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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^The link was corrected in #10 about 30 seconds later. Here it is again - http://www.doctor-html.com/agent_stats/. ^^^^^^^^^^^

I see. Yet another link that states percentages that simply can't exist due to Apple's own numbers.

How is that possible?

^^^^^^^^^^^The word "Linux" isn't even mentioned on those pages.^^^^^^^^

Duh. Those are the respective companies's homepages. Their reports on linux beating out the Mac as #2 were out over a year ago. I didn't post their homepages as backup of my argument, I posted them so you'd know where to send your hatemail.

^^^^^^^^^^If you have links to some actual statistics to make your point, post 'em.^^^^^^^^^^

They're not hard to find on google. You should try it.

http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/os/linux/story/0,10801,95026,00.html
http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,64504,00.html?tw=wn_story_related

As I've said before, I'm more inclined to believe gartner's numbers. I've also stated how while one says 2003, they both agree on 2005. Linux has surpassed the Mac as #2.

Hmmmmm so you are basing your argument on the following prognostication (someone examining tea leaves? from your linked article)?

By 2007, IDC estimates that Linux will have 6% of the desktop market in terms of units, Kusnetzky said.

And the other linked article refutes Kusnetzky's assertions ("Linux captured the No. 2 spot as desktop operating system in 2003. . .") pretty convincingly. with statements such as:

"I think those numbers are dubious," said Tim Deal, a financial analyst with Technology Business Research.
Peter Kastner, an analyst with Aberdeen Group, said the Mac has roughly 3 percent of the desktop market, and the Linux share is considerably lower than that.
Kastner's 3 percent estimate is backed up by numbers published by Google, which logs the different desktop systems used to access its site. According to Google, Mac users number 3 percent, while Linux weighs in at 1 percent.
Even Leigh Day, spokeswoman for Red Hat, one of the largest Linux distributors, said Linux isn't yet ready for the desktop.
"The stuff for a consumer desktop -- media players, video drivers -- are not yet mature," she said.
Market research firm Gartner may have the answer. According to Gartner, forecasts need to distinguish between the OS the machine ships with, and the OS that is installed right after it's unboxed.
"In emerging markets like China, Russia and Latin America, many locally assembled PCs are sold without an OS or with Linux," wrote Gartner analyst Annette Jump in a report published last week. "On 90 percent to 95 percent of these PCs, a pirated version of Microsoft Windows is installed within the first few days."

As your second link reports, Linux is used merely as a free disposable operating system on computers sold in Asia. The Asian customer then erases Linux and replaces it with a pirated copy of Windows. The Windows piracy rates in China and India are about 92% and 88% respectively. So Linux is widely "sold" - and never used.

I'm not anti-Linux. It's a great operating system for servers. But there are two things that people ought to know about Linux -

1. The current Linux user interface is lousy for the home/office desktop environment. It's worse than Windows 95, and unfortunately, it's hopeless for the foreseeable future.

2. According to real-world network statistics, Mac OS X is far ahead of Linux in actual usage for desktop computers.