Are people really installing Linux in a way that is difficult to estimate from downloads and sales?
The answer is a resounding yes. One misleading factor is that Red Hat Linux has by far the largest share among the developers surveyed. Red Hat is a commercial brand of Linux, so it is tempting to assume that one can estimate the number of Red Hat Linux installations based on the number of copies of Red Hat Linux sold. But Red Hat, like most other commercial brands of Linux, does not require you to purchase a separate license for every machine upon which you install their Linux (Red Hat recently implemented new policies to encourage people to purchase separate licenses, but the company does not yet require separate licenses). Therefore, every copy of Red Hat Linux sold can actually represent anything from zero Linux machines to every box in the company… and anything in-between. 2. If Red Hat is the most popular Linux, doesn’t that mean we can get at least a rough idea of the starting point by counting Red Hat sales? The answer is a resounding no. Almost 40 percent of developers say t
