In comp.os.linux.advocacy, Roy Schestowitz
<newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote
on Sat, 08 Mar 2008 10:18:37 +0000
<1557536.oeMZBxBDdl@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> ____/ Stephan Rose on Saturday 08 March 2008 06:27 : \____
>
>> On Fri, 07 Mar 2008 22:53:25 -0500, Moshe Goldfarb wrote:
>>
>>> On Sat, 08 Mar 2008 03:26:56 +0000, Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> Some say that Microsoft might have no choice but to 'fork' XP, as in
>>>> have two routes for it -- a broken one (Vista) and a maintenance
>>>> release like SP3. In any event, Linux keeps evolving very quickly. Most
>>>> Microsoft customers are still stuck with an O/S from the days I was a
>>>> teenager.
>>>
>>> So?
>>>
>>> What effect does this have on the Linux community?
>>>
>>> You have had your chance with Windows ME which was a disaster. Then you
>>> had Windows XP which didn't get updated for like 8 years or something?
>>> Now you have your chance with Windows Vista.
>>>
>>> See a pattern here?
>>>
>>> I doubt it.
>>>
>>> The truth is Linux, despite being free, is still well below 1.0 percent
>>> of the desktop market while OSX is climbing.
>>>
>>> Why is that?
>>>
>>> Why can't a free operating system gain market share?
>>
>> Because people in the Market do not install or buy operating systems.
>> They buy "a computer" and use whatever comes on it. Most people are
>> completely oblivious as to what the it is they are actually using. As
>> long as they can click a little pretty button and their pictures come up
>> or their music plays they are happy. They don't care about how or why
>> this happens nor would most ever be able to even comprehend.
>>
>> The people that actually install their own operating systems, be that
>> windows or linux, are a mere fraction and not nearly enough to tip any
>> scale in any direction on either end.
>>
>> The only way *any* operating system is ever going to displace windows any
>> significant amount is by massive pre-installed distribution through the
>> retail channels.
>
> The installbase of Linux is far greater than 1%.
> http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/osrc/article.php/3687616
"Can Linux Adoption Ever be Accurately Gauged?"
by Roy Schestowitz.
One must tread carefully here (Roy tooting his own horn,
after all), but clearly the standard purchasing channels
are going to have difficulty tracking what is essentially
a stealth option for control software on a modern desktop.
Linux is an excellent option, too.
Roy also correctly brings up the points:
- CD exchange. (Good luck tracking that, especially if the
CD exchanged is burned from an image obtained by other means.)
- Internet download of CD images.
- BitTorrent sharing (decentralized distribution) of CD images.
- Linux counter regstration (with limited success).
- Website request tracking sample bias.
- "Unknown" discard of website request tracking, even though it is
statistically significant.
- Proxies.
- Rejection of non-IE browsers for compatibility reasons, and the
impersonation response skewing the numbers.
- zombie botnets.
- Bias introduced because of the assumption that everyone's on the
Internet, the Web, or both.
Roy does *not* mention dual-boots, though from my usage
thereof the second boot (in my case, Linux XP) is rather
rare anyway.
Roy also does not mention options such as VmWare; these are
probably rarely used by the lay public.
At best, one might be able to accurately state that "Linux
enjoys a 0.6% market rate (after discarding "Unknown")
on all Internet-connected, Web-capable, Web-used devices,
based on information tallied from this website, which
includes zombie botnets and IE impersonators." Good luck
narrowing it down further, especially since one of those
devices is an iPhone.
>
> Microsoft keeps harping about the old FUD, selectively
> quoting figures from niche sites. Ballmer said last week
> that Linux is Microsoft's #1 threat.
>
> Trolls, response? #1 thread, no? Ask your boss, Ballmer.
>
--
#191, ewill3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Linux. Because it's not the desktop that's
important, it's the ability to DO something
with it.
--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com
|
|
