this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2023
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Linux

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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (2 children)

according to StatCounter's data

Our tracking code is installed on more than 1.5 million sites globally.

Source: https://gs.statcounter.com/faq#methodology

Such statistics are always to be taken with a grain of salt.

There are more than 1.5 billion websites worldwide. Statcounter therefore covers only a small fraction of them. So chances are good that you as a Linux user do not use any of these 1.5 million websites that Statcounter uses to create their statistics.

Furthermore, I suspect that many Linux users use tools like uBlock Origin or Pi-Hole, so that the things that are used to track users are blocked.

Apart from that, I have several Linux installations with which I never access a website. Sometimes they have no direct connection to the Internet. Thus, they are also not recorded.

But now to the most important. 3 percent of what? Percentage numbers don't tell anything if you don't know the number of users behind them. Let's assume that there were 2.8 percent Linux users in May. In June, only 2.6 percent. Nevertheless, it is possible that there were more actual users in June if the total number of all users increased accordingly.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Yeah man that's how statistics work. It's not a census. The people behind statscounter make calculations and approximations based on the data they get from they trackers. I think they know that there are people with tracking-blockers. And not only on windows.

They don't just present simple numbers they get. They polish them and that's literally their job.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

yeah. It is weird statistics. Maybe ethic telemetry on Linux will help with user counting.