Recent posts in my Linux Category

October 29, 2009

Windows 7 overtakes Linux usage on guardian.co.uk in just 4 days

Windows 7 overtakes Linux usage on guardian.co.uk in just 4 days
On the first Sunday after release, Windows 7 usage eclipses Linux for the first time.

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November 29, 2008

Running Windows? Why you should always have a Linux live CD to hand

Earlier this year, through a bizarre chain of events and some admittedly gross stupidity, I allowed my Dell laptop running Windows XP to get absolutely riddled with nasty malware. After many hours wasted trying to fix it, it eventually prompted me to make the switch to using a Mac. After that, the Dell sat unwanted and unloved in the corner of our spare room. Until it was time to move, and I had to finally try to wrestle the precious...
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August 31, 2008

Trying out Silverlight - FAIL

I try and be platform neutral and agnostic as much as possible. This blog runs on a Debian Linux server from Bytemark, I work on a MacBook, my main PC is a Dell running Windows XP, and I get to play with the Linux-based Eee PC that my wife takes everywhere. My star sign is Libra and I like a balance in my OS experience. So I was fairly open-minded about trying out Microsoft's Silverlight. There has been some (inevitable...
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November 5, 2007

More details on the Linux user base of the BBC, The Telegraph and The Guardian

A mistake can have unintended consequences, and a nice one after Ashley Higfiled's original claim that the BBC only has 400-600 Linux users is that it has thrown a bit of a spotlight on OS statistics in the UK media landscape. First of all, Ashley has posted on the BBC's new BBC Internet Blog to upsize the estimated Linux user base to between 36,600 and 97,600. Secondly, Neil McIntosh of the Guardian came out with some figures for Linux usage...
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November 2, 2007

Busting the BBC's 600 Linux users myth

It seems my ex-boss Ashley Highfield dropped a bit of a clanger this week with a claim that amongst BBC.co.uk's 17 million or so users, 5% of them use Macs, but only about 400 to 600 users run Linux. The Linux community has been spluttering with outrage at the low figure given, and there is already a group on Facebook with the aim of collecting more than 600 members who run Linux and visit the BBC website to prove the...
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July 17, 2007

BBC iPlayer launch: The first 14 days

With just ten days to go until the launch of the BBC's much anticipated iPlayer software, I thought I would gaze into my crystal ball and predict what the first two weeks hold for the software... Day #1: iPlayer launches Day #2: The press reports that the BBC website 'crashed' due to demand for the iPlayer, because someone emailed someone at The Telegraph saying they couldn't download it over their dial-up connection. A BBC 'source' is quoted as saying that...
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June 13, 2007

Free the BBC from the same old tired DRM debate

I was pointed via Wonderland yesterday at the Free The BBC site, where a petition is gathering against the BBC's proposed use of DRM in the upcoming iPlayer application. And of course, a quick look shows that this has sparked the same tired circular arguments on the backstage.bbc.co.uk mailing list. One person has been arguing that DRM is a bad thing because their sister accidentally wiped clean their iPod, whilst someone else is claiming the only basis for the BBC's...
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April 2, 2007

backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion about my old BBC homepage stats article

Last week the delightful and ever-entertaining[1] Kim Plowright published a couple of stats breakdowns of browser and OS usage on the BBC's site on the backstage.bbc.co.uk mailing list. Although the page impression figures were stripped out, she gave percentage breakdowns for the use of browsers across the whole of the site. In the course of the debate reference was made to my own article from the end of 2005 about the user-agent strings that visited the BBC homepage. Whilst...
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March 6, 2007

The depressing DRM debates on the BBC's backstage.bbc.co.uk mailing list

Since the announcement that the BBC's iPlayer would contain elements of Microsoft's DRM, and that any forthcoming versions for the Apple or Linux OS would also need to incoporate some type of DRM, a debate has been raging on the backstage.bbc.co.uk mailing list. Opinion is broadly split into two camps. There are those who understand that in order to facilitate any kind of on demand service, the BBC needs to protect the interests of the rights-owners involved in making...
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November 9, 2006

currybetdotnet has a new home

This week I moved currybetdotnet to a new server, which marked the end of a very strange chapter in the site's existence. In April this year, whilst I was still travelling around Europe, I got a rather unexpected email confirming the cancellation of my regular payment to my hosting company. Well, I knew I hadn't been keeping the blog updated whilst I was away, but that seemed a little bit drastic. However, my subsequent attempts to contact my hosts were...
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October 22, 2005

The software used to access the BBC homepage: Beta software, edge products and conclusions - part 6

This is page 6 of a 6 page article - 1 2 3 4 5 6   Download a print version of this article Beta Software and Edge Products I was surprised to see quite a small penetration of the current beta software. With both Vista and IE7 out in the wild I expected to see a reasonable amount of use. Perhaps they just don't just have the buzz around them that open source does? IE7 has 0.04% browser share...
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The software used to access the BBC homepage: Browser share - part 5

This is page 5 of a 6 page article - 1 2 3 4 5 6   Download a print version of this article Internet Explorer Requests To The BBC Homepage As with the Windows Operating System, Microsoft have done an excellent job of migrating all their users onto the latest version of the software. Over 90% of requests for the BBC homepage from an Internet Explorer browser came from the most recent stable release - Internet Explorer 6. Versions...
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The software used to access the BBC homepage: Browser share - part 4

This is page 4 of a 6 page article - 1 2 3 4 5 6   Download a print version of this article Browsers Visiting The BBC Homepage The browser market amongst those requesting the BBC homepage still shows a vice-like grip from Microsoft products, but both Firefox and Safari represent small but significant deviations from the Internet Explorer norm. All the versions of IE together make up just under 86% of requests to the BBC homepage, with Firefox...
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The software used to access the BBC homepage: Windows, Mac, Linux and legacy OS share - part 3

This is page 3 of a 6 page article - 1 2 3 4 5 6   Download a print version of this article Windows Operating System Share Concentrating on just Windows alone we can see that Microsoft have done a very thorough job of converting their user base to the most recent iteration of the software. Windows XP accounts for just under 70.5% of the Windows requests, and Windows 2000 a further 17.4%. That means in total around 88%...
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The software used to access the BBC homepage: Operating systems - part 2

This is page 2 of a 6 page article - 1 2 3 4 5 6   Download a print version of this article Operating systems visiting the BBC homepage The complete dominance of Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6 is no surprise. Just over 70% of requests to the BBC homepage come from machines running Windows XP, and IE6 took 78% of the browser market. In the operating system sphere the stranglehold of Windows is nearly complete - a...
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The software used to access the BBC homepage

This is page 1 of a 6 page article - 1 2 3 4 5 6   Download a print version of this article Studying the software that visits the BBC homepage It started with a casual enquiry from a colleague - "I wonder how many Firefox users visit the BBC homepage?" - and before I knew it I was involved in a lengthy statistical analysis of the browsers and operating systems that request the BBC homepage at http://www.bbc.co.uk. Our...
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