Ubuntu my love, we won ! :o)

[Vincent Trouilliez]

> Yes, what amazes me is that Ubuntu is at number 1 in the last month... I 
> know it was on the coverdisk of Linux Format here in the UK one issue 
> back, has this same distribution channel been used the world over (might 
> explain it?) or - perhaps - has "word of mouth" prevailed over the 
> marketing of the aforementioned "big guns" ?

Yes, Ubuntu is extremely new, it's hard to figure out if the popularity
is dure to the great concept and overall quality, or just a short living
"what's that new distro, let's try it" effect.
Maybe  amix of the two I guess.

So what I am really curious to see, is how the situation evolves, over
say the next 6 or 9 months, when Ubuntu is not that "brand new distro"
anymore, and when Mandrake 10.2 and Suse 9.3 (or whatever version
number) are out.

Still, Ubuntu has now exceeded the 1,700 mark on distrowatch, even
Mandrake, which I have always seen in the first place, has always been
just under this mark, every time I looked. 

I guess a first milestone for gauging long term popularity of Ubuntu,
will be the release of Hoary. So I am looking forward to that.

Also, another way to "gauge" the popularity, would be for Ubuntu to
monitor how many ISO are downloaded from their server, how many CD they
ship, and how many people subscribe to the mailing lists and forums.
We could use this as an indicator, and display it in some way, on
Ubuntu's homepage :-)

Vince