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The 1st Israeli Linux Survey



Hi all!

Thank you for the impressive co-operation. I really didn't expect so
many
answers. Please don't flame; This survey doesn't reflect my opinions,
but
is based on your answers. If you want to criticize it or to give some
feedback, I'll be glad to hear you at 050-237338. I don't think that we
should bother the list with our junk (and besides, phone is more
interactive and Hebrew is easier for me  :-)

                               Notes
                               =====
1. The survey was done on April 3-10, among linux-il subscribers (other
   known Linux users in Israel, such as Ehood Tennebaum - The Analyzer,
   were not counted). It referred only to Linux installations in Israel,
   so answers about foreign installations were ignored (sorry, but the
   purpose was to give us an idea about Linux' status in *ISRAEL*).
   Answers like "I sold 40 CDs of ..." were ignored as well, since some
   of these CDs might be included in this survey by the buyers, and I
   didn't want to double-count the same installations.

2. Maximal sampling error: 8.4% for distributions, 8.7% for kernels
(hey,
   don't laugh, I learned some statistics especially for this survey 
:-)

3. You don't have to build a site for these results; I am going to
launch
   a site with results of this survey and some other surveys (relax,
   nobody is going to ask you questions again; I already have results
for
   these other surveys, and I can tell you that they are cool).

4. I was going to ignore cheating and/or anonymous answers. Fortunately,
   all the answers were named, and looked authentic. Thank you!

5. Major/minor versions of Slackware and S.u.S.E. were not mentioned,
   since some of the answers referring to these distributions didn't
   include the version. Sorry!

6. (Disclaimer): The results say exactly what they say, and nothing
else;
   i.e. if distribution "A" has more installations than distribution
"B",
   it does not say anything about its quality, but only about its
   popularity. Otherwise, Windows 95 would be the best OS on Earth  ;-)
   So please, no religious wars!

                              Results
                              =======
Distributions:
-------------
        Total:          134
        RedHat:         96      (71.6%)
                5.0:    62 (one of them - for DEC-Alpha!)
                4.2:    27
                4.1:    7
        Debian:         10       (7.5%)
                1.2:    1
                1.3*:   7
                2:      2 (!)
        Caldera:        1        (0.7%)
        Slackware:      22      (16.4%)
        S.u.S.E.:       5        (3.7%)

Kernels:
-------
        Total:          125
        1.2.13:           3      (2.4%)
        2.0.0-2.0.29:    15     (12.0%)
        2.0.30:          11      (8.8%)
        2.0.31:           1      (0.8%)
        2.0.32:          22     (17.6%)
        2.0.33:          72 (!) (57.6%)
        2.1.78:           1      (0.8%)

                             For Comparison
                             ==============
The worldwide popularity, according to an online survey made by
slashdot,
is ( http://slashdot.org/pollbooth.pl?qid=bestdist&aid=-1 ):
        Total: 2556

        39 Caldera       (1.5%)
        918 Debian      (35.9%)
        1051 RedHat     (41.1%)
        476 Slackware   (18.6%)
        72 Other         (2.8%)
(Don't check slashdot today; The site is down; Do you know anybody who
used the new security hole - IP frag exploit in Linux kernel - in order
to down slashdot?   ;-)

                               Conclusions
                               ===========
1. There are 9 Linuxes with no kernel (hey, ppl, I am just kidding :-)

2. Israelinuxers are up to date, and prefer as new as possible versions,
   especially RedHat 5.0 (among dists) and 2.0.33 (among kernels).
   Seems that Israel is not a good target for hackers/intruders  :-)

3. RedHat took the major part of us. A possible reason: We use it in our
   installation parties. Another possible reason: These numbers are
   similar to the worldwide results, and slashdot is not authetic (maybe
   some debian supporters cheated slashdot; Sorry, but I don't have a
   better explanation...).

                         Administrative Conclusion
                         =========================
Next time, the answers must get different weight, according to the
following criteria:
1. Number of bootable partitions. For example: While a Linux on a
machine
   with one bootable partition should be counted as 1, a Linux on a
   machine with 2 bootable partitions should be counted as 1/2 (half).
2. A Linux with direct connection to the Net (24 hours) and a permanent
   IP should be counted more than 1 (say, 2).


P.S. It was a hot week in Israel, but very boring in the Linux/Open-
Source "markets". Instead of promised new official versions, we had a
big
bunch of new "Release-Candidates" and another betas. Yesterday, a new
(!)
beta of Gimp (0.99.27) was announced. A new Release Candidate  (4!) of
PHP was announced (after so many Alphas and Betas). Yet another beta of
Apache 1.3 is expected today or tomorrow (1.3b6); The Group members joke
that the name of Apache 2.0 should be renamed to Apache 2000  :-)
And...yes, a new security hole of course: IP frag exploit in Linux
kernel.

Tirbachu WaTissadu ;-)
-- 
Eli Marmor
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