Falling Like A Stone and About to Drop Out of the Top 20.
 

In the page hit rankings over at Distrowatch, Slackware is in a free-fall and has dropped to number 20 and will shortly drop to 21 as Kubuntu moves up. Some of these distributions I've never heard of, e.g., Manjaro, Zorin, OS4, Bodhi and SparkyLinux. Even FreeBSD has moved up to number 17.

I wouldn't worry in the slightest. Those stats tell you very little, distrowatch itself acknowledges that.

It mostly goes to show that Slackware users have many better things to do with their time than hang out at Distrowatch! ;)

I seem to recall that another poll recently put Slackware at the top of someone else' most popular list.

It is certainly at the top of mine!

http://linuxcounter.net/distributions/stats.html

better look here:D

I usually go to DistroWatch.com to look up other distributions. I already know about Slackware. :)

My last visit to DistroWatch was 7/30/2013, before that was 3/4/2013.

Not everyone is registered there.

No. Slackware defies gravity. Floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee.

I used to visit DistroWatch when I was new in the Linux world. My purpose was to learn what other distributions were out there. My search ended long ago by switching to Slackware and I am no more interested in finding another one. I guess most of the readers of this forum feel the same way.

From another perspective, we may regard this as good news for the Linux world, in the sense that some years ago only people like IT professionals or academics were able to hear about Linux and Slackware is more widely known among the people of that generation. Now a lot more people can use Linux and it is natural for an average person to have a tendency towards the Ubuntu-like distributions.

I know why I use Slackware and will continue using it. I don't care what the statistics of Distrowatch say. Anyways Slackware is listed in the "major distributions" if it will make you feel better :)

I have only one purpose for Distrowatch: Looking up in their tables which version of a software is used in which version of a specific distribution. I never look at the Slackware page, so actually I am even contributing to this. But in reality, who cares about Distrowatch's page ranking?

Agreed. I have not looked at Distrowatch in many years.

Shhh...She's listening. :D

Regards.

First it has nothing to do with popularity, second quality is not related to popularity or even it's in a contradiction if there is some relationship. Who cares ...

It does surprise me to see this, but seriously, what am I going to do?

Meh.

Doesn't matter. FreeBSD is very popular, because it is very free and open. Lots of plants/companies use it for different reasons. I see it everywhere. More so than Ubuntu... or Mint.

But, the 'newbie' users out there are the ones pushing up the ratings of pretty desktop Os's like Mint. The companies that use FreeBSD probably aren't searching DistroWatch for info on it.

Same for Slackware. Rhel. Scientific Linux. Ubuntu LTS. Etc...

Yeah that's a common bias in misreading stats and polls... We need to define "how is it calculated".

As some mentioned it already, distrowatch is mainly visit by people looking for information. So "Slackers" won't make the Slackware link growth as they already use Slackware. (Although I sometimes just go to the Slackware page just to make help the counter being "up" :) ).

The linux counter, despite the fact that it doesn't cover the whole linux community might be closer to the real deal.

It's okay for people to "distro hop" for a time. I think the better advertising for Slackware, beside its inherent forces we all know here, is when you encounter this community in LQ. My first experience in forums in LQ was "mainstream" and was bad with pedantic a$$h0les... Whereas in the Slackware 'pool' I found just 'normal' people willing to help others and being more rational than on other "posers" distros I won't name here :).

Cheers.

I find it a central place to learn what applications/packages have issued new versions, e.g., VLC, LibreOffice, Mozilla, etc., etc., etc., and from there one can go directly to the home page of whatever application/package they might be interested in.

Hey - about a year (or so) ago - there was this distro that sailed up to #1 that no-one had ever heard about (can't remember its name). Turned out it was about 6 years old and hadn't seen an update in those same 6 years. later someone admitted to 'falsifying' the hits-record ...
Probably the same is happening these days with 'mageia' (not that I have ever tried it, nor am I going to, but by all accounts - it's less than stellar)

The end of the Slackware is nigh! Call Caitlyn! :D

Exactly.

Hiding... waiting...
:D

Slackware is a ninja distro; silent, invisible, yet highly efficient and powerful. It doesn't get in the way of a user. It doesn't break easily so it gets easily forgotten by the user. While other distros' forums swarm with posts about broken dependencies, pulseaudio issues, etc, in the Slackware land, things work fine so out of boredom slackers have nothing better to do than to engage in silly threads like this one:)

FreeBSD 9.2-RC1 was just released, which might explain FreeBSD's rise in the rankings. It's looking a bit nicer than 9.1, too.

It looks like the best way to improve a distro's Distrowatch ranking is for the distro to make news somehow.

Right, Distrowatch rankings don't speak ultimately to a particular distribution's popularity, but they do say a little something about *curiosity* about a certain distribution. I go to Distrowatch when I read in a magazine about what sounds like an interesting distro, or I want to find a distro's home page and some information about what it's based off of and what software it includes. If Slackware's dropping, it's because other distros are getting more buzz. Notice how Ubuntu has also fallen and excellent distros like Mint stay near the top. That's a distro people are keeping their eyes on. It doesn't mean other distros aren't also excellent, but it might indicate that overall use of them might fall off over time.

I think I registered my first Slackware install at the Linux counter project. That was about five Slackware installs ago . . . . Got Slack on two computers right now (gosh, back in the old days, who would have imagined having two computers, let along six, in a house).

perbh, I have Mageia on a computer right now. Frankly, I think it's a pretty slick piece of work.

I recently took a look at these Distrowatch rankings.

I saw Ubuntu at No. 2.

And Crux at No. 102.

I know which one I'd prefer.

If there were 26 alphabetubuntus leading the top 30 I would pick 30, 29, 28 and 27 in that order.

Mint is really two distros at least, one with regular releases based on an Ubuntu foundation and the other a rolling release based on Debian testing. Additionally it is worth noting that Mint provides different download options when preconfigured with different desktops. Yet distrowatch only counts Mint once.

Ubuntu on the other hand has all its variants counted individually (Ubuntu, Lubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu GNOME, Ubuntu Studio, UbuntuKylin, etc.) despite their core packages remaining the same and coming from the same repositories.

If you add up the HPD (Hits Per Day) value of all of the Ubuntu variants that have some kind of official backing it is clear that Mint is still a long way behind Ubuntu. The only reason Mint comes out on top is because it is counted as one distro rather than 5 (Cinnamon edition, Mate edition, KDE edition, Xfce edition, Debian Edition) as they have done with Ubuntu.

This is actually quite a good example of how flawed these stats are!

I look at Distrowatch only to see the new released for any distro.

Those numbers bounce around a lot...whenever there is a new version or release. Seems like every Tom, Dick, Harry, Mary, Jane and Alice rolls a distro for some niche hobby these days.

I have not looked, but I would expect the Linux counter to be biased in the other direction, since I think more serious Linux users (for lack of a better term) would be more likely to get counted.

But we cannot know for sure. Maybe someday I will get a government grant to study the statistical distribution of distribution usage. :)

Never trust statistics that vary over short periods time.

Slackware has stood it's ground for well into two decades now, so chances are unless an act of Dobbs comes along and fouls everything up, we'll all be Slacking long after Patrick's and Eric's brain have been uploaded into their cyborg bodies. :D

Don't worry about FreeBSD gaining ground either. That's good for them. FreeBSD is a great OS just like Slackware. Both share similarities and have a common goodness.

Slackware always hits its lowest point on Distrowatch just before a new release, and then afterwards Slackware shoots straight up. I interpret this as a sign that the next release can't be too far off.
Ed

@EdGr... Playing with "when it will be ready" again ? Noooo ! :)

@NoStressHQ - I probably shouldn't mention my statistical analysis of the size of the ChangeLogs. ;)
Ed

Yes you all hang out here.

That mostly goes to show you have nothing better to do with your time than to hang out here ;)

I woke up this afternoon and visited my Grandma in the home with my kid then went to Walmart. I bought fresh kaisers among other things and came home and we ate pulled pork made in the crockpot a couple days ago. I played some Eve Online and then watched Johnny Dangerously with the family.

I posted that because its just about as relevant to Slackware's demise as it's distrowatch rating. Anything that rates Xubuntu higher than Slackware is of the Devil.

No need. The NSA already know those figures. ;)

Hehe, true. Maybe we should just give Snowden a call, then? Anybody in Moscow? ;)

And before Manjaro and Zorin there were Snowlinux and SolusOS. Few years ago Gentoo was in top 20 too, MEPIS was 13th and now is 67th. New distros are high in the rankings just because the these are new and people are curious, so they look for the info.

We call this SNSS (Shiny New Sh*t Syndrome). Does anyone actually care where Slackware resides in the flawed DW rankings? Not the average Slackware user...

I'm not sure what's more amusing:

The distrowatch stats.

People taking the distrowatch stats as gospel.

People getting their knickers in a twist about other people taking the distrowatch stats as gospel...

I'm not sure. Ask him.

You mean natural just like ramming up their stomachs with lots of chips, burgers and coke, not even thinking about how unhealthy it is, or even if they *do* know it...? The *buntus and their derivatives are like fat... (and sometimes even like FAT32...): Too much of them makes you lazy and inert, which is the opposite of slack. ;)

More seriously: The statistics on Distrowatch are interesting, but as has been explained, they reflect what distro has the greatest attention among interested people, before choosing a distro, and people's attention is attracted by media, e.g. when a new release comes out and is "advertised" (or simply just announced) in magazines and on web sites. And IMHO, the distro profiles point out the specific characteristics that differentiate a given distro from others, quite correctly and fair, overall.


gargamel

Yeah, I think, what's really unfair is, that they grab and collect all my data, but don't have a hotline number, where I could call, when I forget something. Despite PRISM I still have to take notes, myself. They should share MY DATA with ME!

At least, there are tools that help me with "externalising" my memories. I'll yet have to check out this one, though: Password Minder (@GazL: I guess it was you who first pointed me to this in another thread --- thanks for the good laugh!!!) :)

gargamel

I drop in on Distrowatch just to see what's going on and I like looking through the list of distros just to see what they all are. Where any particular distro is at any particular time is of no consequence really. I just love it that so many people love Linux enough for Distrowatch to exist in the first place and the fact that there are these quirky little distros way down the list only makes it better.

Slackware is my choice and will always remain so but if someone somewhere wants to create myhomerolledlinuxdistro or someone else wants to try Ubuntu then I think that's great and I really hope it works out for them.

And well done to Distrowatch for many years promoting Linux. Long may they continue.

Let's face it, we all love a list.

If you are looking for a bit of a warm glow by the way, change the data span at the top to '2002'.

We're 7th :)

when slack 14.1 comes out, its gonna be again in the top 10, just wait and see.

Yes, that is usually how it works. Recently Slackware has been as low as 22 and at the moment is 21 on the list.

But everyone should be registered there! :-P