• lengau@midwest.social
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    7 months ago

    If you look at just my household, Ubuntu and its derivatives outnumber SteamOS by a factor of 7:1, not even counting numerous VMs and containers, or 3:1 if you’re just counting desktops, laptops and tablets. But if you look at my steam usage, Ubuntu hasn’t shown up there in over a year.

    I probably spend 10x as much time on Ubuntu machines as I spend on my Steam Deck, but the Steam hardware survey would never surface that fact, nor is it intended to.

    • woelkchen@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      If you look at just my household

      No, I won’t because anecdotal evidence is no statistic.

      • lengau@midwest.social
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        7 months ago

        Sure, but it’s often a clearer way to explain why a statistic is misleading.

        In this case, my anecdote shows an example of why the steam hardware survey is not, and was never intended to be, an accurate depiction of what distros people are using overall. Instead, it’s a depiction of what distros people are using for Steam, which is the point of the statement above mine.

        Using anecdote instead of statistical data is a bad idea. But so is ignoring anecdotes simply because they’re anecdotes, as anecdotes are often one of the best ways to find limitations in statistical data.

        • woelkchen@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Sure, but it’s often a clearer way to explain why a statistic is misleading.

          Provide a better one or keep quiet.

          • lengau@midwest.social
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            7 months ago

            You’re being rightfully called out by multiple people for using bad statistics. That doesn’t require better statistics to do any more than doubting Russell’s teapot requires showing that it’s actually a coffee pot.

              • lengau@midwest.social
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                7 months ago

                Personal attacks aren’t going to make people more sympathetic to your position.

                • woelkchen@lemmy.world
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                  7 months ago

                  Personal attacks aren’t going to make people more sympathetic to your position.

                  My position is based on facts, no matter if you feel attacked or not. Get over it.

                  • lengau@midwest.social
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                    7 months ago

                    Even if your position were correct or based on facts, calling someone a fraud is a personal attack.

                  • gaylord_fartmaster@lemmy.world
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                    7 months ago

                    Your position is based on a flawed understanding of one statistic. If Canonical released a hardware survey for snap, and it showed that 99% of the machines using snap were running Ubuntu, would that mean 99% of all Linux machines are running Ubuntu? No, it would mean that snap users are more likely to use Ubuntu while steam users are more likely to use SteamOS. You are seeing a very small piece of the overall picture and are making wild extrapolations from it.