Seven Percent

[Paul Smith]

On 9/1/06, Anne Wilson <cannewilson at tiscali.co.uk> wrote:
> > Statistics are often very useful, that's why people keep making them up.
> >   Rarely though do they mean what they are spun to mean.
> >
> True - just don't take them at face value :-)
>
> > However anecdotally places like Digg are full of viral Ubuntu mindshare
> > zombies.  Of course in a larger sense it's all good if it gets the Linux
> > word out and reduces the ability to FUD it since people had experience
> > of it.  But I can't help feeling some of the newbie growth of Ubuntu is
> > partially driven by where we are in the Microsoft product cycle and
> > there's some easy come easy go built into it.
> >
> > Les is clearly right about some folks looking for the stability and
> > novelty sweetspot (seems we both use CentOS and Fedora so it is in our
> > minds at least), but is that really where all the Ubuntu ravers have
> > sprung from?
> >
> I missed following up the beginning of this, but if it, for instance, is based
> on the number of downloads, there are several problems.  First, over what
> period was it measured?  I have done one download, almost certainly earlier
> than the survey, and installed it on four machines, none of which, I presume,
> would count.
>
> The other obvious point is that more downloads take place just after a
> release.  Which distros released during the few weeks previous to the survey?
> I'm sure there are other equally valid questions.
>
> In the end, the only thing that matters to us is whether there is sufficient
> user base for the distro to continue to serve us, and whether we are happy
> that it does what we want it to do.  I have no problem with the idea that
> there are many people who want a 'just works' distro and would find FC not to
> their liking.  It takes all sorts..... :-)

I tend to think that the "market" share of a distribution is not an
accurate indicator of its value, as otherwise one would have to
conclude that MS Windows is by far the best operating system.

Paul