From: Paul Cockshott (clyder@GN.APC.ORG)
Date: Thu Dec 27 2007 - 18:23:12 EST
I have the impression that the most significant part of the open software
infrastructure is in linux internet servers. Various sources quote this as
anywhere from 10% to 30% of the server market. These figures are however hard
to quantify as the market share is not meaningful for Linux, many instances
of which are not bought pre-installed on the servers but are downloaded for free
and later installed.
I think it should be possible to get a web crawler to estimate the relative
shares of linux versus windows machines -- I am sure somebody has done it, just
have to find the reference.
Quoting Paul Adler <padler@USC.EDU>:
> A few thoughts on this topic:
> 1. we do have data on the proportion of computer-related equipment in
> total stock of machinery and equipment -- and it has grown
> enormously, reaching about half by 2006 (according to http://
> www.csls.ca/data/ICT-%20US%202006.pdf)
> (The empirical analysis gets complicated because it is so hard to
> get decent quality-adjustments to computer-equipment prices.)
> 2. The proportion of software that is legally free is, I'm guessing,
> very small. ("Open source" is a major force in only a few small
> segments of the industry.) However piracy is a big factor: at the low
> end, some 21% of operating system software is apparently pirated in
> the US, and at the high end, some 72% in India and 86% in China (I'm
> not sure how much credence to give the specific figures, but see
> http://www.iipa.com/pdf/
> IIPA2007TableofEstimatedTradeLossesandPiracyLevelsfor2006USTRDecisions06
> 0607.pdf)
> 3. The main idea, I think, is that the forces of production (most
> notably software, but other segments too) evolve in a direction
> ("socialization") that makes private property rights (a) increasingly
> difficult to enforce, and (b) increasingly wasteful from a social-
> welfare point of view (given the low or zero costs of reproduction
> and dissemination).
>
>
> On Dec 27, 2007, at 8:40 AM, Paul Cockshott wrote:
>
> > Quoting glevy@PRATT.EDU:
> > Perhaps I should have said 'significant' not major there. I will
> > try and get an
> > estimate for the first question. It is inherently hard to estimate
> > this since
> > free software will not be counted in any capital stock. And when
> > one asks what
> > percentage of software is free, what is ones unit of measurement?
> > Is it the amount of lines of code?
> > Is it the usage of the software?
> > Is it the number of distinct programs?
> >
> >>> 1. Free software is a major part of the means of production.
> >>
> >> Hi Paul:
> >>
> >> Major or minor but growing?
> >>
> >> * What percentage of the total means
> >> of production would you
> >> estimate software
> >> as a whole to be?
> >>
> >> * What percentage
> >> of the total amount
> >> of software is free?
> >>
> >> In
> >> solidarity, Jerry
> >>
> >
> >
> > Paul Cockshott
> >
> > www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~wpc
> > reality.gn.apc.org
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------
> > This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.
>
>
> * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
> Paul S. Adler,
> Prof. of Management and Organization
> University of Southern California,
> Los Angeles, CA
> Tel: 818.981.0115
>
>
>
>
>
Paul Cockshott
www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~wpc
reality.gn.apc.org
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