How many people use Linux Mint?

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NeoGeo64

Re: How many people use Linux Mint?

Post by NeoGeo64 »

This is easy. Count the number of times the ISO has been downloaded (any version of Mint). That should give a rough estimate of users. Maybe subtract about 30% from the total number of downloads due to people downloading it and never installing, or installing and only using for a short period of time, etc.
1.618

Re: How many people use Linux Mint?

Post by 1.618 »

NeoGeo64 wrote:This is easy. Count the number of times the ISO has been downloaded (any version of Mint). That should give a rough estimate of users. Maybe subtract about 30% from the total number of downloads due to people downloading it and never installing, or installing and only using for a short period of time, etc.
Unlike that other o/s, once burnt to disc/usb a copy of mint can be installed on as many machines as you like, I have 2 machines running mate from one dvd and i daresay other people have multiple installs from one disc too, but still a good gauge for a rough estimate
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Fred Barclay
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Re: How many people use Linux Mint?

Post by Fred Barclay »

Well, I've downloaded Mint about a dozen times (LMDE, LMDE Betsy Cinnamon, LMDE Betsy MATE, 17 Cinnamon, 17 MATE, 17 Xfce, 17.1 Cinnamon, 17.1 Cinnamon 64-bit, and then a few times that the download didn't complete correctly. ) :)
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Maik

Re: How many people use Linux Mint?

Post by Maik »

Couple of thoughts:

1. As Mint tends to work 'out of the box' some users may find little or no need to use the Mint forums.
2. How many Windows users actually use an official Windows forum (as opposed to, say, an AV forum / Photoshop forum)? Probably a small number in comparison to the number of Windows users.
NeoGeo64

Re: How many people use Linux Mint?

Post by NeoGeo64 »

Maybe Mint developers should find a way to integrate the forums into a help app in a future release.
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Re: How many people use Linux Mint?

Post by John Thompson »

Surely an easy (?) way to count the number of active users (not the number of downloads, etc.) would be to use the servers that serve the automatic updating. Can this be done? I realise that unique IP addresses might give false results (as could be a number of devices on a single address, addresses change - does the server see the MAC address?

Just a thought!
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Fred Barclay
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Re: How many people use Linux Mint?

Post by Fred Barclay »

If you really want to know, add a feature to Mint that requires a unique "registration code" to activate Mint, and "phones home" to verify the code. Keep a database of how many times Mint has been activated and voila, you now know. Great idea, huh?
Oh wait, Windows already does that... :)
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exploder
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Re: How many people use Linux Mint?

Post by exploder »

There really is no accurate way to determine how many use Mint. Downloads are not accurate because the install media might be used on one machine or several. Some might download Mint, look at it and decide on something else. The number of forum members does not work either because some people that run Mint never join the forum and there are a large number of inactive users.

The ability to phone home would not be welcomed by most. DistroWatch at least gives us an idea of the number of people interested in Mint. DistroWatch stats are misleading though because all Mint versions are grouped together where Ubuntu flavors are listed separately. Fedora, Open Suse and others releases are grouped together like Mint as well. There really is no way to get accurate numbers.
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Fred Barclay
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Re: How many people use Linux Mint?

Post by Fred Barclay »

exploder: my comment about "phoning home" is tongue-in-cheek. ;)
Isn't that one of Microsoft's most despised policies?
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Re: How many people use Linux Mint?

Post by exploder »

I knew you were just joking Fred! :)
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Re: How many people use Linux Mint?

Post by RobertX »

How many people use Linux Mint?

Don't count me out! :)
DeMus

Re: How many people use Linux Mint?

Post by DeMus »

I can't believe I'm the only person in the world viewing the forum right now...

Maybe it is that with Ubuntu people need more help than with Mint. Could be. I'm suggesting mint could be better than Ubuntu, things just work in Mint and so people are enjoying their computer more than asking for help. Just an idea. I could be wrong of course, but am I.....?
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