🚀 go-pugleaf

  REF: [<82lh4o$hv$1@nnrp1.deja.com>]
  R.E.Ballard (Rex Ballard) <r.e.ballard@usa.net> wrote:
: In article <3842788F.68AC282@sensewave.com>,
:   nicholas.murison@sensewave.com wrote:
: > Colin Brough wrote:
: > >
: > > I know, I know, one of those unanswerable questions...
: > >
: > > But I got to wondering, is there any
: > > way anyone could find out (or at
: > > least give a justifiable estimate)?
: > > Could an ISP, for instance, tell
: > > whether you were connecting using Linux?
: > > Is there anything in the PPP
: 
: Actually, there is a rather simple sampling method.  First, you take
: very popular sites, and have them assign cookies to each user.  The
: http protocol includes a browser definition in the header.  As a
: result, you can combine the header and the cookie and score each
: permutation.
: 
: If you use the same cookie for both your Linux browser and your Windows
: browser, you can be identified as both a windows user and a Linux
: browser.

One problem -- due to privacy concerns, many people, including myself,
accept cookies sparingly: or even browse with cookies off.

: By the way, this isn't a new idea.  Microsoft and Netscape have been
: doing it for years.  The Linux browsers were actually labled
: "UNIX/X11" since Netscape never bothered to change the header file.
: I'd like to put up my own "affinity" so that even when I'm using
: Windows, I show up as a Linux user. :-).
: 
: You can expect to pay a pretty hefty price for these numbers.  One
: survey, based on "cookie samples" goes for about $3500 per copy
: including any copies of any key numbers circulated via the internet.
: And of course, you have to sign a nondisclosure agreement in advance.
: 
: Here's a sample of the servers in .uk
: 
: 
:      Domain : .uk
:      DName  : UNITED KINGDOM
:      Service: www
:      Date   : April `99
: 
: 
:        Host OS recognized (grouped, sorted)    count   %recog
: ---------------------------------------------  -------  -------
:                                  BSD Family    71698     35.2
:                                       Linux    49722     24.4
:                            Windows 95/98/NT    30391     14.9
:                               Solaris/SunOS    26212     12.9
:                                   Mac/Apple     7942      3.9
:                                        IRIX     6684      3.3
:                          Reliant Unix/Sinix     5226      2.6
:                                        HPUX      713      0.3
:                                         AIX      688      0.3
:                              Novell Netware      599      0.3
:                                Digital Unix      531      0.3
:                                    SCO Unix       85      0.0
:                                  -----------    -----    -----
:                                  ++checksums   200491     98.3
: 
:   source:  http://www.leb.net/hzo/ioscount/data/r.9904.www.uk.txt
: 
: 
: > To find the number of users in the UK, you could go to
: > http://counter.li.org, which holds statistics on how many Linux users
: > there are.  Unfortunately the statistics are based on how many Linux
: > users have registered themselves in the counter database,
: > so you'll have to mutliply the number for the UK with about 100.
: 
: Unfortunately, counter.li.org has been very erratic, often being
: unavailable, other times refusing to accept registrations, and other
: times just losing count.  It was a really great idea that didn't
: work very well.  When it is working it's a nice "rate of growth"
: indicator.
: 
: There is a nice OS counter at:
: http://www.oscounter.org/
: 
: The nice thing about this system is that you can state which systems
: you use and how well you like it.
: 
: Of course, according to this survey, Linux had 625 users while
: Windows 95 and Windows 98 had 377, and NT had 145, making Linux
: the most used operating system.  To put it mildly, I doubt this
: survey in any way reflects reality :-).  ---- YET!
: 
: > Nicholas Murison
: > --
: > ******************** Don't mess with penguins ********************
: > Registered Linux User #153895	http://counter.li.org
: > Capitalism is nice, but only in small doses
: > ******************************************************************
: >
: 
: --
: Rex Ballard - Open Source Advocate, Internet
: I/T Architect, MIS Director
: http://www.open4success.com
: Linux - 55 million and growing at 2%/week!
: 
: 
: Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
: Before you buy.


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