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Market share being a subject dear to the heart of at least *one* of
those subscribed to this news group, this article on "How DistroWatch
ranking is manipulated ?", may be of some interest to others reading
this newsgroup; it can befound here:-
http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/6907#comment-1839

--
Two Ravens
"...hit the squirrel.."

Two Ravens <two-ravens$@opera$mail.com> trolled:
> Market share being a subject dear to the heart of at least *one* of
> those subscribed to this news group, this article on "How DistroWatch
> ranking is manipulated ?", may be of some interest to others reading
> this newsgroup; it can befound here:-
> http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/6907#comment-1839

And that link was a colossal waste of time...

cordially, as always,

rm

On 2006-05-16, Realto Margarino <rm@youasked.org> wrote:

> And that link was a colossal waste of time...

....along with the actual article, which reveals little or nothing
about anything.

First off, Two Ravens should have posted the final link:

http://makeashorterlink.com/?U5AA15E1D

....instead of the near useless tuxmachines.org link, which is
undoubtedly run on a x86DX33 over dial-up. The article then presents
debatable opinions, offering no substantive cause and effect or
drawing no conclusions. This not surprising, the basic accuracy being
questionable.

The author states:

"The time range that I shall consider here is the year 2005 - may
2006, but some background on 2004 will also be taken into account."

.....then goes on to claim:

"While Slackware itself remains a pretty unchanged value between the
11th and the 15th position..."

What parallel universe is this? I haven't seen Slack move lower than
11th, ever. It's been 9-11 forever, or as long as I been watching,
which is the last couple years. And SLAX got up to 10? What? ...for
eight seconds? In short, another fluff piece.

nb

notbob wrote:

> On 2006-05-16, Realto Margarino <rm@youasked.org> wrote:
>
>> And that link was a colossal waste of time...

> The author states:
>
> "The time range that I shall consider here is the year 2005 - may
> 2006, but some background on 2004 will also be taken into account."
>
> ....then goes on to claim:
>
> "While Slackware itself remains a pretty unchanged value between the
> 11th and the 15th position..."

You seem to be commenting on a different article to the one I pointed
out, "How DistroWatch ranking is manipulated ?" the *third* article on
the page. which does not mention Slackware once. It also points out
that the smaller more frequently advertised/released distributions gain
an advantage. This fact has been pointed out to those who seem to
regard so-called Market Share' as the 'be all and end all' of quality
and usability, note that most of the distributions promoted by some
using 'Market Share' as judged by Distrowatch ratings, are live CD's
that require little or no configuration.
--
Two Ravens
"...hit the squirrel.."

On 2006-05-16, Two Ravens <two-ravens$@opera$mail.com> wrote:

> You seem to be commenting on a different article to the one I pointed
> out, "How DistroWatch ranking is manipulated ?" the *third* article on
> the page.....

Oh.

OK

Well, then ....nevermind.

nb

notbob wrote:


> Oh.
>
> OK
>
> Well, then ....nevermind.

Either way, the use of English there hurts my eyes.

--
http://www.petezilla.co.uk

Peter Chant wrote:

> notbob wrote:
>> Oh.
>> OK
>> Well, then ....nevermind.
>
> Either way, the use of English there hurts my eyes.

It appears to be English written as a second language. The point it
arrives at however, is reasonable enough, that page hits are not a
valid guide to actual usage of any particular distribution, or for that
matter 'Market Share'.

The concept of 'Market Share' itself seems a little strange, when one
considers that not all distributions are for sale, some are, but can
also be obtained for the cost of downloading. Some, a very few, are, or
used to be, only available as paid for boxed sets of CDs, or a DVD, or
as a download on a subscription basis. One has to wonder therefore
where or what the 'Market' is. There is a market in Microsoft Products,
there is a market in operating systems which are only available if paid
for, but a Market in articles which may be taken or given away?

With a seemingly rising use of Live CDs one also wonders how that has
any effect on so-called 'Market Share', as surely the installed
operating system is the one that really counts, or are the users of
Live CDs using them on machines without an installed Operating system?
Does one count a live CD used on a machine with an installed operating
system as two operating systems or as one operating system installed on
one machine, and then there is the question of dual booting for a while
I used to dual boot Slackware and Debian, but it appears the more usual
usage is GNU/Linux or a BSD and Microsoft.

The Linux Counter project seems to provide a more realistic *guide* to
actual usage of particular operating systems,and even there those
registering are a self selected sample.

A final question, why is there any interest in popularity contests
amongst GNU/Linux distributions?
--
Two Ravens
"...hit the squirrel.."

On Wed, 17 May 2006 00:42:10 +0100, Peter Chant wrote:

> notbob wrote:
>
>
>> Oh.
>>
>> OK
>>
>> Well, then ....nevermind.
>
> Either way, the use of English there hurts my eyes.

But it is a very fine parody of a CUPS config file.
--
mark south; echo znexfbhgu2000@lnubb.pb.hx|tr a-z n-za-m
"I can trace my ancestry back to a protoplasmal primordial atomic
globule. Consequently, my family pride is something inconceivable."
-- Gilbert & Sullivan, The Mikado

On 2006-05-17, Mark South <mark.south@null.invalid> wrote:

> But it is a very fine parody of a CUPS config file.

LOL!!.....

nb

Two Ravens wrote:


>
> The concept of 'Market Share' itself seems a little strange, when one
> considers that not all distributions are for sale, some are, but can

I take your point. With commercial products it is relatively easy, how many
licenses have been sold. Not so easy here. Also, similar to your comment
on live CD's, I've installed and booted (about twice) a small distro on a
pen drive and also from my mp3 player. Do these count?

Really, does it really matter? Provided a distribution has a large enough
(perceived?) user base to make it worth the developers while producing it
does anything else matter? Even then, the size of the user bases and
whether it is worth the distro developers efforts are still loose terms.

Pete
--
http://www.petezilla.co.uk