OSnews: Linux Officially Reaches 1% of Desktop Market Share
OSnews blogs that the website marketwatch.com, which tracks software usage statistics, has officially reported that Linux has passed the 1% market share position for desktop operating systems. According to the site, Windows has dropped over the last year while Apple’s OS X has gained. The site also tracks usage of iPhone and iPod for client access to the internet. For example, iPhone is listed at .55% of all traffic vs. .07% currently for Android. Windows accounts for 88% of all users, Mac just under 10%, Linux 1%, and all other clients from Sun to video games and mobile phones amount to around 1% together. Interestingly, the W3 counter / Global stats has Linux usage over the same period (April 2009) at 2.16%: http://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php
“Linux usage share on client devices has surpassed 1% for the first time in our tracking. Linux has been successful primarily as a server operating system, but client usage share has not kept pace with server share Linux has reached this important milestone on the client as Linux-based systems have become more functional, easier to use, and pre-installed on computers from vendors like Dell.”1
That pre-installation is important in the spread of desktop Linux is supported by numerous reports as well as common sense. Yet, the bottom line is going to be user experience, stability, and available software vs. dedication to the open source philosophy. For most, buying a machine with the OS set up and running is standard. The increase in popularity of netbooks and the use of Linux as a pre-installed OS on those machines may be leading the trend combined with increased uptake in the education & development communities.
“LINUX HAS MADE headway in Microsoft’s UK heartland, the PC sales channel. The number of machines shipped with Linux preloaded on them has multiplied a whopping 28 times since Microsoft launched its Vista operating system in January 2007. Sounds impressive, but Linux was starting from a rather small base in traditional sales channels: of all PCs sold in the UK last January through indirect channels, a feeble 0.1 per cent had Linux preloaded, according to numbers given to us by market research firm Context. The Linux share of this route to market has edged up ever since the Vista launch. Then it broke the two per cent barrier in May after the latest release of Ubuntu, the strain of Linux most capable of kicking Microsoft in the shins. Microsoft is still be shipped with 93 per cent of all PCs sold through distribution in the UK, according to Context.”2
According to the Linux counter there are about 29 million users: http://counter.li.org/
Reaction to this: http://blogs.computerworld.com/linux_use_reached_1_world_yawns
“Linux guru and my compatriot in blogging, Steven J. Vaughn-Nichols, believes that Linux may eventually reach 10% to 20% of market share. I think that Steven’s estimate is far off the mark. I’d be shocked if Linux ever came close to approaching even 5% of market share, and I believe even 2% will be a stretch. To understand why, let’s look at how Linux reached that 1% market share. Linux was first created in 1991 — that’s 18 years ago. To reach 1% market share in 18 years is not a particularly difficult task, especially considering that the operating system is available for free.”
Related: http://blogs.computerworld.com/1_linux_99_to_go
There has been frustration over the proprietary software model for years, and open source has never been stronger. The frustration is popular, and has mostly been directed at Microsoft with its 88% market share. Clearly the release of Windows 7 is going to be an important event, but the potential is easily there for Microsoft to increase its popularity yet again with another strong product. Is Linux a product? The fact that it may not be is key to its main appeal, but limits sales if it cannot be sold.
According to distrowatch, here are the top 100 Linux distributions with the number of hits per day:
- Ubuntu 2351 <
- openSUSE 1538 <
- Mint 1418 <
- Fedora 1395 >
- Debian 1194 <
- Mandriva 1002 >
- PCLinuxOS 888 <
- Puppy 733 >
- Sabayon 710 >
- MEPIS 681 <
- CentOS 677 <
- Arch 629 =
- Slackware 522 <
- FreeBSD 512 >
- Damn Small 468 <
- Kubuntu 467 <
- Vector 446 >
- Dreamlinux 424 <
- KNOPPIX 406 =
- gOS 382 =
- Zenwalk 374 <
- Gentoo 356 =
- PC-BSD 331 =
- OpenSolaris 328 =
- Ubuntu Studio 319 <
- TinyMe 309 =
- Xubuntu 307 <
- Ultimate 297 >
- sidux 284 =
- PC/OS 274 =
- Slax 242 >
- CrunchBang 237 >
- Red Hat 235 =
- Elive 217 >
- Parted Magic 212 =
- SystemRescue 211 >
- Mythbuntu 210 <
- BackTrack 209 =
- Clonezilla 194 =
- Frugalware 193 =
- Tiny Core 189 >
- OpenGEU 172 =
- GeeXboX 172 <
- Xandros 165 =
- Absolute 160 <
- Linpus 157 <
- Pardus 146 =
- Yellow Dog 142 =
- Wolvix 142 =
- nUbuntu 139 =
- Scientific 138 =
- Novell SLE 138 =
- DragonFly 136 >
- OpenBSD 135 <
- SliTaz 134 =
- Easy Peasy 134 >
- CDlinux 123 =
- ZevenOS 122 >
- 64 Studio 121 =
- FreeNAS 119 =
- Fluxbuntu 119 =
- iMagic 118 =
- NetBSD 116 >
- Foresight 116 =
- GParted 114 =
- Musix 113 =
- linuX-gamers 113 <
- DesktopBSD 112 =
- ALT 112 =
- UbuntuME 107 =
- Freespire 105 <
- Comfusion 105 =
- Berry 100 =
- CRUX 98 =
- Nexenta 96 =
- Solaris 95 =
- Parsix 95 =
- Lunar 95 =
- gNewSense 95 =
- ClarkConnect 90 =
- GoblinX 89 =
- BlankOn 89 >
- U-lite 88 >
- RIPLinuX 87 >
- Granular 87 =
- LFS 84 =
- Caos 84 >
- Linux XP 83 =
- SME Server 82 =
- PUD 82 >
- Kiwi 82 >
- AUSTRUMI 79 =
- MidnightBSD 78 =
- SAM 74 =
- X/OS 73 =
- KANOTIX 73 =
- DARKSTAR 73 =
- Turbolinux 72 =
- KateOS 72 =
- IPCop 72 =
Source: http://distrowatch.com/
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_distribution
http://www.linuxforums.org/reviews/overview_of_the_ten_major_linux_distributions.html
http://www.brighthub.com/computing/linux/articles/21108.aspx
- http://marketshare.hitslink.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=8&sample=35 [↩]
- http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1038132/linux-preloads-rocket-per-cent [↩]
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