Comment Re:Not affordable for businesses (Score 1) 1539
With all due respect I think your theories are a bit off.
"I'm assuming that users of Linux access the Internet in general and Google in particular just as much, if not more so, than users of other operating systems."
For statistical analysis, no assumptions can be made. First to assume that Linux users only access the internet via Linux is a bit off. I'm at work and have to use what I am provided. MS W2K. Next, to say that any one group of people are drawn to a certain search engine just because they happen to use a certain OS is another leap.
Next, by MS' own numbers, the number of installed 98se machines still far out numbers XP, yet when I look at the google stats, they have XP at 47pct while SE sits at 22 pct.
Next, looking at the browser numbers again leads me to believe things are a bit off. IE 6 is ever climbing while everything else is either unchanged or dropping. Yet all figures from Mozilla.org show record numbers of d/l for all their varients. Are people trying then deleting? Have they installed but are not using? Are they using the Opera "look like IE" feature? There are too many unanswered questions to draw any real conclusions other then MS IE is the predominent browser, which isn't a news flash.
You mentioned that Linux newsgroups have remained constant. That may be so but the three forums that I read and the two IRC areas I frequent have seen nothing but an increase in the last year. One forum went from less then 500 to close to 2000 in about 9 months time. With DistroWatch showing more then 500 unique active distros, could it be that the new people are using non-newsgroup avenues to find information? I'll repeat, I don't know since no has any real numbers on exactly what is going on.
I will end with this final thought. If Linux is exactly what you say it is, a mere 1% of the market, then why is MS spending so much PR time
on them?
"I'm assuming that users of Linux access the Internet in general and Google in particular just as much, if not more so, than users of other operating systems."
For statistical analysis, no assumptions can be made. First to assume that Linux users only access the internet via Linux is a bit off. I'm at work and have to use what I am provided. MS W2K. Next, to say that any one group of people are drawn to a certain search engine just because they happen to use a certain OS is another leap.
Next, by MS' own numbers, the number of installed 98se machines still far out numbers XP, yet when I look at the google stats, they have XP at 47pct while SE sits at 22 pct.
Next, looking at the browser numbers again leads me to believe things are a bit off. IE 6 is ever climbing while everything else is either unchanged or dropping. Yet all figures from Mozilla.org show record numbers of d/l for all their varients. Are people trying then deleting? Have they installed but are not using? Are they using the Opera "look like IE" feature? There are too many unanswered questions to draw any real conclusions other then MS IE is the predominent browser, which isn't a news flash.
You mentioned that Linux newsgroups have remained constant. That may be so but the three forums that I read and the two IRC areas I frequent have seen nothing but an increase in the last year. One forum went from less then 500 to close to 2000 in about 9 months time. With DistroWatch showing more then 500 unique active distros, could it be that the new people are using non-newsgroup avenues to find information? I'll repeat, I don't know since no has any real numbers on exactly what is going on.
I will end with this final thought. If Linux is exactly what you say it is, a mere 1% of the market, then why is MS spending so much PR time
on them?
