2-Year Study Shows Mac Users Downloading More Open Source Software 203
AmyVernon writes "We combed through about two years' worth of data on SourceForge, looking at the platforms of the users who downloaded projects, and millions more Mac users are downloading open source projects now than were in February 2010. In the same time, Windows downloads have increased by a much smaller percentage and Linux downloads have actually declined." I wonder how much of this last part can be chalked up to the ever-better download infrastructure that the various Linux distros have. (Note: SourceForge and Slashdot are both part of Geeknet.)
Package managers (Score:5, Informative)
I'll tell you why downloads for Linux have declined - better and more complete package manager systems give users less incentive to go to places like SourceForge for programs, because they can use built-in tools like Ubuntu's Software Center.
Linux user here. (Score:5, Informative)
Macs (or Windows, for that matter) don't have any sort of repository, do they?
Re:Linux user here. (Score:5, Informative)
Different User Groups, Different Needs (Score:5, Informative)
While Linux offers a lot more [out of the box], the average Apple user doesn't need a repository. They can however easily add one! The App Store helped a lot in my opinion. Using Fink and Macports is not mainstream, but it sure works me!
MacPorts (Score:5, Informative)
I take it you've never heard of MacPorts? It's a package manager for OS X.
It's the easiest way to install MySQL and other necessities for web programming.
Re:Different User Groups, Different Needs (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Yeah, I wonder that too! (Score:5, Informative)
Notice that the Mac comes with a compiler on the distribution DVD along with a traditional set of tools that most open source projects will need. Thus you can get source code and build yourself much more easily than on Windows. Of course you can get binary only software but a lot of people shy away from that sort of thing because of malware concerns.