Web sites like The Linux Counter or the BSD Counter Page are trying to “count” how many users each operating systems has. More and more dedicated server providers are also adding similar toys to their web site.
These “counters” make more harm than good.
Why? Just because only a few people will actually register on these sites.
The Linux Counter suggests that in the whole world, only 153606 are running LInux.
THIS IS JUST RIDICULOUS
Show that number to your boss and he will immediately say “what? This is a nice operating system, let’s get back to Windows as soon as possible”.
And then you’ll have to explain that these numbers means nothing, only the number of users who registered on the site and who are running a piece of software. So basically, the counter is absolutely pointless. Sure, there’s a graph based on the counter stats, and the graph keeps going up. But what does it mean? That the client software was merged in the Gentoo portage tree and that more and more people heard about that site. But it still doesn’t mean anything about how many servers are running free software. And the value of the counter keeps being ridiculous and HARMFUL.