Ben Everard

It's incredibly hard to know how many people are using Linux. There's obviously no sales data, and many people download far more distros than they actually use. The only method that's even slightly reliable is looking at web data from web browsers. When you visit a website, your browser tells the server a little about your computer, including the operating system. Some organizations collect and collate this data from many websites. One of the most famous is netmarketshare.com which shows desktop Linux now has about 2.5% of the desktop. This might not sound like a lot, but it means that roughly one out of every 40 people uses Linux, and that's pretty impressive. Not only that, but the numbers have been rising steadily for a few years.

This month, we have loads of great content for the 190 million people around the world using Linux. Valentine Sinitsyn takes a look at writing fast software, which is important when you have so many potential users. Mike takes a look at little distros and a new approach to file management. I've taken a look at Solus, the distro that's aiming to bring even more new users into the open source fold. Meanwhile, Andrew and Simon take a look at two different ways companies are subtly trying to subvert open source software, and Maddog delves into the murky waters of perceived value. Graham, as always, picks the best new Linux software for courting users among the 190 million.

[...]