LinuxMint Number 1 on Distrowatch

[odo5435]

That's a huge disparity in forum activity.

Sorry, I didn't mean to bring the party down, I just thought a reality check was in order. I love Mint as much as the next person but we need a bit of objective perspective.

A couple of things to keep in mind about the forum statistics are:

. that many Ubuntu forum members are probably permanently logged in (not to say some aren't here also, but a multiplier effect would skew the numbers somewhat), and
. that many Mint forum members are also Ubuntu forum members (whereas I doubt the opposite applies).

[vicshrike]

No matter what or why, it is kind of

[KBD47]

Ubuntu is separated from Xubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu etc. Whereas Linux Mint contains all the variations. So if we would count all the diffrent official Ubuntu-distros as one, then I suspect they'd still be no.1.

As of a couple of minutes ago...

Ubuntu = 2105
Lubuntu = 612
Kubuntu = 382
Xubuntu = 331
Ubuntu Studio = 233
Mythbuntu = 147

Makes a total of 3810

Linux Mint = 2176


While the statistics show there's currently more interest in Mint, there's nothing to really crow about yet, is there? Besides, as I mentioned a few months ago in another thread, the number of active visitors (currently 169 on this forum, 9520 on ubuntuforums.org) is to my mind a better indicator of actual use.

I think it matters. Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, all the Buntus and Linux Mint are doing well or better because Canonical has taken a new track with the main Ubuntu, and whether you see that track as good or bad, users are going elsewhere. People may love Lubuntu for instance, but hate Ubuntu/Unity. Ubuntu gets credit for making a wonderful base that other distros are built upon, but beyond that, Kubuntu and the others are quite different from Ubuntu Unity regarding the user interface, the thing that brings you into contact with your OS.
Mint's developers deserve a huge pat on the back for going where the users are, instead of trying to drag the users down a path they don't wish to follow. Yes, it matters. You mention the difference in forums, if you want to add in all the other Buntus for comparison regarding the Distrowatch count, then consider they are already added in regarding the forum count, but subtract all those who don't like Unity on the forum, those who are there for the other Buntus, and that would give you a more accurate forum count.
KBD47

[vrkalak]

At the 'daily' Canonical/Ubuntu business meetings, Mark Shuttleworth - is probably mumbling about Mint and Clem - under his breath.

[KBD47]

At the 'daily' Canonical/Ubuntu business meetings, Mark Shuttleworth - is probably mumbling about Mint and Clem - under his breath.

When he isn't out chasing those illusive 200 million new users, while leaving the current users in the dust. I really don't like that guy. I read a recent bug report with his response to people who actually love Ubuntu, and his general attitude was: I'm doing things my way and if you don't like it you can go to ____.
I don't like Prima donnas.
Which is why Clem and his team are a breath of fresh air
KBD47

[Troken]

... As of a couple of minutes ago...

...
Makes a total of 3810 (Ubuntu)
Linux Mint = 2176

... the number of active visitors (currently 169 on this forum, 9520 on ubuntuforums.org) is to my mind a better indicator of actual use.

Yes, those are interesting facts, showing how easy it is to come to quick conclusions with statistics. None the less, Linux Mint is increasing in popularity, which I'm happy for.

[GoustiFruit]

Besides, as I mentioned a few months ago in another thread, the number of active visitors (currently 169 on this forum, 9520 on ubuntuforums.org) is to my mind a better indicator of actual use.

Ubuntu invested *a lot* over the years to make "linux" searches turn to "ubuntu" searches: 90+ % of the articles on the web describing how to do something in linux is actually titled "how to do something in Ubuntu".
So when you want answers for your linux question, the best bet is to do a search with "ubuntu" in the query. That's what I do all the time, and I'm no Ubuntu user, but that's how successful they've been into turning "linux" to "ubuntu".

[Anakinholland]

Ubuntu invested *a lot* over the years to make "linux" searches turn to "ubuntu" searches: 90+ % of the articles on the web describing how to do something in linux is actually titled "how to do something in Ubuntu".
So when you want answers for your linux question, the best bet is to do a search with "ubuntu" in the query. That's what I do all the time, and I'm no Ubuntu user, but that's how successful they've been into turning "linux" to "ubuntu".

Agreed.

And on top of that, some time ago (about 2-3 months), after years of public service, they change the rules on the forum, so you HAD to make an account to get to posts that Google showed you. It's possible that they've removed that again now, but I know that's how I got my account

So effectively, in combination with the "always log me in automagically" setting, they've skewed the numbers themselves as well?

[The-Wizard]

some American once said

there are 3 types of lie

a lie, a dam lie and statistics....

the download count would have given me 1 point for accessing the site where i downloaded my iso, but dosn't account for the fact I have loaded mint on 4 of my computers and given out several copy discs

[rijnsma]

Yes right!!
Or three tastes of Mint. Xfce, Gnome 2.3, Lxde for instance on one computer right here.
There is a much bigger marketshare for Mint.

[KBD47]

Interesting:
http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20111107#news

[Anakinholland]

Interesting:
http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20111107#news

Nice find

And of course, the haters start hating....

Some DistroWatch readers have started wondering whether Mint's ascend is a result of fraudulent loading of the Linux Mint page. If this is the case, we have not been able to detect any problem.

The line of thought probably being "If Ubuntu isn't #1, something HAS to be wrong!" ?

Smell the coffee!! Law of the handicap of a head start (Crappy translation by the way, but I cannot come up with a better alternative, apart from replacing "a head start" with "being ahead of the rest")

[TBABill]

From my views of threads on other forums it seems as though people who may not like or want Unity are proclaiming from the rooftops that they are either leaving ubuntu entirely, searching for another distro to compare and decide which they like better later, or switching to another DE within the Ubuntu family. What's interesting is how many have just stated they are leaving. To me that's most worrisome for Ubuntu because many users of any distro will also be the ones encouraging their friends to do the same. That can hurt in the long run, but the disgruntled Ubuntu users are a small number of overall users, although that group is much larger so far than after any other changes in the distro I've seen before.

I see this period of time as kind of the experimental stage. Gnome 3 threw every distro that uses it for a loop. They all had to make a choice...Gnome shell, Unity, stick to Gnome 2 for a period of time, etc. So now we're at a crossroads and risks are being taken in very different directions. Ubuntu sort of went first and took the largest risk. Building their own DE gives them control AND a DE that can be used on a tablet as well. But Mint devs took the road of wanting to keep the user base happy and the team listened. I think we're all receiving a pretty awesome product if it works as well as it looks like it may. So the showdown begins...Unity? MGSE? MATE? Gnome Shell? Ubuntu? Mint? Fedora? Debian?

I think we'll see a shift in the Linux user base as the desktop environments evolve and users decide what works best for them. From what I've seen so far from Clem, Mint may be preparing to lock in a lot of new users with their spin on Gnome 3. I'm excited for the release...first time in a long time I've been in high anticipation of a Linux release from any dev team. Kudos Clem and dev team!

[kc1di]

congratulations to Mint Team well deserved honor to be #1 on DistroWatch.

[yaye]

Congratulations on becoming the distro that most visitors to Distrowatch are curious about.
Of course, my curiosity led me to actually install it and start giving out Mint CDs instead of Ubuntu CDs.

[kazztan0325]

Hi all,

The article about this splendid achievement was posted on 'Unixmen.com'.

"LinuxMint is now the King of Linux Distros, Finally!"
http://unixmen.com/news-today/1966-linuxmint-is-now-the-king-of-distros-finally

[richyrich]

Clem and the Team, way to go, looks good on ya !

[Jesse654]

Of course, my curiosity led me to actually install it and start giving out Mint CDs instead of Ubuntu CDs.

This brings up a very good point: How can we (continue to) support Mint in its number one position?
Giving out CD/DVDs is certainly one way. Other ways:
- creating publicity--talking about LM to our friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, etc
- testing RCs and giving feedback
- posting bug reports
- helping forum users, especially new forum users (Did you know that most LM forum users post only once or twice?)
- contributing financially
- writing an article showing the benefits and features of LM
- creating a HowTo in an area in which we are knowledgeable
- contributing to the community website with, eg, details on how your hardware works, or giving a software review
- linking to LM websites

How many other ways can we support Linux Mint?

[tdockery97]

The news of the Mint 12rc release just hit the front page at DistroWatch. Watch the numbers now.

[rijnsma]

Great!!

So when 'a distro' cares for it's users and tries to help [certainly when important day to day desktops or tools are (partly)
destroyed by the 'developers'], this is good for attention.
Also the quallity of the distro in the long run appears to be important. Mint was for long number two in attention and
that's a respectable place. It was only logics; it is the best and smoothest distro in the universe and has such a large sofwarebase...

So everywhere we go we will tell about it. A lot of people now already. But never enough...