[Ubuntu-be] Why Linux Doesn't Spread - the Curse of Being Free

[Jan Claeys]

Op donderdag 21-02-2008 om 20:44 uur [tijdzone +0100], schreef Mattias
Campe:
> Jan Claeys schreef: 
> > So, then why doesn't Apple have more than 3% marketshare on the PC
> > market while they probably spend 50x more per unit sold than Microsoft
> > on marketing...?  ;)
> > 
> > "Linux" is actually growing faster than Mac OS X, and might surpass it
> > within 1-3 years in most countries.
>   
> Jan, what are your sources for the last sentence? I know the following
> sources, but these ones don't seem to give arguments for your
> statement (maybe because they are too global).
> 
> http://www.thecounter.com > Global Stats  (currently Linux: 1% vs Mac
> 4%)
> http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=9 (currently Linux:
> 0,67% vs Mac 7,57% and the trend seems to be in favor of Mac)
> 
> Could it be possible to clarify 'growing faster... in
> desktop/mobile/server/all' and 'most countries'=?
> 
> BTW Some time ago somebody posted the results of some Belgian survey
> somewhere where we could read that Linux is the most popular Linux
> distribution in Belgium, but I can't seem to find that message any
> more. Does somebody has any clue?

Mark posted it[1] first and I've posted it in several places too.  So,
early 2007 in Belgium, 1.8% of the market used Mac OS X, and 1.5% of the
market used linux, freebsd, or another free OS.

Considering the respective marketing budgets, Mac OS X must be really
bad in practice to be so close to the "no-budget" operating systems in
market share... or otherwise price isn't really relevant!  ;-)

Ubuntu did have 0.3% back then, which was the largest free OS.

And remember, this was based on phone calls to actual internet users,
not based on browser stats or similar metrics that are often faked
(because of issues with maldesigned websites).


[1] <http://www.ibpt.be/GetDocument.aspx?forObjectID=2477&lang=nl>

-- 
Jan Claeys