A reminder and clarification about The Ubuntu Counter Project

[Melissa Draper]

Greetings,

The Ubuntu Counter Project ( http://ubuntucounter.geekosophical.net )
has now been running for almost 9 days. I am aware that there was brief
mention of it on this list, and this message is intended as a reminder
and some clarification.

The project was initially an initiative to provide Ubuntu users a way to
display their Ubuntu pride in a nice, neat, recognisable form on blogs
as well as in forum and email signatures. Since then, worthwhile
statistics have been gathered about user preferences and habits.

Contrary to some people's belief, the project is not and never was
intended to replace or detract from The Linux Counter (
http://counter.li.org ). Rather, it was intended as something fun
exclusively for Ubuntu users. As far as I know, there is no such
initiative for any other specific distribution family. Ubuntu has such a
variance and range of choice in that is not matched by any other Linux.
The counter will catalog this in a way The Linux Counter does not.

What does it have that The Linux Counter does not? As mentioned above,
the point of The Ubuntu Counter was never to compete with or replace The
Linux Counter. The Ubuntu Counter does not collect as much refined data
as The Linux counter, however it does have things that The Linux Counter
does not. The Linux Counter does not have a pre-set Kubuntu, Xubuntu,
Edubuntu, Fluxbuntu or Nubuntu choice. Data submitted via the 'other'
field can vary in terms of case and mis-spelling. The Ubuntu Counter
also has novelty buttons for blogs, forum sigs and email sigs. What the
heck is the point of this? You may ask... I shall demonstrate with
statistics:

-------------------------------------------

Windows    350186    51.2 %
Linux      274969    40.2 %

These figures are extracted directly from awstats (an apache log
statistical analysis package) minutes before posting this message.

What do they mean? Windows refers to that other operating system that
still has market share. Linux refers to *any* linux. The numbers refer
to the number of times *any* file from the website has been viewed. So
far, more Windows people have seen the site and or the buttons, than
linux people have. Cool, isn't it.

Below, are the top viewed files from the entire website.
These also happen to be the files that generate the little buttons. Once
again, the numbers are the number of times the images have been viewed.

/img/ubuntu-blogger.php    164375
/img/ubuntu-user2.php      117009
/img/ubuntu-user.php       75393

-------------------------------------------

Lastly: Why not just advertise The Linux Counter? My honest opinion? I'm
pretty sure that >> 88680 Unique Visitors << seeing the link to
http://counter.li.org on the front page is a pretty darn good
advertising effort. In the past week, I've had lots of people tell me
that this counter has told them about, or reminded them about, the
original counter.

I hope this clears up some confusion, apprehension and distaste some
people seem to have about the project.

-- 
Sincerely
Melissa Draper

http://www.meldraweb.com

Phone: 0404 595 395

P.O Box 1412
Lavington, 2641