What is Digg?277 Comments
- shrewduser, on 10/12/2007, -21/+234I'm not saying that means nothing, but ubuntu is new and people are curious, which leads to higher levels of google searches. Most companies/business'/enthusiasts are already well aware of macOS (its been around a long time after all) and don't go searching for it.
if you measure how popular something is by google searches, then yes your right, at the moment ubuntu is more popular.... - Kent767, on 10/12/2007, -12/+99Give Debian some credit here :P Ubuntu is built on it.
- afex, on 10/12/2007, -19/+88not to mention that trends really don't mean *****...
http://www.google.com/trends?q=honda%2C+bugatti&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all
which one would you take? - TheTankengine, on 10/12/2007, -4/+56I didn't think I was going to have to pull this one out, but here it goes.
You all lose.
http://www.google.com/trends?q=mac%2C+os+x%2C+ubuntu%2C+sex&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all - chris9902, on 10/12/2007, -8/+47@madshgs
next time don't put "Apple" as a keyword. Of course that's going to come out on top because the word is so common plus the fact Apple make more products than just OSX.
here's the graph you should have posted;
http://www.google.com/trends?q=ubuntu%2C+os+x%2C&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+42MAC address
MAC daddy
Daddy MAC
MAC truck
Taco MAC
MAC tonight
M.A.C. (Mothers Against Cows)
...
the possibilities are endless - gharding, on 10/12/2007, -18/+47Maybe it's just that OS X works meanwhile everyone is searching for "Ubuntu installation problems" ;)
- AgentEntropy, on 10/12/2007, -9/+36Interesting, if you compare Ubuntu and Windows XP, you'll notice that Windows XP starts a noticable downwards trend right about the same time that Ubuntu starts it's upwards trend.
http://www.google.com/trends?q=ubuntu%2C+windows+xp&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all - smellinator, on 10/12/2007, -2/+28> "Since we're in the process of measuring small things... perhaps we could argue about how many angles can dance on the head of a pin."
Some angles are small. Others can be 359 degrees. Those are considered big, I guess. But I don't know of any angles that can dance. - homestar14, on 10/12/2007, -9/+32Marked as inaccurate. This is just simply saying that more people search for Ubuntu than OS X, which frankly does not surprise me. Saying that Ubuntu is "more popular" than OS X is simply misleading.
- gotung, on 10/12/2007, -8/+30@ Sirbe
"Linux Just works"?? I've been a heavy user of linux in the past, and have messed around with the last few releases of Ubuntu itself. It most definately doesn't "just work."
I will give you that once you get a linux system setup correctly it'll work very well for a very long time, but sometimes there are some extreme headaches along the way. - darksheer, on 10/12/2007, -4/+25WILDLY inaccurate headline. Should read "Searches for 'Ubuntu' now more common than searches for "mac os"
Stack it up against searches for "iMac," Macbook" or "Apple" and you'll see a totally different picture. I'm an ubuntu user myself--so don't lump me into the apple fanboy category. I'm just calling a spade a spade here. - shrewduser, on 10/12/2007, -10/+31yeah but mac could mean anything, big mac, for instance.
- akinder, on 10/12/2007, -10/+29It's all those people searching for how-tos to make the damn thing work right on their hardware.
It's like announcing Taco Bell is #1 fast food chain because everyone mentions it while buying pepto bismol at the drugstore. - PathDaemon, on 10/12/2007, -7/+19Agreed. People hear and search the word Ubuntu a lot lately, but that doesn't mean they use it.
- mathmanjeffy, on 10/12/2007, -6/+18@afex,
Trends mean exactly what this shows: a shift in search popularity. That doesn't mean usage, it doesn't mean quality.
So yes, trends do mean something, you seem intent on applying a definition they never claimed to have. - darksheer, on 10/12/2007, -3/+14Its not about the "mac faithful" getting upset. Its about inaccurate "data" Doesn't matter what it purports to say....its still wildly inaccurate.
- threemagic, on 10/12/2007, -5/+16You also do searches for problems like:
Ubuntu Cisco Wireless card driver
Ununtu intel graphics chipset driver
people search for Windows:
How to remove spyware Windows XP
How to remove rec.mycomp.32 virus Windows XP
People search for Apple:
When will Age of Empire 3 OS X
What or why do you think stuff gets searched FOR... - 90sChild, on 10/12/2007, -5/+15I must've gotten lost somewhere... I was looking for real news.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -7/+17Why do the MacFaithful get so upset at another OS...any OS...showing more popularity than OS X? I would bet the vast majority of Ubuntu switchers are i86 Windows, either 98, ME or 2000. There are a lot of older Windows machines out there and you can't convert them to OS X.
- bbene, on 10/12/2007, -11/+20Buried as inaccurate. I hope everyone else does the same.
- ascheinberg, on 10/12/2007, -7/+16Buried as inaccurate.
Google doesn't and can't measure actual use or deployment breadth. They only measure the data they have access to - search and news data. Ubuntu users are far more likely to be online and using Google regularly, because it's a good bet they are "computer people."
This is a big problem you often see people make with statistics: you're looking at a sample of a very non-representative subsection of the whole and making assumptions about the whole. If I stand by the door of a grocery store and measure mostly women coming in and out, it's a mistake to assume that women are eating most of the food. This is the same, you don't have a good sampling pool. - noseeme, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11Try comparing "ubuntu linux" and "os x", that's more accurate.
Ubuntu gets pwned.
Marked as lame. It's inaccurate too, but I chose lame. - msikma, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12"Ubuntu" is an ideology. That makes it more ubiquitous than just being a word in a language. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_%28ideology%29
- Nonsuch, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Lame or inaccurate ... decision, decisions ...
- Slovenian6474, on 10/12/2007, -6/+12I wouldn't think so. As OSX comes on your mac. To get Ubuntu, you google for it and download. I would expect Ubuntu to have a much higher search count than any mac search.
- GMorgan, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9@johnnybluejeans
Nice to see the anti Ubuntu idiots are still around. Surely you can make Ubuntu into whatever you want. After all you can install GCC and change just about anything. Theres nothing that Linux distro A can do more than Linux distro B. They are just bloody defaults. If I really wanted to I could take Ubuntu, strip it down and install Portage on it. - LoungeActx, on 10/12/2007, -8/+14If you search Ubuntu Linux, Mac OS X you'll see a very very different graph. Ubuntu by itself has alternate meanings, which bias this query. Try this:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=ubuntu+linux%2Cmac+os+x&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all
Although you can see Mac OS X declining, and you see an increase in Ubuntu Linux you'll notice the Mac OS X is clearly topping out the search terms.
But again, this is no indication of which is more popular user-wise, just search term popularity. Marked as Innacurate. - Viscaria, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8By this logic Linux is about 50% as popular as Windows. Why can't I bury a story as both lame and inaccurate?
- TriZz, on 10/12/2007, -9/+15This is not an accurate appraisal of what is more popular. I've searched Ubuntu tons of times and use OS X. I don't think I've ever done a google search for OS X
- gherikill, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7The reason ubuntu has more searches is because people are looking for howtos and solutions to problems. Anyone who has ever installed linux know that you spend a lot fo time on the web searching for solutions to problems.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -9/+15> I've purposely left Windows out of this graph because if added,
> all of these OS's crawl near the bottom of the graph in an almost
> flat line compared to Windows' wild lead.
Since we're in the process of measuring small things... perhaps we could argue about how many angles can dance on the head of a pin.
> In searches you ***** dumbass,
Yes... Google stopped including OS stats in their zeitgeist quite some time ago... my pet theory is that they didn't like the look of reality (and intend on changing it by denying Microsoft access to their numbers). - Phocion55, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7But when Mac fanboys post tons of "People Like You Because You Own A Mac" articles/propaganda on here it's ok? How is this any different? I see how it is.
- pufuwozu, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8A major percentage of the searches have come from South Africa - a region where ubuntu is actually word.
- fyngyrz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6No, don't think so. Here's a much more relevant and fair comparison using trends:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=ubuntu%2C+%22os+x%22%7Cosx%7Capple%2C&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all
As you can see, Ubuntu isn't even close. - serpicolugnut, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9Well, if I compare the trends of "ubuntu" and "apple", Ubuntu gets crushed. But that wouldn't really be scientific, now would it?
- Roger, on 10/12/2007, -11/+16"Linux just works" as opposed to OSX, which doesn't?
- kimos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Not to mention that when I google OSX, I don't put the space in there. You're missing a bunch of searches:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=ubuntu%2C+os+x%2C%2C+osx&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all
This whole thing is pretty inaccurate... - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+8You all are going to take Google Trends BETA for your source? Marked as innacurate. That's just silly as hell.
- campo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5that's a 2-1 decision, no?
- DigitalDud, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5All this proves is that people are helplessly searching Google trying to fix their Linux installs.
- evolution360, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5@jarland
nope, Linux was made to act like UNIX. hmm isn't OSX (OPENSTEP) based off a UNIX variant? - s2djfinc, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5In other news: Taxes more popular than Windows Vista:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=windows+vista%2C+tax&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all - pixelmixer, on 10/12/2007, -4/+8I believe the poster meant to say that linux, all it can do is work... sure, it may take a while to get it to work, but once it does, thats the only incentive there. Vs Mac, where mac has similar architecture but much better gui's with eyecandy.
@Johnybluejeans
I've used other distros and am using Ubuntu right now, and am hardly a CS grad. I'm a sophomore art student. Thats about as far away from a CS grad as you can get, save being a freshman art student.
Ubuntu is hardly "dumbed down" by any means. Its one of the most powerful OS's i've used, and if you read the documentation you can customize it more than any other OS.
And.. you contradict yourself... you say only CS Grads can use it... but yet its so dumbed down that only noobs can use it...??? wtf??
and... come on man... maybe CS grads can only use other so called "real" distros, but for linux to ever grasp the "noob" market it better damn well make it easy to do stuff. From all the different distros i've used Ubuntu is one of the most well put together and easier to use. - nkassi, on 10/18/2007, -1/+5Just a personal experience:
My fiancee prefers Ubuntu to OS X. She feels that finding the things she need is easier witht the ubuntu menu layout.
Now, of course I installed Flash, the restricted format codecs and other such things but these Legal issues are hard to go around. I guess this is a point for OS X.
The "just works" argument that OS X fans use can just as easily be strip away. Why is NFS such a bitch to set up on OS X compared to Ubuntu. Why is it easier to access windows shares on Ubuntu? Updating OS X is crappy. There is no preinstalled software updating tools comparable to apt-get synaptic and etc. ( Fink sucks. )
When you get to the hardware issue, Ubuntu supports a bunch of hardware that OS X doesn't. Think amd64 extensions, internal hardware that isn't Apple approved. It a bitch to install OS X on a non mac pc Of course you shouldn't do that but it's still an advantage that Ubuntu has.
Of course these are all things that are "above" regular users need. pff.
Forget the OS X is perfect mentality. OS X has as much to learn from Ubuntu/Linux than Ubuntu/Linux has to learn about OS X usability. - ChrisLowder, on 10/12/2007, -7/+10Who gives a *****? Seriously!
- Phocion55, on 10/12/2007, -0/+499% of which comes from the search term "Windows AND How the hell do I remove spyware from it"
- nonsapiens, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9Correct. Ubuntu derives from "bantu", which is Zulu for "person". Hence "Ubuntu" literally means "of peopleness". Consider as the opposite of "apartheid".
/South African. - zephyrxero, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The be-all-end-all comparison chart: http://www.google.com/trends?q=ubuntu%7C%22ubuntu+linux%22%7Clinux%7Cdebian%7Csuse%7Copensuse%7Cfedora%7C%22fedora+core%22%7C%22red+hat%22%7Cfreespire%7Clinspire%7Clindows%7Cmandrake%7Cmandriva%7Cslackware%7Ckubuntu%7Cxubuntu%7Cedubuntu%7Cgentoo%7Cmepis%7Cslackware%2C+%22os+x%22%7Cosx%7Capple%7Cmac%2C+windows%7Cwinxp%7Cvista%7C%22windows+xp%22%7Cwin32%7Cmicrosoft&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all
The results don't necessarily looks so great for Linux in general...however, as stated many times before, these are just search trends and don't really mean anything as far as quality or marketshare. -
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