Linux Counter
{{short description|Web service of statistics about usage and spread of Linux}}
{{redirect|LiCo||Lico (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox website
| name = Linux Counter
| logo = LinuxCounterLogo.png
| logo_size = 200px
| screenshot =
| caption =
| company_type = Non-profit
| commercial = no
| founder = Harald Tveit Alvestrand
| owner = Linux Counter Project
| launch_date = {{Start date and age|1993|df=yes}}
| dissolved = {{End date and age|2018|12|10}}
}}
The Linux Counter was a website that attempted to estimate the number of people and machines using the Linux operating system. It ran from 1993{{cite web |title=The Linux Counter Relaunches - Slashdot |url=https://slashdot.org/story/11/09/10/1249257/The-Linux-Counter-Relaunches |website=Slashdot |language=en |date=10 September 2011}} until December 2018. The last available estimate of Linux users was 91.9 million, as of August 2017.{{cite web |title=The estimation of linux users |url=https://www.linuxcounter.net/statistics |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803004950/https://www.linuxcounter.net/statistics |archive-date=3 August 2017 |url-status=dead}}
History
The Linux Counter was started "for fun" with the goal to estimate the number of Linux users there are worldwide. The project invited users to register themselves as being a Linux user and then used various statistical heuristics to estimate the number of Linux users who did not register and the total number of Linux users worldwide. The project initially tracked the number of Linux users, but later extended to statistics on Linux users, the machines they use, software they use and in what part of the world Linux users actually lived. A second purpose of the Linux Counter was to help Linux users to find each other. The Linux Counter was reporting Linux users in almost any place in the world. If Linux users set their information to be public, one could easily find those users; Linux users could, for example, find other Linux users who lived somewhere near them.{{cite web |title=The Linux Counter Project {{!}} Tux Machines |url=http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/6730 |website=www.tuxmachines.org |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803042837/http://www.tuxmachines.org/node/6730 |archive-date=3 August 2020 |date=5 May 2006}}
The counter was run by a nonprofit organization called the Linux Counter Project. The organization was created on 1 May 1999, taking over the running of the counter from Harald Tveit Alvestrand, who had been running the project since 1993. In 1999, the project received wide technical media coverage, which led to it being slashdotted.{{cite web|url=http://slashdot.org/linux/99/02/23/1049219.shtml|title=Linux Counting Projects|date=23 February 1999}}{{cite web|url=http://slashdot.org/linux/99/02/25/117248.shtml|title=Linux Counter Part 2|access-date=2008-12-18}}{{cite web|url=http://slashdot.org/linux/99/10/23/126218.shtml|title=Linux Counter Hits 120,000|access-date=2008-12-18}} Linux Today reported how Microsoft Austria used the site for spamming Linux users;{{cite web|url=https://www.linuxtoday.com/infrastructure/1999102700404NW|title=Big Brother Award Winner: Microsoft|date=27 October 1999|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041227155142/https://www.linuxtoday.com/infrastructure/1999102700404NW|archive-date=27 December 2004}} the counter kept a list of press references, occasionally updated.{{cite web|url=https://www.linuxcounter.net/press|title=The Linux Counter Project in the international press|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170616003639/https://www.linuxcounter.net/press|archive-date=16 June 2017}}
In 2011, it was taken over by Christin Löhner (then Alexander{{cite web |title=English explanation |url=http://tgirl.r3y.de/english-explanation/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151029002039/http://tgirl.r3y.de/english-explanation/ |archive-date=29 October 2015}} Mieland), who did a complete rewrite of the code. The code was published on GitHub in March 2015.{{cite web |title=christinloehner/linuxcounter.new |url=https://github.com/christinloehner/linuxcounter.new/commits/master?after=0f043e81dc0272f65740776a801eb1f01a34a325+654&branch=master |website=GitHub |language=en |date=16 March 2015}}
On 10 December 2018, Christin made a post on her personal blog announcing that she would no longer maintain the project, due to lack of time, lack of help and lack of interest as indicated by few to no new registrations or machines.{{cite web|url=https://www.transmensch.de/linuxcounter-project-closed|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181213155055/https://www.transmensch.de/linuxcounter-project-closed/|archive-date=2018-12-13|title=The Linuxcounter project is closed|access-date=2018-12-13}}
At the end of 2020, Benjamin Marwell contacted Christin Löhner and asked to revive the project. They agreed to create a completely new application in VueJS. Since January 1st, 2021, they have worked together on a new linuxcounter/unixcounter project, with progress visible on GitHub.{{cite web |title=Linuxcounter/unixcounter |url=https://github.com/LinuxCounter/unixcounter |website=GitHub |language=en |date=2021-01-02}}{{cite web |title=UnixcounterWebsite |url=https://www.unixcounter.com/ |website=Linux Counter |language=en |date=2021-01-02}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181205060932/https://www.linuxcounter.net/ |date=December 5, 2018 |title=Last snapshot }}