thelinuxadvocate.blogspot.com— Yes that's right everyone. According to Google Trends beta, Ubuntu Linux has absolutely crushed Mac OS X, SuSE, and Debian. Check it out for yourself!
Oct 24, 2006View in Crawl 4
As others have mentioned, trends like this are not exactly reliable indicators of popularity. As someone running both OS X and Ubuntu, I've done WAY more Google searches for "ubuntu", but I spend 90% of my time on OS X.The other problem is that the typical Mac owner may not even know that the operating system is called "OS X", so doing a comparison of "ubuntu" searches vs. "mac os" searches is highly misleading. I don't think my mum knows that she's running "OS X"; as far as she's concerned, she's running a "Mac". The more appropriate comparison would be:<a class="user" href="http://www.google.com/trends?q=ubuntu%2C+mac">http://www.google.com/trends?q=ubuntu%2C+mac</a>Anyways, again, the trends are not exactly hard science.
I gotta digg you up; my OOTB experience with SuSE is simply better than with (K)Ubuntu. It immediately installed the i686 kernel instead of i386, added a fast video driver, had a more polished version of KDE, etc. etc. Things really did "just work" for me.
It's no surprise that Ubuntu is more popular than OS X. OS X comes with Unix tools like emacs, vi, bash, javac, gcc, python, perl, and apache right out of the box, which tends to scare the noobs. Ubuntu, on the other hand, isn't cluttered with any of that stuff. Of course, if you ever have to boot into single-user mode, you're kind of screwed without those tools, but I doubt most Ubuntu users know what single-user mode is, anyway.
You have to consider the source. Why would anyone do a google search for IE? Even though most surfers use it, they never need to actually search for it. It is on their computer already (remember, there was a big ole monopoly drama about that very thing). But most people don't care about which browser they use, hence the discrepency in statistics. People only search for a browser when they need an alternative to IE.
So according to that popularity test, questions like these:~"why are there only 3 and a half programs available in ubuntu's GUI"~"I've just installed ubuntu - where the hell have half the GNU tools gone?"~"in ubuntu, why are there about 17 apps which imply they configure the network, when none of them properly can?"~"why doesn't bluetooth work properly in ubuntu?" and~"how do I tell whether I applied any changes in ubuntu dialogs?"~"isn't ubuntu just debian unstable with the fun taken out?"~"this ubuntu is butt ugly and reminds me of windows. How do I install KDE?"all count towards ubuntu's popularity, do they? :PI'm on my way down a deep-dugg hole, I slighted ubuntu. :-)
My peripherals work. Guess what I did? I plugged them in *gasp* *shock* *horror*! As opposed to Windows where I'd need a CD full of drivers and Mac where I'd have to go out and buy something that specifically says "Mac" on the box.
It's illegal for them to ship support for encrypted DVDs, because that'd be a violation of the DMCA. Unencrypted DVDs work just fine, but you probably didn't try one.
mirzmasterOct 24, 2006
As others have mentioned, trends like this are not exactly reliable indicators of popularity. As someone running both OS X and Ubuntu, I've done WAY more Google searches for "ubuntu", but I spend 90% of my time on OS X.The other problem is that the typical Mac owner may not even know that the operating system is called "OS X", so doing a comparison of "ubuntu" searches vs. "mac os" searches is highly misleading. I don't think my mum knows that she's running "OS X"; as far as she's concerned, she's running a "Mac". The more appropriate comparison would be:<a class="user" href="http://www.google.com/trends?q=ubuntu%2C+mac">http://www.google.com/trends?q=ubuntu%2C+mac</a>Anyways, again, the trends are not exactly hard science.
lordsandwichOct 24, 2006
I gotta digg you up; my OOTB experience with SuSE is simply better than with (K)Ubuntu. It immediately installed the i686 kernel instead of i386, added a fast video driver, had a more polished version of KDE, etc. etc. Things really did "just work" for me.
Closed AccountOct 24, 2006
It's no surprise that Ubuntu is more popular than OS X. OS X comes with Unix tools like emacs, vi, bash, javac, gcc, python, perl, and apache right out of the box, which tends to scare the noobs. Ubuntu, on the other hand, isn't cluttered with any of that stuff. Of course, if you ever have to boot into single-user mode, you're kind of screwed without those tools, but I doubt most Ubuntu users know what single-user mode is, anyway.
lukas88Oct 25, 2006
You have to consider the source. Why would anyone do a google search for IE? Even though most surfers use it, they never need to actually search for it. It is on their computer already (remember, there was a big ole monopoly drama about that very thing). But most people don't care about which browser they use, hence the discrepency in statistics. People only search for a browser when they need an alternative to IE.
blackadderiiiOct 25, 2006
So according to that popularity test, questions like these:~"why are there only 3 and a half programs available in ubuntu's GUI"~"I've just installed ubuntu - where the hell have half the GNU tools gone?"~"in ubuntu, why are there about 17 apps which imply they configure the network, when none of them properly can?"~"why doesn't bluetooth work properly in ubuntu?" and~"how do I tell whether I applied any changes in ubuntu dialogs?"~"isn't ubuntu just debian unstable with the fun taken out?"~"this ubuntu is butt ugly and reminds me of windows. How do I install KDE?"all count towards ubuntu's popularity, do they? :PI'm on my way down a deep-dugg hole, I slighted ubuntu. :-)
johnstarOct 26, 2006
<a class="user" href="http://www.google.com/trends?q=ubuntu%2C+jesus+christ&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all">http://www.google.com/trends?q=ubuntu%2C+jesus+christ&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all</a>hmm...
jas168Oct 26, 2006
ooh I like these gamesyuo = fagot
treeheadJan 8, 2007
Why did the author of this digg submission link to the blog and not the permanent URL? Why, why, why, why, WHY?How about:<a class="user" href="http://www.google.com/trends?q=ubuntu%2C+apple&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all">http://www.google.com/trends?q=ubuntu%2C+apple&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all</a>
macoafiOct 18, 2007
My peripherals work. Guess what I did? I plugged them in *gasp* *shock* *horror*! As opposed to Windows where I'd need a CD full of drivers and Mac where I'd have to go out and buy something that specifically says "Mac" on the box.
macoafiOct 18, 2007
Did you try using gsynaptics?
macoafiOct 18, 2007
It's illegal for them to ship support for encrypted DVDs, because that'd be a violation of the DMCA. Unencrypted DVDs work just fine, but you probably didn't try one.