Beware of falling... cygwins?

[Lloeki]

On 12/05/06, Gary R. Van Sickle <g.r.vansickle@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
> > From: Robb, Sam
> >
> > Google can't be wrong, can it?
> >
> > http://google.com/trends?q=hippo%2C+cygwin&ctab=0&date=all&geo=all
> >
>
> [snip free-association conspiracy theory generator ;-)]
>
> Wow, if that graph is to be believed and is lin-lin, that's kind of
> surprising actually.  A drop in searches by ~half in the last ~2.4 years
> would tend to indicate that folks are either:
>
> 1. Losing the need to use POSIX... er, I mean, Linux... functionality on
> Windows, or:
> 2. Seeking their POSIX... er, Linux, sorry... -on-Windows functionality
> elsewhere.
>
> We all know #1 ain't true, so I'm curious as to who's picking up the search
> slack, and why.
>
> --
> Gary R. Van Sickle
>
>

Let's look at some more posix:
http://google.com/trends?q=cygwin%2C+ubuntu%2C+gentoo%2C+debian%2C+osx&ctab=2&geo=all&date=all
wow. I never expected ubuntu would ever had such a steep curve.

That one's interesting too, regarding posix-on-windows:
http://google.com/trends?q=vmware%2C+qemu%2C+cygwin&ctab=2&geo=all&date=all

And finally I put that one apart 'cauz it's dwarfing the others, but
it seems falling faster than cygwin.
http://google.com/trends?q=windows&ctab=2&geo=all&date=all

So, if we take these numbers as user-base estimations (which as we
know has all chances to be 100% wrong, so all what I say next may be
safely ignored, but pelase read on), it tends to show that, _among
google users_ (that's important):
- linux userbase is increasing
- fewer people are using windows
- posix-on-windows demand is increasing (though vmware and qemu are
- among google+windows users, cygwin demand is roughly steady (ratio
of the slopes of a linear fit seems constant)

Of course this is all limited to google users, so if more and more
people are using msn search (thinking especially of windows users),
windows user base might actually be increasing. So in the end it might
just show that linux users prefer google over msn.
and of course, we're talking about searches, not users, but I made the
rough assumption that when you search for something, it's because of
interest in it, and who has the biggest chance of having interest in
something? a user of that something. So all that stuff might just not
be completely wrong, and taken as a possible (if not probable)
estimation.

It could become some remarkable analyze tool.
[snip]"study" with politics keywords[/snip]
I tried with politics stuff and the results are amazingly accurate, if
interpreted correctly. I was reluctant to include it because I didn't
feel it has its place here, so I snipped it, but if you ask for it,
I'll send it.

Google's power is intriguing, to say the least.

Lloeki