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Here's a breakdown based on referrals from YC to a short essay I wrote about a month ago comparing Bing Travel and Kayak. There were 2382 uniques from YC over

Here's a breakdown based on referrals from YC to a short essay I wrote about a month ago comparing Bing Travel and Kayak. There were 2382 uniques from YC over two days to that page: 45.5% Windows 37.6% Mac 15.1% Linux Comparing that with an e-commerce site I work with which has a less geek-centric audience, during the same two days: 84.94% Windows 12.46% Mac 1.55% Linux

minus1 17y ago
Thanks for the information. These numbers seem more plausible given my own anecdotal evidence. Now compare this to the poll percentages: 21.37% Windows (199) 40.28% Mac (375) 35.12% Linux (327) My conclusion is that a Linux user is far more motivated than a Mac or Windows user to respond to this poll, making the results interesting, but not accurate.
- nanijoe 17y ago
  It's also possible that a lot of the Windows users are not registered here and are therefore not able to vote in the survey
- Xichekolas 17y ago
  It's also possible that linux/OSX users are less likely to be interested in a Microsoft product (bing) or an article about one.
  - minus1 17y ago
    It's certainly possible, but I don't think it can account for the full difference. Hopefully PG will provide some recent server stats.
- ulvund 17y ago
  Surely some people are in possesion of more than one computer. I for one browse hn on my Macintosh, play tf2 and warsow on my windoze xp machine and have wholesome programming fun on my Linux box.
mixmax 17y ago
Interesting to see those and grandparents numbers and compare them with the poll. Seems like there's a discrepancy somewhere, and I would say that it's users voting for the OS they would like to use as their main OS and not the one they actually use. The little tricks that psychology plays on us...
- andreyf 17y ago
  It seems more likely that OSX users (like me) are much more interested in a "what OS do you use?" poll versus a "Microsoft product blogpost" story.

minus1 17y ago

Thanks for the information. These numbers seem more plausible given my own anecdotal evidence. Now compare this to the poll percentages: 21.37% Windows (199) 40.28% Mac (375) 35.12% Linux (327) My conclusion is that a Linux user is far more motivated than a Mac or Windows user to respond to this poll, making the results interesting, but not accurate.

nanijoe 17y ago
It's also possible that a lot of the Windows users are not registered here and are therefore not able to vote in the survey
Xichekolas 17y ago
It's also possible that linux/OSX users are less likely to be interested in a Microsoft product (bing) or an article about one.
- minus1 17y ago
  It's certainly possible, but I don't think it can account for the full difference. Hopefully PG will provide some recent server stats.
ulvund 17y ago
Surely some people are in possesion of more than one computer. I for one browse hn on my Macintosh, play tf2 and warsow on my windoze xp machine and have wholesome programming fun on my Linux box.

mixmax 17y ago

Interesting to see those and grandparents numbers and compare them with the poll. Seems like there's a discrepancy somewhere, and I would say that it's users voting for the OS they would like to use as their main OS and not the one they actually use. The little tricks that psychology plays on us...

andreyf 17y ago
It seems more likely that OSX users (like me) are much more interested in a "what OS do you use?" poll versus a "Microsoft product blogpost" story.