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Linux Counter Hits 120,000
Posted by
Roblimo
on Sat Oct 23, 1999 11:20 AM
from the stand-up-and-be-counted dept.
from the stand-up-and-be-counted dept.
meni writes "The Linux Counter Project now has over 120,000 Linux users listed worldwide. And with their brand new AlphaServer machine, they're ready to get slashdotted. If you haven't registered yet, please go over there and do." Okay, I just tested it out. W-a-y faster than it was in the past. I'm registered, and you should be, too.
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Linux Counter Hits 120,000
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The point of the linux counter project. (Score:3)
You really should ask yourselves these things.
(ps, it's a joke)
Michael Chisari
Re:Sounds more accurate than 10 million (Score:3)
I've been using Linux continually since the 0.99pl7 kernel was state of the art. It has been my primary computing platform for nearly as long (since 0.99pl14).
My guess is that there are more than 120,000 Linux boxes continuously on the net acting as web servers. NetCraft counts over four million web servers running Apache. Estimates I've seen say that at least 1/3 of the Apache based servers on the net are running Linux. Personally I believe that number to be conservative, but even if only 10% of the Apache servers on the net are Linux based, its over 400,000. And that isn't even considering that some Linux based web servers are running Stronghold, Zeus, Roxen, AOLServer, Netscape Fastrack, or something else.
My guess is that only about 1 in 5 Linux boxes are actually used to run a web server on the publicly accessable Internet. If that is true, then I'd say that 2 million would be a bottom number for the number of hard-core Linux users.
I don't think the 10-12 million numbers are at all out of line if they include casual, occasional and part-time users.
Re:Counting (Score:3)
Does it really matter how many people are running Linux? I can see -some- value in it, but people seem far too concerned with 'market share'. A free OS shouldn't care about market share, as long as developers are coding for the OS (which they are).
I think it is significant, because the idea of a "critical mass" enters heavily into software development and public acceptance. If there were, say, 3 Linux users world wide, all in Linus' family
That might be more of an issue to closed- than open-source programmers, but it still applies.
As far as public acceptance, well the past 12-18 months have seen huge leaps in public apprehension and understanding of Linux, even if it's overheard as "You heard 'bout this LYE-nucks doohickey?" Again, if it was just the Torvalds family sitting around the living room sending messages to each other with PINE, no story. But USA Today and Newsweek can cite geometric growth, or (soon) "a million registered users," or "the thousands of small businesses using Linux instead of (whatever operating system)."
That's why I think counting is a good idea. The numbers aren't everything (and as the other threads on here are mostly about) they're not easy to extrapolate. But they give a starting point!
timothy
Privacy and the Linux counter ... (Score:3)
For unrelated reasons I looked at the counter yesterday. It's very interesting; does anyone know who the single Linux user in the Wallis and Futuna Islands [wallis-islands.com] is? (Down at the bottom of the country list...) I can tell that person signed up earlier this year, and that they've elected to be private.
(I'm not picking on that person except that I happened to notice a 'one person per island listing' and that island sure looks nice right about now! I've yet to visit French Polynesia. Why not say hello to fellow Linux users in exotic locales?)
You can find out a scarey amount of info about people there. I'm glad that my listing (happy user since 1994!) is private. Most folk are letting a scarey amount of info about themselves be visible. Look at your town ...