Surprise: Open-Source Users Prefer Google to Microsoft Bing
Chitika did some sleuthing of its search engine traffic and uncovered a data point regarding the jihad between and Linux and Windows. The ad network compared the operating system and search engine data for more than 163 million searches and discovered 94.61 percent of all Linux search traffic was from Google, compared with 78.54 percent of Windows user searches. Only 8 percent of Windows users searched Bing, with a mere .77 percent of Linux searches came through Bing. Here's the Chitika chart:
And here is Chitika's raw data:
Even woeful Ask.com outdoes Bing for Linux users, with a 1.07 percent share. What's surprising about this? The 8 percent of Windows users searching Bing is pretty much on par with Bing's search engine market share overall (8.9 percent, according to the latest from comScore), but would anyone really expect Linux users to be searching Bing? Users choose Linux because they flat-out hate Microsoft, are tired of the whole Microsoft Windows experience, or they hate Microsoft because they are tired of the whole Windows experience. That holy war is hardly over. In fact, the stakes are being raised, with Linux shipping in more netbooks (though Windows is still winning here) and becoming a greater part of the mobile OS ecosystem. So I'm inclined to believe the Bing traffic from Linux users (9,044 out of more than 163 million!) are accidental searches, or searches executed to test Bing out of curiosity. And why not? It's not often a search engine with a $100 million marketing campaign emerges to test its mettle against the best. Linux users probably want to see what they're missing in Bing, but I expect them to stick with Google. Prove me wrong. Do you own and/or use a Linux-based computer and use Bing as you primary search engine? I would love to hear from you about why you like Linux over Windows and like Bing over Google. |
Comments (4)
Seriously, what sort of poor analysis is this? The default browser installation on on most Linux distributions that have one is Firefox. The default search engine for Firefox is Google. On the Windows front, the default browser is IE and unless changed, the default search engine for IE is now Bing. Most people don't change their default browsers or search engines that came with their OS.
Isn't it more logical to say most Linux users are happier with what came with their systems, that are the Windows users who switched to Google?
Posted by smarter than you | August 23, 2009 5:05 PM
I use Linux on my 3 home computers and Windows on the ones at work. Do I use Bing? Not on any of them.
Posted by Chris Belcher | August 23, 2009 6:36 PM
Hey Clint,
Not a surprise at all.
I wish to mention that Microsoft uses spamming tactics to fudge its rating for BING.COM. On the few sites that I manage, Microsoft robots spam me with requests claiming to have been referred by BING.COM, but I am not stupid -- those are Microsoft robots with Microsoft IP.
I wrote an article about in on my site.
Peter
Posted by Peter | August 23, 2009 7:34 PM
I use Linux on 3 Machines at home. All use Google. Although it is the default on Linux, as it is default on Firefox, your Average linux user would change it in a second if desired, as they are typically power users - besides netbooks / grandmas etc of course..
Windows users are a different breed - only power users will probably bother to change the default, or persistent users enamoured with Google.
The main problems Bing has to face is a combination of Microsoft's poor image with users, and a large base of users that expect a google search experience. bing even if made technically better, would still have trouble overcoming those problems.
Posted by David | August 24, 2009 1:02 AM