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GNU/Linux: rubbery figures don't help the cause
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| I wrote to Net Applications on May 6, with the operative part of my query
| being: "Can you please elaborate as to the methodology employed to obtain
| these statistics and the geographical regions which are covered? I searched
| your site for information but could not find anything."
|
| Back came an automated reply which gave me reason for hope; it said, among a
| host of other things, "Messages are normally answered within 24 hours on
| weekdays." But that was the end of the matter. A week later I am none the
| wiser as to how the statistics were collected and what geographical area they
| cover.
|
| [...]
|
| If one wants to look at anything other than the statistics as provided by Net
| Applications, one has to subscribe to something called "Geolocation Upgrade"
| and pay - the options cost anything from $US300 to $US1000.
|
| But on that page, one does get an indication of the reach of the statistics.
| One option available is geolocation segmentation - "country, region,
| designated market area, city and postal code and combination reports for
| browsers, operating systems and search engines." And it adds: "Postal code
| segmentation is for the US, UK and Canada only."
|
| Another option, titled demographic upgrade, is available for the US only. No
| mention of China, India or Brazil, three rather large countries where
| sizeable numbers of the six billion humans who populate our world live.
|
| It is surprising that nobody has thought to ask these questions - it doesn't
| take much intelligence to do so. There has been considerable angst among some
| at what they call under-reporting of the degree of Linux take-up on the
| desktop.
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http://www.itwire.com/content/view/25014/1148/
Linux and Firefox market share - the reality
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| You may have seen that, according to NetApps Linux is used by 1% (or in
| words - one percent) of online users. There’s one thing to note, and that is
| the fact that not all Linux users are using it to surf, and that some are
| changing their user agent strings to mimic IE on Windows. The other, probably
| more important thing is that NetApps base their studies mostly on surfers
| from US of A.
|
| [...]
|
| You can see that, although the blue had the largest share in 2006 with 1250
| tested users (which was almost 70%), and the yellow had only 128 users, the
| yellow grew exponentially, and the blue grew insignificantly. Yellow had 512
| in 2007, 1024 in 2008, and 2048 is predicted for 2009.
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http://ivan.fomentgroup.org/blog/2009/05/13/linux-and-firefox-market-share/
Recent:
Lies, Damn Lies and Linux Market Share Statistics
,----[ Quote ]
| "The numbers from NetApplications are clearly unrepresentative of reality,"
| blogger Robert Pogson told LinuxInsider. "Around 2003/4, IDC determined by
| survey that GNU/Linux was ahead of Mac OS at about 3 percent. Since then
| GNU/Linux has had growth numbers from 20 to 50 percent in various places.
|
| "That would put GNU/Linux at 7 to 9 percent," he asserted.
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http://www.linuxinsider.com/rsstory/67031.html?wlc=1242052796&wlc=1242058748
GreyGeek - Subject: Ah, I see that NetApplications primary
,----[ Quote ]
| usiness model is rebranding Windows executables and selling them to
| unsuspecting rubes.
|
| A year ago Matt Assay said it was at 2.02%
|
| ZDNet reported on Feb 24th, 2004 that the 2003 Linux desktop market share hit
| 3.2% and expected it to hit 6% by 2007.
| http://blogs.zdnet.com/ITFacts/?p=5334
| In 2005 they reported that the 2004 saw the Linux desktop at 4%.
| I believe that the all the ZDNet figures were spot on. If anything, the Linux
| desktop market share has continued to increase and is probably currently at
| 8-10% and rising. Dell and the other PC OEMs wouldn't have invested in
| selling Linux pre-installed if it appealed only to less than 1% of the
| desktop market.
|
| It is quite obvious that NetApplications latest "report" is merely
| Microsoft's continuing attempt to control the news about Linux's success in
| replacing Windows on the desktop. It's not working... No one whith half an
| ounce of brain would take the bait on a "free" Win7 (a dumbed down version
| that can run only 3 apps at a time) that will deactivate after one year
| unless the user PAYS Microsoft to activate it. Win7 is NOT free.
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http://www.linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2009-05-05-007-35-OS-MR-0000
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