Counter-Debunking the 1% Myth
This was the only post that week that attracted comments.Reader John points out that while computers preinstalled with Linux in poorer countries often have the hard drives wiped and replaced with Microsoft Windows, "that cuts both ways. I've never bought a copy of Linux pre-installed on a PC, but instead just downloaded it for free and installed it myself. I'd guess that's how the majority of Linux systems come into being."
An anonymous reader makes a very good point on why the 1% figure has to be too low: "I keep asking the folks that's saying 1%. What's your ± %? How can you have a percentage at 1% without any margin of error or standard deviations. Those missing figures alone put it (well) over 1%."
Another anonymous reader describes his/her personal experiences with Ubuntu: "My South Africa relative said they never heard of Ubuntu not any of their friends use linux. among the hundred of computer users I known, none of them used linux in their daily work. My first experience with linux (RH 7)is wifi card not working. I could not watch DVD. Even until now (Ubuntu 10.04) after installing linux, I still need great effort to download codec to play mp3, dvd etc (which is a standard usage for notebooks)."
Barista Uno is just tired of the debate: "Aren't we all wasting our time that could be better spent elsewhere?" On the other hand, GreyGeek77 points to a possible source of the myth: "I believe the prime source of the 1% MYTH was Microsoft, as revealed in the combs v Microsoft case file:
http://antitrust.slated.org/www.iowaconsumercase.org/011607/9000/PX09445.pdf"
Thank you all very much for commenting on the post, and please continue to do so. I really do appreciate all of your input, and stay tuned for more posts!