From: Keith Barrett (barrett@pamsrc.enet.dec.com)
Date: 05/03/93


From: barrett@pamsrc.enet.dec.com (Keith Barrett)
Subject: Re: Estimate of # of Linux users?
Date: Mon, 3 May 1993 15:38:39 GMT


>I've heard numbers like:
> 5 million Linux users
> 3.5 Million 386 BSD users
>
>These numbers were based on ftp connections to various sites
>containing these systems. I have no idea how accurate they are, and
>they should not be used to show that one system is better than
>another.

I will also add that some companies (like mine) "shadow" one of the
ftp sites to a company internal disk, and people within the company
copy from there. Obviously, this will not be included in your ftp
figures. Also, I myself have made 3 kits from floppies to other people.

So the actual number of users is definately much higher than the ftp
access figures.

Perhaps it would be much more accurate to take a poll?