POP! at Robert Pogson

NetApplications shows quite a pop for GNU/Linux in May/June 2008, advancing from 0.68% to 0.80%, 17% growth in one month, 70% in one year. Of course the numbers seem heavily weighted towards North America/Europe, showing MacOS over 7% (units shipped are about 3%, globally, for Apple), but the growth is real in that market. Imagine what it must be in the rest of the world where large sections are not locked-in to that other OS.

What makes June so special? Second quarter? High rates of IT acquisition? Fresh grads? Realization that Vista is dead for business? It could be all of these factors, but I suspect that NetApplications is weighted to business sites so the hardware/software refreshes of businesses could be a big factor. We know 50% of businesses are giving GNU/Linux a close look for the desktop. Some are adopting. A lot are adopting, apparently.

Conversely, that other OS has lost 2.4% of its loyal following in the past year and MacOS has gained only 30%.

Vista is going on about 10 million machines per month and only about half of them were running XP. That means Vista has been replacing a lot of old versions more than XP. The world is creating about 25 million new machines each month, so Vista is not making it. When XP is killed, will Vista get a pop? Let us wait for July’s numbers. Steve Ballmer’s job may depend on them. I expect GNU/Linux will get a pop. The June pop may have been early adopters.

My Mission

My observations and opinions about IT are based on 40 years of use in science and technology and lately, in education. I like IT that is fast, cost-effective and reliable. I do not care whether my solution is the same as yours. I like to think for myself.

My first use of GNU/Linux in 2001 was so remarkably better than what I had been using, I feel it is important work to share GNU/Linux with the world. I have been blessed by working in schools where students and school systems have benefited by good, modular software easily installed in most systems.

I have shown GNU/Linux to thousands of students and hundreds of teachers over the years and will continue in some way doing that until I die in spite of the opposition.