this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2023
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Linux

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

So, these statistics apparently come from StatCounter, a web analytics company. I know that this is probably the best way of collecting usage metrics for the entire Internet, but I think this is less efficient for counting Linux users - after all, I would say that the proportion of Linux users who also use content blockers is pretty high. Even if it weren't the case, most distributions ship with Firefox pre-installed, which automatically blocks trackers out-of-the-box.

Also, wouldn't this also count an embedded device with a WebView as a "Linux user"? For example, smart TVs have a web browser, and typically identify themselves with a "Generic Linux" user-agent.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I believe those "IoT" (I hate this term) devices count as "Other"