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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!nntp.coast.net!news.kei.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!newsxfer.itd.umich.edu!agate!news.ucdavis.edu!library.ucla.edu!info.ucla.edu!news.bc.net!felix.junction.net!okjunc.junction.net!michael From: michael@okjunc.junction.net (Michael Dillon) Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy,alt.os.linux,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc Subject: Re: a monthly FreeBSD magazine (and other *BSD's too) Date: 18 Dec 1995 06:36:52 GMT Organization: Okanagan Internet Junction, Vernon B.C., Canada Lines: 40 Message-ID: <4b3264$be8@felix.junction.net> References: <4ajc07$sb7@unix2.glink.net.hk> <4att23$mha@agate.berkeley.edu> <4au4fo$pbo@agate.berkeley.edu> <4au7e5$ql4@agate.berkeley.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: okjunc.junction.net Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.advocacy:30636 alt.os.linux:6482 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:10662 comp.unix.bsd.netbsd.misc:1584 In article <4au7e5$ql4@agate.berkeley.edu>, Jordan K. Hubbard <jkh@violet.berkeley.edu> wrote: >Well, to cite one of the very same references you cite (the "counter") >its shows that there are 1294 registered users (it's misnamed 386bsd-counter >at aun.uninett.no, due to the historical roots involved). 67.4% of those >are claimed to be FreeBSD machines (3.0% 386bsd and 29.2% NetBSD). >That leaves some 866 users of FreeBSD who are thus registered. What >does that mean? I really have no idea. For one, if you combine it with the WWW server stats 10% Linux, 3% BSD it would give you 2% FreeBSD systems which is one-fifth the total for Linux. I think this is much closer to an accurate figure. If we look at some mailing lists for ISP's then there are 500 on the linux list and 260 on the two FreeBSD lists or 50% of the Linux numbers. I think this is less accurate because there are likely to be more curious Linux users on the FreeBSD lists than vice versa. >Some other facts, and for business reasons I am going to be forced to be >deliberately vague since such figures are not for general release. >We, at Walnut Creek CDROM, sell at least several thousand FreeBSD CDs >every month. On some months, this number is in the mid-4 figure range. >These are new customers, and not subscription customers. That would >imply that the user base is growing by *at least* 24,000 a year if you >take the roughest side of my estimate and scale accordingly. The And Walnut Creek is not the only company selling a FreeBSD CD-ROM. One factor that many of us here on USENET forget is that LOTS of people who would run Linux and FreeBSD are not net connected and those that are net-connected are not neccessarily any more aware of newsgroups and mailing lists than the average Windows net user. CD-ROM's books and magazines are the ONLY means of support and info for this group of people. -- Michael Dillon Voice: +1-604-546-8022 Memra Software Inc. Fax: +1-604-542-4130 http://www.memra.com E-mail: michael@memra.com