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A strong showing for Konqueror, and opportunity for Linux
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I was perusing my blog statistics this morning via StatPress, and found some interesting statistics. I was curious to see what operating systems and browsers were most common among visitors to my humble digs here, and the numbers are not what you might expect.
I also see a huge opportunity for the Linux desktop, when I look at these numbers.
With 25.1% of the “market” that visits this blog, Konqueror comes in a close second to… Internet Explorer 6. Firefox places third after Konq, with 22% of the visitors.
IE6 has 28.6% of the share, and then IE7 with 13.3% and FF3 is already climbing the chart with 3.4%. FF 1.5 has 1.8%, so if you unify the Firefox stats, it would come in second over Konqueror, but only slightly.
Operating System Stats
Operating systems stats indicate that Windows XP is still alive and kicking with 47.6% of the visitors hitting my blog using XP. I don’t have a breakdown of SUSE versions, just one lump sum of SUSE, which accounts for 36% of the visitors to the blog. Generic Linux only has 6.5%, and Mac OS X is the next OS, with 2.3%.
I assume that XP has such a strong showing because many people are visiting the blog from work (hello, slackers!) and/or surfing the Web using Windows while they do some research on Linux. I’ve also been linked from a few non-Linux specific blogs, so that is going to set the traffic stats a bit askew.
The other interesting thing to take from this is that Windows Vista comes in with only 1.8% of the traffic. More than a year after its release, Microsoft hasn’t managed to capture much market share with Vista, despite its marketing prowess. (If you haven’t seen that video yet, go watch.)
I think we have a window (no pun intended) of opportunity here to capture some of the elusive desktop market share. Microsoft is playing catch-up, for a change. Its customers don’t want Vista, and it is having trouble reconciling the market’s desires with its corporate strategy.
Right now, Vista’s biggest competition is XP — we need to change that, and make sure that Linux (and openSUSE/SUSE in particular…) is a more attractive option. We can’t assume Microsoft’s next release will be as bad or poorly received as Vista, so we should be focusing on the consumer and business desktops, particularly now.
Maybe, just maybe, these measurements are not really correct, as a large number of people are using feed aggregators. Just saying … I’m using google reader, and I have no clue how this thing is identifying itself to your web server.
I’m sure they’re not 100% correct. But they’re the best guess available, and probably relatively close. It would be nice to have feed reader stats as well.
“…47.6% of the visitors hitting my blog using XP.” Almost half? Wow, I wouldn’t have expected that. I’d love to know if other sites that focus on open source also see stats like that. While I’m sure your assessment is probably right (it’s people visiting from work), it would be a shame to think that people consider Linux a “nice place to visit, but wouldn’t want to live there.” Hopefully some Windows-using visitors see these comments and will tell you what’s up.
On a side note, am I the only one who sees my comments in about a size 6 font as I type (in FF)? Maybe my eyes are getting old but, wow, this is hard to read.
You can look at the browser stats from Distrowatch - also showing the majority of visitors using Windows and XP way ahead of Vista.
#Zonker,
I agree with the stats that showing Vista market share just a few percent compared to XP. It’s not only in your blog but also a trend in Indonesia. This is a big chance to Linux to fill the gap, and openSUSE would be a nice option to fill in.
Browser statistics show an interesting data. I have more than 5 blogs and the stats showed up that Firefox beats all of these rivals. I hope the stats in your blog similar with the trend that more people try to migrate their Windows box
#Lisa,
Maybe I’m too old too
I used 1024 X 768 and font just like an ants… There is 2 option, choose a larger size as stated at the top of comment box or change the resolution