How to Conquer the World for Linux 16812

snips

billwg

That's just it - that's *not* all anyone cares about. Some of us care about a lot of other things. *You* may only care about the money, but don't presume that everyone views things the way you do.

Unless it also sold for a non-zero cost, such as, say, almost any of the major distros in their boxed sets, server editions, etc, etc, etc.

Actually, that's a Wintroll tactic; they presume that because Windows sells more units, or more dollars, that it is in use more. While it may in fact be in use more, their buttumptions are wrong.

As a simple example of this, compare, say, gasoline sales and sales of air. Gasoline is generally only available for purchase, while air can be had for free or for a cost. The vast majority of air consumers do not pay a penny for their air, whilst every gasoline consumer, bar a few odd exceptions, pays for gas.

Thus, if we look at the sales revenues, we can conclude that there are perhaps a billion people who use gas, and only a virtually non-existent number who use air. Apparently, six billion of us have, one way or another, stopped breathing, since the sales figures tell us we're not buying air.

Obviously, we are breathing. Obviously, we are using air. We're just not *buying* it, so examining the sales figures, in order to draw any conclusion about usage, is silly if the product is generally available free of charge.

Indeed, by the typical tactic of ignoring the free distribution of a product, we can safely conclude that there are something like 100 million gas consumers to every air consumer, which is obviously wrong, but it is the conclusion supported by the sales figures.

Now, for the sake of argument, please tell us how, exactly, the percentages of desktop usage of various operating systems is determined, making sure that whatever method is being used accounts for the free products. Also, it should account for paid licenses which are no longer used, as well; if I own three licensed versions of Windows, but only use one of them, that's three items reflected in sales figures, but only one actually being used, so you'll have to avoid overinflating usage of the for-sale products, as well.

Feel free to give us the methods you used to arrive at your numbers, and do remember to demonstrate that they account for both of these problems in determining usage.