Ubuntu Linux: 6 Million to 12 Million Users
Ubuntu, the fast-growing version of Linux from Canonical, now has between 6 million and 12 million users, according to Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth.
Over the next year, Shuttleworth says Canonical will focus on multiple areas for growth, including a small business server. Shuttleworth also mentioned Ubuntu’s opportunity on mobile devices. He downplayed the opportunity on smart phones (at least initially), and instead focused on mobile Internet-enabled devices that resemble Nokia’s N800 handheld device.
Canonical is working on the mobile device initiative with Intel.
Shuttleworth made his comments during Ubuntu LIVE, a conference in Portland Oregon.
“Ubuntu, the fast-growing version of Linux from Canonical, now has between 6 million and 12 million users, according to Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth.”
Based on what metric? Some distributions, have published their method of counting users, but Shuttleworth just seems to be quoting random numbers without any substantiation.
Could someone please point me to the Ubuntu user count statistics web page, similar to the Fedora page here:
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Statistics?action=showamp;redirect=DimitrisGlezos%2FStatistics
Mace: Notice I wrote “fast growing” not “fastest growing.” I would suspect Mark’s metric is Ubuntu downloads combined with licenses preinstalled on Dell, ZaReason, etc. But that’s just a guess. Sorry I don’t have the exact answer for you.
“Shuttleworth just seems to be quoting random numbers without any substantiation.”
Mace, Mr. S. was giving a keynote address, not presenting a research paper. By its very nature, such talks are mile-high views full of highlights and vision. That doesn’t mean that the stats have no foundation; its just not the place to get into statistical methods.
A bit of a difference between 6million and 12 million. Which is it?
By default, an installation of Ubuntu will get the correct time from ntp.ubuntulinux.com at boot. This doesn’t tell them anything other than the IP number of an Ubuntu installation requesting the correct time, but it does give a number to guess from.
Sorry for such a wide range (6 million to 12 million). Mark Shuttleworth mentioned it in passing. I don’t have more info because it was a keynote rather than Qamp;A session. Other Canonical employees during the event most closely referenced the 6 million number, so it’s safe to guess the figure is closely to 6M rather than 12M.
– The VAR Guy
I’ve just installed it, so 12 million and one.
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