or 1/3 and 2/3, depending on the relative time she spends on each platform). If we're counting computers, one person could have ten Ubuntu machines and count as ten users.

So in addition to the complication of detection (Is this a unique IP address? Is it in fact the operating system it claims to be?), there is even some theoretical murkiness as to what "counts" as a user of a particular operating system.

[andrewabc]

I'm sure it was about 8 million 2 years ago.

Back in October 2007 it was estimated that ubuntu had 8 million users.

http://digg.com/linux_unix/Over_8_million_Ubuntu_users

Also in September 4th 2008
Canonical’s Ubuntu Linux Tops 8 Million Users (http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/09/04/canonicals-ubuntu-linux-tops-8-million-users/)

How is this news when it was revealed several months ago?