Hi,

there are several things to be considered: 

Can numbers say anything? No! Numbers must be interpreted, the 
interpretation will vary by the kind of numbers used. 

For example people who want me to quit smoking tell me "70% of 
all people dying here of cancer are smokers, thet shows how 
dangerous smoking is" - I usually answer "99% of people dying here 
of cancer are christians, that shows how dangerous this religion is".

To find information of the reality or the future through numbers, you 
will have to spend lots of time and money for research of the 
adequate numbers that represent the topic of interest. Looking what 
the biggest, probably best, most widely known research instituions 
told us in the last decade about the presence you will find that: we 
have no HDTV, there is no significant e-commerce, there is no video 
on demand for everybody, there is no broadband internet access, 
.... Now if the companies that spent millions for research are so 
wrong, why should the author of the source you posted here - and 
who seems to have made up his mind for whatever reason and 
afterwards tried to proof his theories with numbers choosen only 
because they would probably be a proof his theory - be right?

Can information be found by looking at the number of users? No! 
Probably the number of people who were using an OS and quit 
using it in favor of another OS. Probably by the number of growth of 
a userbase (or the lack of growth). Probably by the number of 
computers running an OS, and seperated in market segments.  

On 22 Apr 2001, at 15:29, Mike Cheponis wrote:
> I did think I heard a number of 1,500 distinct email addresses on all
> netbsd email lists?

If this number was significant, we should probably add a porn list to 
prevent *BSD of dying ;).

mike