Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

The Normalized Decline of Free Software

Published by nir on July 23, 2011 under Uncategorized

Take a look at these two graphs from “Google Insights”. They show an ongoing decline of GPL, GNU and Linux in normalized search volume:
http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=gpl%2Cgnu%2Cebook%2Copen%20source&cmpt=q
http://www.google.com/insights/search/#q=linux%2Cpc%2Candroid&cmpt=q

One possible interpretation is the decline of the desktop and rise of smart phones and digital consumerism, but note the search term PC is stable in the second graph. Another possible interpretation is that GNU/Linux people are the “early adopters” of the Internet and the decline is expected as the Internet reaches more and more people, but nevertheless I don’t like these graphs at all.