How many Linux users are there in the world? 5,000? 5,000,000? 50,000,000? No one is really sure. Linux users aren't forced to register their operating system with any corporation; Linux users are free to install and use Linux without anyone ever being the wiser. And what about all of the people who don't even realize they're using Linux? Is Linux running your PDA? Smart Phone? GPS? TiVO? Tablet? Router? Wrist watch? Car? Is Linux lurking inside all of your electronic gadgets? Probably not, but it's turning up more and more these days.

Have you ever noticed how flaky the numbers are in reference to the actual count of Linux users in the world? Some say as high as 4% - 7%; others say as low as less than one percent. Is it possible that there are a lot more Linux users than anybody realizes? I have noticed that a lot of the sites that imply Linux use is stagnant at less than one percent are usually sites filled with Microsoft-related ads and sites that are basing these numbers on web statistics, that is they're checking their servers and counting only those Linux users hitting their websites. I'm honestly surprised that one percent of Linux users are going to these sites; we Linux users have better things to do, right? But then, I'm still surprised at the number of Windows users that hit our site.

Seeing that most of these websites take it upon themselves to use website statistics in order to introduce FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) into would-be Linux users by implying that hardly anyone uses Linux; we at LinuxHow2 are going to use our website statistics to show that most of the world is apparently using Linux. According to our statistics, 96.4% of computer users are running Linux. Whoa! It looks like Linux has completely claimed the market. 0.6% of computer users are running Apple; hmm, but I thought the Apple market share was improving? Oh, and funny enough, 3% of computer users are running Windows. Wait a minute! These stats are completely biased, right? Well, I hope you're getting the point.

Maybe using website stats is a stupid way to generalize about the entire PC market. If I happen to visit a site geared towards programmers and web developers, I usually find that the number of Linux users is much higher than usual. Maybe Linux users, like the rest of the people on the Internet, visit those sites that interest them most. Maybe web statistics are stupid. Maybe it's kind of weird that so many Windows, Internet Explorer, users are visiting this site. It's a Linux-fan site, guys!

Another thing that drives me nuts about this is the implication that the Linux market hasn't improved despite all the news in 2007 and 2008 about Linux desktop sales. What about the hundreds of thousands of Asus Eee laptops? The tens of thousands of Everex PCs? The hundreds of thousands of OLPC laptops? The Dell Pcs/Laptops? The tens of thousands of Mandriva PCs now running in Brazil? The tens of thousands going into France? The Lenovo PC? The hundreds of thousands of Linux PCs that companies like Google use, huge department stores like Lowes and Home Depot use? I'm not saying that Linux is taking over the Windows market, not yet anyway, but come on! It's got to be making a dent. They've done studies and despite Microsoft's insistence, nobody is installing Windows over these Linux PCs that are being sold all over the world. Who's going to buy a cheap PC or Laptop and then spend more than the cost of the PC itself on a copy of Windows and Microsoft Office? No one. Prove me wrong, Windows users. I know you visit this site; come on here and tell me your tales of buying an Asus Eee Laptop with Linux, an Everex PC, a Sears Freespire PC, or whatever Linux computer and installing Windows on it. Then, tell me why you would do something like that? I'm honestly curious.

I wish there was a way to get a truly accurate count of the number of Linux users in the world. I literally long for it, because I am confident, no certain, that it would prove these people wrong. There's more of us than you realize. “We cook your meals, we haul your trash, we connect your calls, we drive your ambulances. We guard you while you sleep.” We're the world of Linux.

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