2019 Trends: Statistics on Free Software and GNU / Linux

In this publication we will try to present a clear and precise overview of the trends of the year 2019 based on statistics on the search for topics related to the «Software Libre y GNU/Linux», using the tool «Google Tendencias (Google Trends)».

The data below, therefore, although it will only be from said tool, can be taken as an excellent indicatoria sample of, how by time and place, people around the world are interested in various concepts or topics related to our beautiful and great Community.

Google Trends Statistics

For this article it should be clear that the data displayed below correspond to the period between between November 25th 2018 and the week corresponding to the days 17 to 23 November 2019.

Trends on Free Software

Interest over time around the world

How we can appreciate the interest of Internet users on the term or topic «Software Libre» during 2019 it started high (67%, Nov-18), had significant falls (18% at 23-29 Dec-18, 36% at 14-20 Apr-19 and 33% at 28Jul-03Aug 19) and closes in an acceptable 46% search intent or interest, which is close to the annual average that the graph reflects for this term or topic.

Interest over time by regions

The analysis of said upper image shows us how said term or topic, the «Software Libre», is mostly wanted by Internet users from South American countries, such as: Cuba, El Salvador, Ecuador, Venezuela, Mexico, Bolivia, Uruguay, Colombia, Honduras and Peru, among the top 10 on the list. And where countries like Spain ranks # 18, Germany # 20, followed by Italy, United Kingdom, Canada, United States and Australia.

Topics and queries related to Free Software

In this category, the Google Trends shows us that the most searched topics related to the phrase «Software Libre», manually skipping those that do not have to do with said term or IT topic, were:

1. FreeCAD
2. LibreOffice
3. Speech of the 4 freedoms
4. Free Software in Education
5. GeoGebra
6. Linux distribution
7. GIMP
8. Creative Commons
9. laws
10. Educational software

While, for the most searched and related queries, they were:

1. Free Software Example
2. Difference of Free and Commercial Software
3. Educational software
4. Advantages and disadvantages of Free Software
5. Free and Commercial Software

For more information on these trends, you can click on the following link Google Trends (Trends) on Free Software, to access directly on said data.

Trends on GNU / Linux

Interest over time around the world

How we can appreciate the interest of Internet users on the term or topic «GNU/Linux» during 2019 it started high (92%, Nov-18), had significant falls (51% at Dec 23-29, 18, 63% at Apr 14-20, 19 and 62% at Jul 21-27, 19) and closes in an acceptable 75% search intent or interest, which is slightly lower than the annual average reflected in the graph for this term or topic.

Interest over time by regions

The analysis of said upper image shows us how said term or topic, «GNU/Linux», is mostly wanted by Internet users from South American countries, such as: Cuba, El Salvador, Bolivia, Uruguay, Venezuela, Ecuador, Guatemala, Colombia and Chile, among the top 10 on the list. And where countries like Spain ranks # 7, France # 21, followed by Canada, Brazil, the United States and the United Kingdom.

GNU / Linux related topics and queries

In this category, the Google Trends shows us that the most searched topics related to the phrase «GNU/Linux», manually skipping those that do not have to do with said term or IT topic, were:

1. Manjaro Linux
2. Sudo
3. GitHub
4. File system
5. Cp - Unix

While, for the most searched and related queries, they were:

1. Linux 2019
2. Rufus for linux
3. mkdir linux
4. snap linux
5. Rename linux file
6. Linux diff
7. Create directory in linux
8. vv linux
9. Linus Torvalds
10. Tor

For more information on these trends, you can click on the following link Google Trends (Trends) on GNU / Linux, to access directly on said data.

Conclusion

From the data shown above, we can briefly conclude that:

• «Software Libre y GNU/Linux» There are 2 similar terms, but globally the second surpasses the first in search intention.
• Both terms are handled by Internet users, at the level of Latin America, with an excellent score, compared to others from different regions. AND Cuba is the winner in both terms.
• And that, in relation to topics and queries related to both terms, GNU / Linux Distributions, Applications and platforms stand out, such as: Manjaro, FreeCAD, LibreOffice, GIMP, and GitHub.

Among many other things, which can be extracted in case of deepening these statistics in Google Trends. If you want to review what was commented as a trend at the beginning of years, we recommend our previous article on this subject, called: Composability: the new trend of 2019 for open-source?

And for more information, always do not hesitate to visit any Online library as OpenLibra y jedit to read books (PDFs) on this topic or others knowledge areas. For now, if you liked this «publicación», don't stop sharing it with others, in your Favorite websites, channels, groups, or communities of social networks, preferably free and open as Mastodon, or secure and private like Telegram.

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