Wondering About Why The Servers Have Been A Bit Slow?

[bob]

Pardon the widest possible distribution, but I hope that people within Red
Hat will take this email as good news about the impact of Fedora Core 6,
and as a testament to the size and strength of the Fedora Community.

I'd also like to point out the incredible work of the Fedora
Infrastructure team in helping to get us to the point where we know enough
to even write this email. Particulary Mike McGrath.

These are the sorts of metrics that we've been dying to get, and while our
various attempts at collecting them spawned many threads of the right or
wrong way to do it, I think we've stumbled across a good solution.

Today is the 24th day -- about 3.5 weeks -- since FC6 was released. Since
release, we've been tracking the number of unique IP addresses that check
in via yum for updates.

This metric is much more useful than tracking downloads, because it
demonstrates actual *installed instances* of FC6 that are making a
connection back to our servers in search of updated software.

A few minutes ago, we crossed over the 300,000 mark.

That's 300,000 different IP addresses that have checked for any updated
software in Fedora Core 6.

If you simply divide it out, that averages to about 12,500 per day, or 8.7
every minute. And basically, those are *new installs* of FC6.

That doesn't take into account proxies and firewalls that can make hundreds of
servers all look like they are coming from the same IP, so the "real" number is
probably even higher than that.

Additionally, fedoraproject.org saw just over 640,000 unique visitors in
October, and so far in November has seen just over 300,000 unique
visitors.

A more detailed write up is on the fedoraproject.org page:
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ZodStats

--
Max Spevack

[foolish]

And we shouldn't belittle the fact that we have over 81000 members at this forum, and close to a million posts. Fedora is growing. With the coming changes of the Fedora release model and the history of Red Hat doing the right thing (Fedora, OLPC, The novel-microsoft debacle), fedora is looking better than ever. Lean back and be pleased just for a moment people, I sure am.

[JEO]

Also consider that if some people are still using dial-up or they are assigned a different I.P. address every time then that can make it look like they are more than one instance of Fedora, so the actual total could also be lower.

[JordanN]

Also consider that if some people are still using dial-up or they are assigned a different I.P. address every time then that can make it look like they are more than one instance of Fedora, so the actual total could also be lower.
Possible, but unlikely; there will be many more servers behind firewalls than dial-up users.

I have about 20 machines from this IP alone running various versions of Fedora.

[Wayne]

It's probably due to the recent farces of MS, Novell and Oracle:

http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS3571706028.html

Wayne

[Dan]

MEMO

To: The Behemoth in Redmond

From: The free market



Be advised. Objects in your rear view mirror may be closer than they appear!


That is all.




.

[Dies]

Wow I can't even imagine downloading Fedora with dial-up, let alone trying to run an update, LMAO!
Hell, I can't even imagine being on dial-up, thank god.
I guess updating FC6 would be O.K. since there's not that many updates yet but still, wow.

[JordanN]

Wow I can't even imagine downloading Fedora with dial-up, let alone trying to run an update, LMAO!
Hell, I can't even imagine being on dial-up, thank god.
I guess updating FC6 would be O.K. since there's not that many updates yet but still, wow.
Yeah, if I was running on dial-up, I'd be using something like CentOS instead.

[Wayne]

Wow I can't even imagine downloading Fedora with dial-up, let alone trying to run an update, LMAO!
Hell, I can't even imagine being on dial-up, thank god.
I guess updating FC6 would be O.K. since there's not that many updates yet but still, wow.

I remember being on dialup and downloading OS/2 updates. Boy, was it painful, especially at the end of the month. In those days the telephone company enjoyed a monopoly and sometimes the phone bill was around $100 or more, plus ISP charges. Now my ADSL charge is similar or probably lower than my old ISP plus no giant phone bills!

Wayne

[Badut]

Wow I can't even imagine downloading Fedora with dial-up, let alone trying to run an update, LMAO!
Hell, I can't even imagine being on dial-up, thank god.
I guess updating FC6 would be O.K. since there's not that many updates yet but still, wow.

Yes updating on dial-up is painful and some larger items are impossible (eg. I've given up updating openoffice and gnome). But I like using Fedora and for various reasons I still use dial-up. Not ideal but it's workable. ;)

[oll]

May be if you can digin and get the MAC address it will be beter. MAC is unic to each PC. It is embeded on each tcp or udp packet of data.

oll

[nick.stumpos]

glad fedora use is growing, hopefully this comunity continues to grow with it, fedora is definetly my number 1 os on this computer

[Wayne]

glad fedora use is growing, hopefully this comunity continues to grow with it, fedora is definetly my number 1 os on this computer

It's the ONLY OS on this computer :D I gave up dual booting with OS/2 about a year or so ago.

Wayne

[nick.stumpos]

eh on my other computers it is just fedora, but this one happens to have the privilage of my distro of the month partition on it. althought gentoo has been on here for a little more than 4 months, maybe time for a change. I really like gentoo though maybe ill have to buy another harddrive

[radu5er]

... Objects in your rear view mirror may be closer than they appear!
.

Heh! Couldn't have said it better myself.

[nick.stumpos]

by the way bob or foolish, how did you go about becoming comunity managers, is ewdi in need of another one, for the last couple months, Ive been spending a lot of time in this forum, and think that I check here enough to be useful as a mod. Should i just pm ewdi, or do you think there are enough managers already.

[bob]

Well, PM'ing Ewdi of your offer is the right way. It's Ewdi's Forum and decision on when the time is right to add Community Managers, but he's always glad to have members indicate a desire to take on the awesome responsibility (still waiting for that first check, by the way).

As to how I became a Community Manager, back then they were scraping the bottom of the barrel and there I was!

[JN4OldSchool]

Just think it through Nick, as being a manager limits you somewhat in YOUR behaviour :D Bob, if you ever need a "hitman" to take care of your dirty work just let me know ;)

And Kona, what was that you were saying about FC dieing? Yeah, your right bro, it isnt ubuntu, but thats ok with me! :)

[Iron_Mike]

I remember being on dialup and downloading OS/2 updates. Boy, was it painful, especially at the end of the month. In those days the telephone company enjoyed a monopoly and sometimes the phone bill was around $100 or more, plus ISP charges. Now my ADSL charge is similar or probably lower than my old ISP plus no giant phone bills!

Wayne

Holy crap I remember those days, I was a beta tester for OS/2 and US Robotics Modems at the same time, free software and modems YooooHoooo, running a dialup BBS. I think that was right before Woodstock.... :D

[tickinghd]

Be aware, the forum will be filled up with newbies like my self in no time. Great news, but also any FOSS distrubution growing is good news to me. :)

[coppertrail]

I too have noticed that the boards have been slow since the release of FC6, and when I checked last night, there were over 7,000 people online!! This is truly awesome for Fedora Linux, and just goes to show the interest that has been sparked with this distro. Way to go Fedora team!

[isasckos45]

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[clearer]

Cool numbers. But as someone said, tracking MAC adresses would properbly be a better metric.

Something like tracking the MAC of the first Ethernet card or WiFi card and storing it in some way (for identifying it) should keep it somewhat consistent even if people change their networks card. Unique IP adresses is not really that saying in the long run. I risk having my IP changed every time I shutdown my computer. Also if one wanted a somewhat accurate transmitting the identity of a computer at each boot or emidietly after installing (at the owners discretion ofcourse).

My only concern about this is what this kind of information could be used for in the wrong hands...

[Flounder]

Also if one wanted a somewhat accurate transmitting the identity of a computer at each boot or emidietly after installing (at the owners discretion ofcourse).

My only concern about this is what this kind of information could be used for in the wrong hands...

I don't know if you happen to remember a thread about the image they wanted to insert into firefox and the reactions to that?

[Dan]

I don't know if you happen to remember a thread about the image they wanted to insert into firefox and the reactions to that? Flounder... Thank you for bringing that up. I certainly do remember that thread. Funny how it looks a bit different on this side of the release. :rolleyes:

Dan

[Adesso]

Well, newbies and all, this forum and OS is the best out there. Not being a complete expert on the Linux side, I am learning fast, and Fedora is my first love.

I am so pleased to see that the community is growing, makes me feel that being part of the whole is worth something. I think the reason why this is working so well is because of all of us guys out there taking the time to help the community grow. I salute the forum posters, and the programmers...

Long live Fedora....

[RahulSundaram]

Cool numbers. But as someone said, tracking MAC adresses would properbly be a better metric.

Something like tracking the MAC of the first Ethernet card or WiFi card and storing it in some way (for identifying it) should keep it somewhat consistent even if people change their networks card. Unique IP adresses is not really that saying in the long run. I risk having my IP changed every time I shutdown my computer. Also if one wanted a somewhat accurate transmitting the identity of a computer at each boot or emidietly after installing (at the owners discretion ofcourse).

My only concern about this is what this kind of information could be used for in the wrong hands...

The metrics are a ball park amount. If you read the Zod stats page at http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/ZodStats you will find more details on what this means. Yes, there are dynamic ip systems out there but there are also hundreds of systems running behind proxies or connecting a local mirror and not our central mirror list.

The more accuracy you try to gain, the more intrusive the process becomes and there are reasons to be concerned about that. See for example, http://lwn.net/Articles/203694/. In the next release, we might have a opt in mechanism for users to get counted in a better way by collecting more details but for now this is a good estimate purely anonymously without introducing any client side mechanisms.

[Flounder]

Best way to do it is to ask if they want to be counted at the end of the install and have a small program send some data to a server if they wish to co-operate. Just my opinion.

[adsharpe]

MORE than 300k installations of FC6!

That is perhaps more than $45 million that MS lost in XP sales. Since there are also legacy FC installations, the figure is likely considerably higher. If one considers the boxes containing SUSE and Ubuntu and the other distros, that represents considerable "lost" business for MS, likely well above $200 million. Consider also that when Linux is in, MS Office is also out. More revenue loss! Each OpenOffice install costs MS perhaps at least $75. Even if 50% of Linux users are dualbooting, it remains that each Linux install is not a MS purchased license! In light of the recent Ballmer "brags" and threats (Novell sellout), one understands that MS is somewhat worried about Vista sales, particularly as upgrades for XP. The MS revenue model relies heavily on OEMs to install the MS OS. However, at least one large OEM manufacturer, Acer, is on record that Vista Home is crap and contains nothing of interest. So, perhaps there is some rebellion within OEM ranks. Pity Acer hasn't considered offering bare boxes or linux-filled boxes. In any case, I think it clear that MS is concerned that many XP users might slide over to Linux rather than pay for Vista when XP support expires. And, I haven't even mentioned the server business. It would be interesting to know just how much in USD MS has lost in server side revenue. I would guess a huge sum?

Kudos to the Fedora gang. It is not that I'm anti-MS ,it is simply that I am exceedingly glad that we have alternatives of such high quality (I speak of the desktop). We all know that the Robber Barons are still with us! Keep up the good work. And, thanks.