DistroWatch: Difference between revisions

DistroWatch
Type of site	News website
Available in	English
Owner	Ladislav Bodnar
Revenue	Advertisement
URL	distrowatch.com
IPv6 support	Yes
Commercial	Yes
Registration	No
Launched	31 May 2001

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Latest revision as of 12:35, 30 December 2024

DistroWatch is a website that provides news, distribution pages hit rankings, and other general information about various Linux distributions as well as other free software/open source Unix-like operating systems. It now contains information on several hundred distributions ^[1] and a few hundred distributions labeled as active.^[2]

History

The website was launched on 31 May 2001 and is maintained by Ladislav Bodnar.^[3]

Initially, Bodnar also wrote the Distrowatch Weekly (DWW). In November 2008, Bodnar decided to step down from the post of editor for DWW. Bodnar said he would still continue to maintain the site^[4] while the DWW would be written by Chris Smart.^[5]

As of 2017, DistroWatch has donated a total of US$47,739 to various open source software projects since the launch of the Donations Program in March 2004.^[6]

Features

The site maintains extensive comparison charts detailing differences between the package sets and software revisions of different distributions. It also provides some general characteristics of distributions such as the price and the supported processor architectures.^{[notes 2]} There is also a Distrowatch weekly (often abbreviated DWW) that comes out every Monday "as a publication summarising the happenings in the distribution world on a weekly basis".^[4]

Distrowatch has a monthly donations program, a joint initiative between DistroWatch and two online shops selling low-cost CDs and DVDs with Linux, BSD and other open source software.

The database consists of hundreds of different open source distributions, mainly Linux but also BSD and Solaris. It also has a small number categorized as "Other OS", namely ReactOS, Haiku, KolibriOS, RISC OS and Minix.^[7]

Page rankings

Distrowatch itself affirms that its page rankings are "a light-hearted way of measuring the popularity of Linux distributions and other free operating systems among the visitors of this website. They correlate neither to usage nor to quality, and should not be used to measure the market share of distributions. They simply show the number of times a distribution page on DistroWatch.com was accessed each day, nothing more."^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]

PC World has written that "the page-hit counts on DistroWatch give some indication of which distributions are drawing the most interest at the moment, of course, but such measures can't be assumed to gauge who's actually using what or which are preferred overall".^[12]

Notes

^ Site contents are in English while some user interface elements are also available in Arabic, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Tamil, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese.
^ e.g. see the Red Hat Enterprise Linux page on the web site https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=redhat

References

^ "DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD". DistroWatch. Retrieved 29 Jan 2019.
^ "DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD". DistroWatch. Retrieved 29 Jan 2019.
^ "About DistroWatch". DistroWatch. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
^ ^a ^b "DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 278". DistroWatch. 17 November 2008. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
^ "DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 279". DistroWatch. 24 November 2008. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
^ "DistroWatch Donations Programme". DistroWatch. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
^ "DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD". distrowatch.com. Retrieved 2024-06-13.
^ "How Mighty Mint became one of the most popular Linux distros". TechRadar. 12 May 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2013.
^ Terry Relph-Knight (2012-02-10). "A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint". ZDNet. Retrieved 2015-11-23.
^ Jake Edge (2011-12-07). "Distribution "popularity"". LWN.net. Retrieved 2015-11-23.
^ "Groklaw - Some Facts about openSUSE and Distrowatch Figures - A Correction". Groklaw. 11 January 2007. Archived from the original on 19 May 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
^ Noyes, Katherine (25 April 2012). "Which Linux Distro Is Fairest of Them All? Ubuntu, Survey Says". PCWorld. Retrieved 17 June 2012.

External links

Official website
- DistroWatch popularity rankings

Reviews

"Top 101 Classic Web Sites of 2006"". PC Magazine. Aug 2006. Archived from the original on July 25, 2008.
"Website of the Week — DistroWatch". Voice of America. Nov 1, 2009 [2008]. Archived from the original on Oct 17, 2008.
"Distribution "popularity"". LWN.net. Dec 7, 2011.

[1] Site contents are in English while some user interface elements are also available in Arabic, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Tamil, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese.

[8] .g. see the Red Hat Enterprise Linux page on the web site https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=redhat

[2] "DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD". DistroWatch. Retrieved 29 Jan 2019.

[3] "DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD". DistroWatch. Retrieved 29 Jan 2019.

[4] "About DistroWatch". DistroWatch. Retrieved 22 August 2021.

[weekly_20081117-5] "DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 278". DistroWatch. 17 November 2008. Retrieved 22 August 2021.

[6] "DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 279". DistroWatch. 24 November 2008. Retrieved 22 August 2021.

[7] "DistroWatch Donations Programme". DistroWatch. Retrieved 16 February 2020.

[9] "DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD". distrowatch.com. Retrieved 2024-06-13.

[techradar-10] "How Mighty Mint became one of the most popular Linux distros". TechRadar. 12 May 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2013.

[11] Terry Relph-Knight (2012-02-10). "A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint". ZDNet. Retrieved 2015-11-23.

[12] Jake Edge (2011-12-07). "Distribution "popularity"". LWN.net. Retrieved 2015-11-23.

[13] "Groklaw - Some Facts about openSUSE and Distrowatch Figures - A Correction". Groklaw. 11 January 2007. Archived from the original on 19 May 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012.

[14] Noyes, Katherine (25 April 2012). "Which Linux Distro Is Fairest of Them All? Ubuntu, Survey Says". PCWorld. Retrieved 17 June 2012.

[notes 1]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[notes 2]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

@@ Line 9: / Line 9: @@
 |caption          =
 |url              = {{URL|https://distrowatch.com/}}
+|ipv6             = Yes
-|alexa            = {{IncreaseNegative}} 15,523 ({{as of|2019|7|27|alt=July 2019}})<ref name="alexa">{{cite web|url= https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/distrowatch.com |title= Distrowatch.com Site Info | publisher= [[Alexa Internet]] |accessdate= 2019-07-27 }}</ref>
 |commercial       = Yes
 |type             = News website
-|language         = English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Dutch, Russian, Swedish, Hindi, Tamil, Japanese, Persian, Turkish, Hebrew, Vietnamese, Danish, Arabic, Ukrainian, Polish
+|language         = English<ref group="notes">Site contents are in English while some [[user interface]] elements are also available in Arabic, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Japanese, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Tamil, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese.</ref>
 |registration     = No
 |owner            = Ladislav Bodnar
@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 }}
-'''DistroWatch''' is a [[website]] which provides news, popularity rankings, and other general information about various [[Linux distribution]]s as well as other [[free software]]/[[open source]] [[Unix-like]] [[operating system]]s such as [[OpenSolaris]], [[MINIX]] and [[BSD]]. It now contains information on several hundred distributions.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://distrowatch.com/search.php?status=All|title=DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.|work=DistroWatch|accessdate=8 July 2012}}</ref>
+'''DistroWatch''' is a [[website]] that provides news, distribution pages hit rankings, and other general information about various [[Linux distribution]]s as well as other [[free software]]/[[open source]] [[Unix-like]] [[operating system]]s. It now contains information on several hundred distributions <ref>{{cite web|url=https://distrowatch.com/search.php?status=All|title=DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.|work=DistroWatch|access-date=29 Jan 2019}}</ref> and a few hundred distributions labeled as active.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://distrowatch.com/search.php?&status=Active|title=DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.|work=DistroWatch|access-date=29 Jan 2019}}</ref>
 == History ==
-The website was launched on 31 May 2001 and is maintained by Ladislav Bodnar.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=about|title=DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.|work=DistroWatch|accessdate= 8 July 2012}}</ref>
+The website was launched on 31 May 2001 and is maintained by Ladislav Bodnar.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=about|title=About DistroWatch|work=DistroWatch|access-date=22 August 2021}}</ref>
-Initially, Bodnar also wrote the Distrowatch Weekly (DWW). In November 2008, Bodnar decided to step down from the post of editor for DWW. Bodnar said he would still continue to maintain the site<ref name="weekly_20081117" /> while the DWW would be written by Chris Smart.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20081124|title=DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.|work=DistroWatch|accessdate=8 July 2012}}</ref>{{As of|2015|08|09}}, DistroWatch has donated a total of $44,175 USD to various open source software projects since the launch of the Donations Program in March 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20150727#donation|title=DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 620, 27 July 2015|work=DistroWatch|accessdate=9 August 2015}}</ref>
+Initially, Bodnar also wrote the Distrowatch Weekly (DWW). In November 2008, Bodnar decided to step down from the post of editor for DWW. Bodnar said he would still continue to maintain the site<ref name=weekly_20081117>{{cite web|url=https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20081117|title=DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 278|work=DistroWatch|date=17 November 2008|access-date=22 August 2021}}</ref> while the DWW would be written by Chris Smart.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20081124|title=DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 279|work=DistroWatch|date=24 November 2008|access-date=22 August 2021}}</ref>
+As of 2017, DistroWatch has donated a total of US$47,739 to various open source software projects since the launch of the Donations Program in March 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=donations|title=DistroWatch Donations Programme|work=DistroWatch|access-date=16 February 2020}}</ref>
 == Features ==
-The site maintains extensive comparison charts detailing differences between the package sets and software revisions of different distributions. It also provides some general characteristics of distributions such as the price and the supported processor architectures.<ref group="notes">e.g. see the [[Red Hat Enterprise Linux]] page on the web site https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=redhat</ref> There is also a Distrowatch weekly (often abbreviated DWW) that comes out on Monday "as a publication summarising the happenings in the distribution world on a weekly basis".<ref name=weekly_20081117>{{cite web|url=https://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20081117|title=DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.|work=DistroWatch|accessdate=8 July 2012}}</ref>
+The site maintains extensive comparison charts detailing differences between the package sets and software revisions of different distributions. It also provides some general characteristics of distributions such as the price and the supported processor architectures.<ref group="notes">e.g. see the [[Red Hat Enterprise Linux]] page on the web site https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=redhat</ref> There is also a Distrowatch weekly (often abbreviated DWW) that comes out every Monday "as a publication summarising the happenings in the distribution world on a weekly basis".<ref name="weekly_20081117" />
 Distrowatch has a monthly donations program, a joint initiative between DistroWatch and two online shops selling low-cost CDs and DVDs with Linux, BSD and other open source software.
+The database consists of hundreds of different open source distributions, mainly [[Linux]] but also [[Berkeley Software Distribution|BSD]] and [[Solaris OS|Solaris]]. It also has a small number categorized as "Other OS", namely [[ReactOS]], [[Haiku (operating system)|Haiku]], [[KolibriOS]], [[RISC OS]] and [[Minix]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD. |url=https://distrowatch.com/search.php?ostype=Other+OS&category=All&origin=All&basedon=All&notbasedon=None&desktop=All&architecture=All&package=All&rolling=All&isosize=All&netinstall=All&language=All&defaultinit=All&status=All#simple |access-date=2024-06-13 |website=distrowatch.com}}</ref>
-== Inappropriateness of the hit counters as a measure of OS usage ==
-Distrowatch itself affirms that its page rankings are "a light-hearted way of measuring the popularity of Linux distributions and other free operating systems among the visitors of this website. They correlate neither to usage nor to quality, and should not be used to measure the market share of distributions. They simply show the number of times a distribution page on DistroWatch.com was accessed each day, nothing more."<ref name=techradar>{{Cite web |title=How Mighty Mint became one of the most popular Linux distros |url=http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/how-mighty-mint-became-one-of-the-most-popular-linux-distros-1146584 |work=TechRadar |accessdate=22 May 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zdnet.com/article/a-tale-of-two-distros-ubuntu-and-linux-mint/|title=A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint|author=Terry Relph-Knight|date=2012-02-10|accessdate=2015-11-23|website=[[ZDNet]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://lwn.net/Articles/470782/|title=Distribution "popularity"|date=2011-12-07|accessdate=2015-11-23|author=Jake Edge|website=[[LWN.net]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.groklaw.net/articlebasic.php?story=20070111043418436|title=Groklaw - Some Facts about openSUSE and Distrowatch Figures - A Correction|publisher=Groklaw|accessdate=17 June 2012|date=11 January 2007}}</ref>
+== Page rankings ==
+Distrowatch itself affirms that its page rankings are "a light-hearted way of measuring the popularity of Linux distributions and other free operating systems among the visitors of this website. They correlate neither to usage nor to quality, and should not be used to measure the market share of distributions. They simply show the number of times a distribution page on DistroWatch.com was accessed each day, nothing more."<ref name="techradar">{{Cite web |title=How Mighty Mint became one of the most popular Linux distros |url=https://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/how-mighty-mint-became-one-of-the-most-popular-linux-distros-1146584 |access-date=22 May 2013 |work=TechRadar|date=12 May 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/a-tale-of-two-distros-ubuntu-and-linux-mint/|title=A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint|author=Terry Relph-Knight|date=2012-02-10|access-date=2015-11-23|website=[[ZDNet]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://lwn.net/Articles/470782/|title=Distribution "popularity"|date=2011-12-07|access-date=2015-11-23|author=Jake Edge|website=[[LWN.net]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.groklaw.net/articlebasic.php?story=20070111043418436|title=Groklaw - Some Facts about openSUSE and Distrowatch Figures - A Correction|publisher=Groklaw|access-date=17 June 2012|date=11 January 2007|archive-date=19 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120519140817/http://www.groklaw.net/articlebasic.php?story=20070111043418436|url-status=dead}}</ref>
+''[[PC World]]'' has written that "the page-hit counts on DistroWatch give some indication of which distributions are drawing the most interest at the moment, of course, but such measures can't be assumed to gauge who's actually using what or which are preferred overall".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/254516/which_linux_distro_is_fairest_of_them_all_ubuntu_survey_says.html|title=Which Linux Distro Is Fairest of Them All? Ubuntu, Survey Says|publisher=PCWorld|date=25 April 2012|access-date=17 June 2012|first=Katherine|last=Noyes}}</ref>
-''PCWorld'' has written that "the page-hit counts on DistroWatch give some indication of which distributions are drawing the most interest at the moment, of course, but such measures can't be assumed to gauge who's actually using what or which are preferred overall".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/254516/which_linux_distro_is_fairest_of_them_all_ubuntu_survey_says.html|title=Which Linux Distro Is Fairest of Them All? Ubuntu, Survey Says|publisher=PCWorld|date=25 April 2012|accessdate=17 June 2012|first=Katherine|last=Noyes}}</ref>
 == Notes ==
 {{reflist|group=notes}}
 ==References==
 {{Reflist|30em}}
@@ Line 44: / Line 51: @@
 {{Portal|Free and open-source software}}
 * {{Official website}}
-* [https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2005502,00.asp DistroWatch one of "Top 101 web sites"] ranked by [[PC Magazine]]
+** [https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=popularity DistroWatch popularity rankings]
+===Reviews===
-* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081017222336/http://www.voanews.com/english/Science/2008-10-03-voa21.cfm DistroWatch.com was featured on Voice of America]'s [https://web.archive.org/web/20060314030700/http://www.voanews.com/english/Science/website_week.cfm Website of the Week programme]
+* {{cite web |url= https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2005502,00.asp |title= Top 101 Classic Web Sites of 2006" |date= Aug 2006 |publisher= [[PC Magazine]] |url-status= dead |archive-date= July 25, 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080725214742/http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2005502,00.asp }}
-* [https://lwn.net/Articles/470782/ Distribution "popularity"]
+* {{cite web |url= https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-2008-10-03-voa21/401336.html |title= Website of the Week — DistroWatch |date= Nov 1, 2009 |orig-year= 2008 |url-status= live |publisher= [[Voice of America]] |archive-date= Oct 17, 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081017222336/http://www.voanews.com/english/Science/2008-10-03-voa21.cfm }}
-* [https://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=popularity DistroWatch popularity rankings]
+* {{cite web |url= https://lwn.net/Articles/470782/ |title= Distribution "popularity" |date= Dec 7, 2011 |display-authors= 0 |first= Jake |last= Edge |publisher= [[LWN.net]] }}
 {{Linux}}
+[[Category:Danish news websites]]
 [[Category:Internet properties established in 2001]]
 [[Category:Linux websites]]
-[[Category:Danish news websites]]

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