Steves' Stats

A Sad Day for Tablet Competition, Plus HP TouchPad Identification.

2011-08-19T01:29:00.000-07:00

I do not like to see one company having too great a dominance in any market. I have long thought small touch screen portable PCs are a good idea; and then after years of negligible success Apple launch the iPad, as though it is a new idea, and make them fashionable. I hate Apple trying to stifle competition using alleged paten infringements, and trying to take extort money from using the iPad (to me if you buy hardware you should be able to do what you want with it). Thus I was pleased when HP said it was going to take Apple on; from my limited experience WebOS made sense.

I looked forward to the launch of HPs first touch screen, and a few days ago went to a PC shop to have a play with the HP TouchPad. My impression was that it was not perfect, but it was a good first attempt, and would be a stepping stone to a better machine. I would have bought one, however, Opera browser was/is not yet available for the TouchPad, and whilst I am happy to buy a tablet which helps open up the market, I do not wish to buy a tablet which will be used mainly for portable browsing, and will artificially inflate Apple Safari browser market share (see TouchPad Identification below). All things considered I decided that the TouchPad seemed a perfectly acceptable tablet, that I would buy when Opera became available.

Alas, this is a sad day because HP have decided to scrap their WebOS tablets and phones, but maybe I will be able to buy one cheap, and put a straight forward Linux distro on it!

TouchPad Identification

I recently reviewed the identification of the Blackberry Playbook by counters, and found it to suggest that Apple Safari browser usage was higher than it actually is, due to both browsers being based on the WebKit browser engine. Likewise, the TouchPad uses a WebKit based browser, and almost universally is counted as Safari:

Linux OS and Safari browser

ExtremeTracking
ShinyStats
Sitemeter
W3

BeOs (OS and browser)

BraveNet

Mac OS and Safari browser

OneStat

Default Browser

StatCounter

Browser String:

Mozilla/5.0 (hp-tablet; Linux; hpwOS/3.0.0; U; en-GB) AppleWebKit/534.6 (KHTML, like Gecko) wOSBrowser/233.70 Safari/534.6 TouchPad/1.0

Blackberry PlayBook ID + Are WebKit Browsers Giving Appel Safari an Overstated Market Share?

2011-06-25T02:47:00.000-07:00

Yeasterday I popped into a local computer store to have a play with the Blackberry PlayBook. I dis not spend enough time to write a worthwhile review, but by visiting this site I found that very few stats trackers correctly identify the PlayBook (listed Browser / OS):

Correctly Identified:

W3 - Blackberry PlayBook Tablet 1.0 / RIM Tablet

ExTreame Tracking - Blackberry PlayBook / Blackberry PlayBook

Near Miss:

Statcounter: Blackbery / Blackberry OS

ID As Apple Safari:

Shiny Stats - Safari / Various

Onestat - Safari / Macintosh

24Log - Safari / Other

SiteMeter - Safari 1.3 / Macintosh unknown

GoStats - Safari / Unknown

ID As BeOS:

BraveNet - BeOS / BeOS

From the above it is clear that few correctly identify the BlackBerry PlayBook, and most credit the WebKit Browser as being an Apple Safari browser. Surly, this causes Apples browser (and to a lesser expent Apples OS) to be regarded as more popular than it actually is?

PS Will be nice when BeOS actually does start making plenty of hits again!!

For the record the browser string was:

Mozilla/5.0 (PlayBook; U; RIM Tablet OS 1.0.0; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.8 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/0.0.1 Safari/534.8

Fell Onto My Left Wrist Last Week

2011-06-03T08:20:00.000-07:00

Force caused damage at the elbow. Nothing broken, and as the picture shows the swelling has gone now. Have not been driving much! Steve.

Lonliness of a FreeBSD Surfer

2011-05-05T00:34:00.000-07:00

Earlier today I surfed onto a site called Pool tot Pool. Noticing an ExtremeTracking button I had a look - I just cannot help it! This tracker ha been running since 25th November 2006, in that time it has had 10,110 hits, yet I am the first person to surf onto the site using FreeBSD, and my visit puts FreeBSD usage to 0.01%.

However, Net Applications give the percentage Internet traffic for FreeBSD as 0.01%, so I suppose satistically, after 10,109 hits, it was time for me to find this site!

Opera 11 Alpha

2010-10-21T13:33:00.000-07:00

Today Opera 11 Alpha was released. I decided to see how the different counters recorded Opera 11 Alpha on its first day.

Opera 11 Alpha used on FreeBSD:

Opera/9.80 (X11; FreeBSD 8.1-RELEASE i386; U; en) Presto/2.6.37 Version/11.00

No result:

BraveNet - Fails to count Opera 9 / 10 and now 11!
Belstat
GoStats - not working at time of test
W3Counter (Browser ID: Identification Blocked 0)

Opera 9

OneStat
SiteMeter
24Log
ExtremeTracking

Opera 10

Clicky

OPERA 11

ShinyStats
Statcounter
Motigo

Full marks / flexibility to ShinyStats, Statcounter, and Motigo. I'm also sure ExtremeTracking will register Opera 11 before too long.

iPad Identification.

2010-07-05T07:11:00.000-07:00

I recently had a play with an iPad in a local shop. Once I got over the problem of it auto-correcting the address from blogspot to bloodsport I was able to see how the different counters recorded my visit:

iPad / Safari:

ExtremeTracking
StatCounter
Shiny

Mac OSX / Safari:

SiteMeter
Brave Net
24Log

iPhone / Safari Mobile:

Clicky

Max OSX / Safari Mobile:

OneStats

Are Apps a Good Thing?

2010-06-05T10:46:00.000-07:00

There are thousands of apps. They can do the most amazing things; but are all these apps. a good thing? Especially apps. that allow the use of established web-sites.

I was using my favourite currency conversion site XE.com when I noticed a link for the Android XE.com app. I then realised that there are XE.com apps for the iPhone and Blackberry too.

My reaction was why would you want an app. to convert currencies, you can do it so easily in the Android/Blackberry/iPhone browser? Not owning a mobile phone I tried XE.com on a divice (Nintendo DSi XL), Opera Mini simulator, and Opera Mobile Emulator for Linux. XE.com performed beautifully on all three.

I continued to wonder why bother with an app. I thought that having the app. would make it easy to go back to XE.com again, but then so would bookmaking the site!

I asked my other half why bother with an app. for a job which is easily accomplished in the browser, and she suggested that apps. suited people who were not too conversant with computers. This I can not see because it requires no more technical ability to use a browser than it does to use an app.

I wondered if apps. were to make use easier on a small screen, but I have tried .mobi versions of sites and would generally prefer the full site with extra scrolling, or change to column mode to actually read. I find it infuriating that Wikipedia defaults to the .mobi on the Wii.

So why bother with apps? The web should be open to all, are we not just making bits exclusive to those with the right kit?

Disappearing Google Chrome Hits

2010-05-07T02:17:00.000-07:00

A couple of Google Chrome anomalies. Surely I can not be the only person to have noticed.

1. Extreme Tracking does not include Google Chrome in browser totals:

Browser Totals: 29 Opera = 100%

Browser Details: 29 Opera + 1 Google = 100%

If you check Extreme never includes Google Chrome in Browser Totals (above example used for ease of view).

2. OneStat have stopped including Google Chrome in their Stats:

Last years OneStats browser stats for a Dutch web-site:

Google Chrome accounts for 1.64% of browser visits.

However, same site this years stats to date:

PLD Linux

2010-05-03T09:22:00.000-07:00

For many people their first experience of Linux is to try a Live CD, giving a taste of Linux without installation on their PC. PLD is a live CD I have been playing with recently which is very good, and seems to run better/faster as a live CD than some of the better know distributions (live CD are not quite as fast as installed operating systems).

PLD

Version ~ Titanium LiveCD 4.4.0 Stable fits onto a standard CD. Upon booting the CD PLD does not require the user to answer any questions, and goes straight to the desktop, and connects to the internet automatically (unfortunately I have not tried on a machine that relies on WiFi, and not asking for preferred keyboard layout results in the juxtaposition of @ and "):

Unfortunately, it does not load on my AMD Phenom II, or Via C7-M machines, on a Pentium 4 machine with 192 RAM, PLD loaded beautifully, but did not have enough memory left to load Opera.

PLD give their minimum requirements as:

"Minimum System Requirements: Intel/AMD Processor (i686) with 600MHz, 256MB RAM, CD-ROM Drive
Recommended System Requirements: Intel/AMD Processor (i686) with 2.0GHz, 1GB RAM, DVD-ROM Drive, Graphics Card that supports DRI (recommended Intel i945GM or higher)"

Everything seems to work well, and efficiently, not lots of hanging waiting to the CD to spin as happens on many live distros. Opera is up to date Version 10.10, and surfs very well - flash is not included, but I have added the file libflashplayer.so from a USB to the desktop and amended Operas preferences (Tools, Preferences (do not use Ctrl + F12), Advanced, Content, Plug-in Options, Change Path), and this has worked very well. One niggle I have found is that the system does not shut down when commanded!

Overall a simple and straighforward LiveCD.

Google' Wireless Transcoder

2010-04-03T13:09:00.000-07:00

I was looking at recent hits on ExtremeTracking and realised the big "G" was not a visit by Google Bot but a visit using Google' Wireless Transcoder. Not knowing what Google Wireless Transcoder was I looked it up, and found out that it is a way of rendering of websites to obtain the essential information, making them suited for display on a PDA.

Although I do not have a PDA I decided to have a play with Google' Wireless Transcoder, its URL is here. Steves Stats is a site I obviously tried:

Much simplified, but all the information is available.

From the above visit, how did the verious counters register Google Wireless Transcoder:

1. No Icon. Hence, nothing registered:

ShinyStats
BraveNet
BelStats
SiteMeter
24Log

2. Icon, but nothing registered:

Motigo

3. Browser identified as Safari:

GoSats (Safari 52513)
GetClicky (Safari 3.1)

4. Visit registered as Google Bot:

OneStat

5. Correctly identified as Google Wireless Transcoder:

StatCounter
W3
ExtremeTracking

From the user agent it becomes apparent why it is mistaken for Safari:

Mozilla/5.0_(en-us)_AppleWebKit/525.13_(KHTML,_like_Gecko;_Google_Wireless_Transcoder)_Version/3.1_Safari/525.13

Sales Assistants and Linux

2010-02-26T04:06:00.000-08:00

I had some tome to kill whilst waiting for my car to be fixed, so I popped into Currys to look at computers. Currys are a major UK PC retailer, so you would expect some sound and knowledgeable advice from their staff!

I was looking at laptops when a sales person, whose badge identified him as a laptop specialist, asked if I needed any help?

I stated that I was just browsing, because I have just completed a new PC- which I added is a fast machine.

He enquired about its specs, and was surprised that it has two hard drives.

I said that one runs Linux and one FreeBSD.

He pulled a face and said that he did not like Linux.

I asked why?

He said that it was difficult to use.

Wondering why he had had problems, I asked why he had found Linux difficult to use?

He then stated that he had never actually used Linux!

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to encourage government departments to upgrade away from Internet Explorer 6.

2010-02-07T09:27:00.000-08:00

The above is an online petition, which UK citizens, and residents, can use to petition our Prime Minister.

Why have I signed it?

Internet Explorer 6 is slowing the implementation of Web Standards. I enjoy browsing with Opera 5, but accept that many sites do not work with this historical browser, yet sites are being forced to work with an equally old Internet Explorer 6 because it accounts for 20% of internet hits.

Certainly in the UK, very few people use Internet Explorer 6 on their personal computers; even at work no one has IE6 on their home computer(s). The problem is mainly workplace usage. I work for a Government department, and we run nothing but IE6 on XP, just our small unit alone must account for thousands of IE6 hits a day - there is no option. At lunch time I pop to the library, there are 30 internet access machines being used intensively all day, all running Windows 2000 with IE6. The biggest employer in my town uses XP with IE6. Its the captive hits make up the bulk of IE6s usage. Hence, if Goverment stoped using it it would make a huge dent in usage and encourage companies to drop this old liability. Then sites can be written to standards, and if a browser fails to render properly its the browsers fault, and not a side effect of a work arround to make Internet Explorer 6 cope.

No Opera 3!

2010-01-21T01:45:00.000-08:00

I have often wondered why Opera 3 and 4 never appear on counters. Even Extreme tracking which records all visits since the counter was set up does not have early Opera versions listed; even tough you feel that for long established sites someone must have arrived on Opera 3 or 4.

Recently, I have been playing with Haiku OS, an OS inspired by BeOS, and although only released as a first alpha it is excellent, and shows the potential to become an established operating system.

In 2000 Opera released Opera 3.62 for BeOS, which I installed onto Haiku to see how counters reported Opera 3. Unfortunately, not one counter managed to count a visit by Opera 3, and only one recored Opera, without a version:

* Most counters failed to load with Opera 3, and if counter does not load theres no counting:

ShinyStat
BraveNet
BelStat
SiteMeter
StatCounter
GoStats

* Four counters appeared using Opera 3.62, but two failed to record as a result:

Extreme Tracking
Motigo

* Leaving just two who registered something:

Onestat - Internet Explorer 5
24Log - Identified Opera, but no version number.

I retried with the settings as "Spoof Entirely as Mozilla" but this site failed to load.

Opera Private Tab, Not So Private

2010-01-16T14:25:00.000-08:00

Added 03/08/2010: I have tested the latest versions of Opera (10.60) on FreeBSD and Linux, Opera have now resolved this issue and Private Tab is not leaving a cookie record anymore.

Opera 10.5 pre-alpha is available, and I have enjoyed playing with it on a Linux machine. It works very well, but there is one thing which I find odd, the introduction of "private tab" and "private window". When Internet Explorer 8 introduced this concept I was sceptical - how can this be better than a Linux live CD? With Firefox also including this feature, it became inevitable that Opera would have to have it.

What I find strange is that when you close your "private tab" the cookies still remain! Hardly private.

I still believe the Linux live CD to be a better option, even with the drawback that most which include Opera are still on version 9.

Konqueror 4 Identification.

2009-12-27T01:38:00.000-08:00

I was surfing when I noticed that ExtremeTracking miss identified Konqueror 4, and surprisingly badly - I was using Konqueror 4.2 on FreeBSD and ExtreameTracking reported this as Other/Unknown on Linux! This seemed unuseual because ExtremeTracking are normally one of the most up to date counters, and it correctly records Konqueror 2 and 3. After checking several sites which use Extreme it would appear that Extreme does not reqister Konqueror 4 at all.

I tried other counters and found reasonably good results:

Konqueror 4.2/FreeBSD ~ StatCounter, Sitemeter, GoStats.

Konqueror/FreeBSD ~ ShinyStats, 24Log, Motigo.

Mozilla/FreeBSD ~ Bravenet

Netscape/FreeBSD ~ OneStat

How to add Exalead (or any other search) to Opera.

2009-12-19T08:25:00.000-08:00

It sometimes bothers me that Google has too big a share of the search market, but I would not suggest the use of Bing as an alternative. Perhapse there is a better alternative, I mainly use Yahoo, Exalead, or Clusty. I have noted from search keywords that some who come to this site would like to know how to add alternative search engines to their Opera default searches.

To add say Exalead:

1. Open the Exalead search page.

2. Right click within the Exalead search box.

3. Select "Create Search" from the menu.

4. Add a key word in the Keyword box.

Clicking OK will then add Exalead to the drop down Toolbar box.

To change the Default or Speed Dail search engine:

1 Press Ctrl + F12.

2. Select "Search"

3. Select which search engine you want to make Default or SpeedDail search.

4. Click "Edit".

5 Click "Details"

6 Click the appropriate box.

7 Click OK.

Who Is Counting Windows 7?

2009-11-08T01:10:00.000-08:00

I find it annoying that counters are still having problems recognising Opera 10. However, something as common as Windows 7, which has got a 7.83% market share in Slovinia, is still not being recognised correctly.

Since the official release a couple of weeks ago, I have been waiting for someone to view this blog with Windows 7 so that I could see how this was reported:

Identified as Windows Vista: BraveNet, OneStat.

Identified as Windows NT: SiteMeter, 24Log, GoStats.

Correctly Identified as Windows 7: ShinyStats, StatCounter, Motigo, ExtremeTracking.

Suppliers of counters need to be more attentive to changes in web technology to remain relevant and accurate.

Syllable Counting

2009-10-25T14:29:00.000-07:00

I like to try different things. I like diversity. So I decided to give Syllable desktop a spin. Syllable being an open source operating system, that is not based on the Linux kernel. Syllable has its own WebKit based browser ABrowse.

I downloaded the 0.64 live CD from the Syllable site and was suitably impressed with its performance - it was certainly easier to use than some Linux live CDs, did not need the network setting up, and ran smoothly without constant pauses while information is gleaned from the CD (Syllable can be installed too).

So how did the counters cope with a rare OS, with its own WebKit browser? Using the Live CD I obtained the following counter results, Operating System / Browser:

ShinyStats: Unknown / Mozilla

BraveNet: Windows / Mozilla

OneStat: Mac OS / Netscape 5

SiteMetre: Mac Unknown / Netscape 5 (Abrowse 0.6 / Syllable listed in the "Whose On" section after main ID being given as Netscape 5)

GoStats: Unknown / Netscape 5

24Log: Other / Mozilla Compatable

ExtremeTracking: Other / Safari

Motigo: Unknown / Mozilla

Syllable produces a remarkable range of counter responses! Hopefully, Syllable will become more common, and will become better identified.

Is ExtremeTracking Highlighting The Internet Expoloer 6 Problem?

2009-10-18T03:53:00.000-07:00

Is ExtremeTracking showing its support for moving the net on from Internet Exploer 6, so that the web can be developed for standard compliant browsers?

Yesterday all Internet Explorer visits, from 1 trough to 8 all had the same Icon:

Today, Internet Explorer 1 to 6 use the above Icon, but versions 7 and 8 have a new brighter, gold haloed icon:

Is there a subliminal message?

Who Still Does Not Count Opera 10?

2009-10-16T08:12:00.000-07:00

When the first Opera 10 Alpha appeared it identified itself as Opera 10. However, from the Beta trough to the current Final version, Opera set Opera 10s identity to Opera 9.8 for example:

Opera/9.80 (X11; SunOS i86pc; U; en) Presto/2.2.15 Version/10.00

Opera did this because many counters did not identify Opera with 10 as the browser ID, and so understated Opera usage (technical explanation).

Now that Opera 10 final has been out about six weeks, it still identifies as 9.8.

I decided to try a first alpha Opera 10 release on a Linux live disk (used Puppy Linux Nearly Office Pup 413).

The resulting browser IDs are:

1 Correctly identified Opera 10: BraveNet, StatCounter, GoStats, Motigo, Extreme Tracking.

2. Identified Opera (but not as version 10): ShinyStats, SiteMeter, 24Log

3 Failed to identify Opera altogether: OneStat (ID other)

I will be glad when Opera 10 is universally recognized by counters for what it is; Opera 9 was good, but its time to move on.

As a slight aside. I noted the other day a hit on an Extreme Tracking counter for Opera 9 coming from an Opera computer. I was disappointed that Opera staff have not upgraded, only to find myself to be registering as Opera 9 on Extreme Tracking, even tough I was using Opera 10. Extreme counts Opera 9.8 as 10, but, as I have now discovered, it does not recognize Opera Unite Beta because the browser ID is one digit different to Opera 10, and is therefore not registered as 10:

Opera/9.80 (X11; SunOS i86pc; U; en) Presto/2.2.15 Version/10.10

I find misidentification annoying, and look forward to when Opera is IDed correctly again.

Android

2009-09-26T10:10:00.000-07:00

I recently tried an Android based G1 phone.

I have noticed that many hits occur on stat counters showing a Linux OS with a Safari browser. This does not make sense because there is no Linux version of Safari. Thus , I have suspected these to be Android. Giving me the opportunity to visit this blog confirmed my suspicions.

Counters That Suggested Linux / Safari:

ShinyStat
GoStats
SiteMetre
BraveNet
Motigo

Counters That Suggested Mac OS / Netscape 5:

OneStat

Counters That Suggested Linux / Mozilla Compatible:

24Log

Finally, the TWO Counters That Got It Right Android / Android:

StatCounter
ExtremeTracking

ExtremeTracking Recognises Opera 10

2009-09-23T14:34:00.000-07:00

Today ExtreneTracking started logging Opera 10 as Opera 10, and not Opera 9. Opera 10 currently identifies itself as Opera 9.8. ExtremeTracking is the first counter to name Opera 10 right, and reinforces my opinion that ExtremeTracking are good at keeping their counter up to date.

I'll have to get plenty of browsing done, because it will take a while for Opera 10 to reach a realistic position on ExtremeTracking results (ExtremeTracking keeps all its historical data, with a new browser having to start from scratch).

MSN Bot - and Web Standards

2009-09-20T03:00:00.000-07:00

The above screen capture shows a visit from the MSN Bot recorded by ExtremeTracking.

The first thing that struck me is that, according to Microsoft, Microsoft Vista is so wonderful, and we are all urged to upgrade. Why then is Mircrosoft still using XP?

A second perhaps more important thing is the use of Internet Explorer 6. With IE 8 being reasonably standards compliant, and IE 6 having its own unique ways, web designers are having major problems getting their sites to work on both. This is then having a knock on effect on other browsers.

A major site my other half uses suddenly found that Opera was not working, so they adjusted, then Firefox did not work, so they adjusted again and Safari stopped. Hence over several weeks most of the major alternative browsers failed to work. However, IE 6 and IE 8 worked all the time. The problem is clear from the web browser usage figures for the top 5 browsers, according to NetApplications:

Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 25.25%
Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 21.10%
Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 15.10%
Firefox 3.0 12.48%
Firefox 3.5 8.88%

IE 6 is still the most widely used browser, and so even though it causes problems for the rendering of all the other browsers developers do not feel they can stop making it work a priority. Hence, considering that Microsoft claim to want to work towards web standards compliance, they are happy to cause havoc with other browsers, and make them look problematic, and sometimes make them unusable, when it is Microsofts product which is causing the problem.

Bots have a major influence on browser statistics, being all pervasive they visit almost all sites, and often form a large proportion of site visitors stats. Thus, it is especially poor that Microsoft are bolstering the IE 6 statistic figures with their Bot. It makes me question their commitment to web standards, and if they are actively trying to undermine alternative browsers by protracting the change to web standards?

Counters Response to a Proxy - flywall.info

2009-09-19T05:36:00.000-07:00

How do my counters count a visit through a proxy. I used one called FlyWall.

This is how FlyWall describes itself:

"What is FlyWall?
FlyWall is a website which allows you to visit your favourite sites at work or school, where your school or work might not allow you to visit them. There are many other uses for this site aswell, but to get started, enter your URL in the box above where it says http:// and then click Browse."

Using FlyWall I visited this blog, and then checked to see if I could be identified as the visitor, and what technology the counters gave (results if myself and not the proxy counted, ISP: Fused Networks / Telecomplete, IP Address: 86.53.56.223, Country: United Kingdom, Browser: Opera 9.8, OS: SunOS):

ShinyStat:

ISP: Not available
Country: United States of America
Browser: Opera 9.x
OS: Sun OS

BraveNet:

BraveNet does not register proxies.

Onestat:

OneStat does not register proxies.

BelStat:

ISP: telecomplete
IP Address: 86.53.56.223
Country: UK
OS / Browser: Data not linked to individual visitors

SiteMeter:

ISP: Unknown
Country: Unknown
OS: SunOS UNIX
Browser: Opera 9.80

StatCounter:

ISP: Fused Networks Limited
IP Address: 86.53.56.223
Country: United Kingdom
Browser: Default Browser 0
OS: SunOS

GoStata:

Country: United States
OS: Unknown
Browser: Netscape

24Log:

Country: United States
Browser: Mozilla compatible
OS: other

Extreme Tracking:

ISP: Fused Networks Limited
Country: United Kingdom
IP Address: 86.53.56.223
Browser: Opera 9
OS: SunOS

Motigo Stats:

ISP: Fused Networks
Country: United Kingdom
Browser: Opera 9.x
OS: Sun OS

So some counters seem to be able to see past the proxy, and others report the proxies details, some report a bit of both, whilst BraveNet, and OneStat do not let you know a proxy has visited at all.

StatCounter and Invisible Opera 10

2009-09-12T04:18:00.000-07:00

Below is my visit on StatCounter for a web site:

Number of Entries: 1
Entry Page Time: 12th September 2009 12:00:25
Visit Length: 0 seconds
Browser Default Browser 0
OS unknown
Resolution 1152x864

Opera 10 appears as Default Browser 0. Unfortunately, StatCounter has shown a gradual decrease in Opera usage throughout this year. As more Opera users move to version 10 will this decline continue?

Opera 10 identifies itself as Opera 9.8. Alas, StatCounter does not recognise 9.8. The first Opera 10 alphas who identified as 10, until Opera changed id to 9.8 because some counters were not recognizing 10 as a valid browser. StatCounter can recognise the first alphas as Opera 10, but fails to see later versions.

From the above site the Opera use was Opera 10 - 0.8%, Opera 9.6 - 0.8%, but Default Browser achieves 1.8%! Is Opera appearing to lose usage because StatCounter fails to identify Opera 10?

Hopefully, Opera will change its browser id to 10, and StatCounter will start to recognise 9.8 - otherwise any progress Opera makes will be hidden.

Best Browser On Mac OS 9

2009-09-03T03:22:00.000-07:00

Although not used commonly, there are still perfectly good iMacs out there running Mac OS 9. Some of these are available for next to nothing, and can make very useful surfing machines. I have seen several discussions on what is the best browser for this OS. I have posted this post because iCab 3 for OS 9 is far better than any other OS 9 browser, yet often gets overlooked. iCab 3 renders properly (nothing else seems to) and can cope with Google adds (Opera 5 can not manage this).

Simple: OS 9 = iCab 3

Zeta OS

2009-08-16T05:53:00.000-07:00

I have long had a soft spot for BeOS, but have not been able to get a net connection since moving to broadband. I have tried Zeven OS, a Ubuntu based distro with a BeOS look, but did not find it felt like BeOS. Recently I bought a live disc containing Zeta OS 1.21 from Germany. Zeta OS was developed by Magussoft using BeOS until the project stopped in 2007.

First impressions of Zeta were good, it looked and responded like BeOS, and was a pleasure to use. For browsing there is the original BeOS NetPositive browser, and Zetas own version of Firefox 2.0. NetPositive was fun to use, but like many older browsers would not open some modern sites, including Blogger. Firefox worked like...Firefox.

Identification of Zeta-

1. Using this blog and Zeta/Firefox:

ShinyStat - Firefox/BeOS
BraveNet - Firefox 2.0 / XP
OneStat - Mozila / Other
BelStat - ?
SiteMeter - Firefox / Unknown
StatCounter - Firefox / Unknown
GoStats - Firefox / BeOS
24Log - Firefox 2 / BeOS
Extremetracking - Firefox / BeOS
Motigo - Firefox / BeOS

2. Zeta / NetPositive:

SiteMeter - Netscape 3 / Unknown
Extremetracking - Other / BeOS
OneStat - Netscape 3 / Other

Exalead Boost for Konqueror

2009-08-09T09:36:00.000-07:00

I like Opera best.....but I'm also fond of Konqueror - although I find the fact Konqueror is only available on KDE detracts from its apeal, as does being identified as Netscape by OneStat. I have now found a way to use Opera on whichever OS you chose, and still boost Konquerors usage at the same time!

I have used Exalead search on and off for a while. I have also noticed that many Konqueror hits come from France. Eventually, the penny dropped tc-gw.exabot.com, using Linux/Konqueror, is the Exalead bot collecting the preview images when you search using Exalead. Thus, browse with Opera, search with Exalead, increases the hit level for both browsers!

extremetracking.comn Now Recognises Opera Mini

2009-07-02T15:05:00.000-07:00

A new month a new improved Extreme Tracking. Extreme Tracking used to count Opera Mini as Opera 9, but now it is recognised as Opera Mini. Also, Opera 10 now has the Opera Logo, for some reason it was shown without a logo.

Microsoft - More Anti-Competitive Practices

2009-06-14T02:16:00.000-07:00

Microsoft using its position to stifle competition again? The MSi u114 netbook has hybrid storage (HDD and SSD), hence you could have the installed Windows XP on one, and the purchaser could put Linux on the other. Microsoft is demanding that MSi withdraw the machine by the end of June. Microsoft has virtually killed off linux on the netbook, a computer format that only exists because Linux made it possible, yet Microsoft still is not happy that there is still a little potential competition.

Update

Apricot Picobook Pro netbook

2009-04-13T07:31:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I took delivery of an Apricot Picobook Pro netbook. I bought this computer as a device for occasional use away from the home, i.e. quick e-mail check when camping etc. At home I have several desktops, which are mainly salvaged machines, but they serve me adequately. Hence, I opted for this portable 8.9" machine, with reasonable specs.

Installing Opera.

The first thing I do with any computer, whose operating system does not already include it, is to install Opera (my favourite web browser). Flash (9 r124) and Java work straight from the box. I loaded up Firefox, and downloaded Opera 9.64. I tried to install Opera but the program manager would not work. I then had to register SUSE Linux Enterprise with Novel, before I could get on with adapting the machine to my liking. I have installed Open Suse on a machine for a friend, and found Novels almost proprietary software registration annoying. The range of software included is good, and it did not need a lot of supplementation.

Day To Day Usage.

At first I found the mouse pad and keys difficult to use because I am not used to laptop use, but they became practical. The keyboard is small but works, and I do not find it to hard to use even with my large hands. Using a USB mouse alleviates any problems. The wifi search seems to find wireless networks without any problem. Everything works well, with the exception of the webcam which does not seem to have any software – I'll sort that out someday. Boots up, closes down without any crashes in-between. I did have one question, which I guessed the answer too, but e-mailed Apricot support rather than work it out – they replied within the day. Although there is not a CD drive my USB CD drive allows me to play cds and boot up with other live distros (runs great with Puppy Pups). Battery life about three hours constant surfing.

Never having had a netbook before it has found new uses I had not expected. The other day it was a photo album which was passed around relatives, just as you would with a hard copy album. Although I have not used it yet, the SD card reader is a nice addition to the Pico.

All in all the Suse based Apricot Picobook Pro netbook/sub laptop is a practical portable machine which is well built and well worth its purchase price.

PS I have been using it with a USB keyboard and VGA connector / standard CRT monitor, and the Via chip works plenty fast enough for day to day desktop computing.

Nintendo DSi Browser

2009-03-08T04:43:00.000-07:00

I have always liked the idea of browsing on the Nintendo DS, alas the browsing experience on the DS Lite was not brilliant, and so ours was hardly used, even though it was quite an expensive add on. The browser was slow, crashed our router, and often just refused to load.

On the 3rd of April the DSi will be released in the UK. The DSi comes with a version of Opera already installed. This is good because as an integral part of the machine it means that Nintindo have had to take the browsing experience more seriously. This article talks about the development of the DSi browser.

Hopefully this time browsing on the DS will be the joy it should have always been.

New Counter - ShinyStat

2009-03-07T06:35:00.000-08:00

I have always like the look of the ShinyStat counter - although it does seem a little awkard to get detailed information (once the icon has been clicked, you need to click the "Visits+" icon to get additional information). In the free version you get:

Page views
Visits per hour
Visits per week
Browser
Operating systems
Colors/Resolutions
Total referrer
Search engines
Search keywords
Sites
Countries

Additional options are available with paid versions.

ShinyStat certainly looks good, over time I'll see how it performs.

First Person Surfed in via a Search Engine

2009-02-27T13:09:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday the first person to arrive at this blog via a search engine dropped in - details from ExtreameTracking (browser is Opera 10, but extreme do not log Opera 10 yet):

Visitor 189-54-242-210-nd.cpe.vivax.com.br IP Address 189.54.242.210
Date 25 Feb, Wed, 22:04:53 Net Speed Cable/DSL
Organization Vivax S/A Browser Other/Unknown
Continent South America Operating System Windows Vista
Country Brazil Screen Resolution 1280x1024
State / Region Sao Paulo Screen Color 32 Bit (16.7M)
City São José Dos Campos Javascript Enabled

Referrer http://www.google.com/search?hl=pt-BR&client=opera&rls=en&hs=G8R&q=comparative+%22opera+10%22+x+firefox+3+x+IE+8&btnG=Pesquisar&lr=
Search Engine Google
Keywords comparative, opera, firefox

I had been wondering how long it would take to be found via Google. A month and 4 days, about what I'd expected, but I was not expecting the virst search engine visitor to come from Brazil. The web if very definately world wide.

Does Anyone Still Use Galeon?

2009-02-21T08:27:00.001-08:00

Does Anyone Still Use Galeon? I came across this question recently. On reflection I think it could be better reworded as, does anyone still measure Galeon usage?

To test this I opened this blog with Galeon 2.0.2, and Ubuntu.

Only Extremetracking correctly identified Galeon, the rest stated that it was Firefox 2. Even Bravenet which lists Galeon on its browser page got it wrong.

Browser miss-identification is a factor which can put me of a browser. You take the trouble to patronise something, and then its counted as something else. That's pointless. If you voted Labour and your vote was given to the Conservatives (or vice versa) that would be upsetting.

Related to Galeons usage, or not, I find the Ubuntu program manager star rating for programmes popularity annoying. It gives Galeon as 4 stars (5 stars is the most popular), but Opera as 1 star. You are not telling me that more Ubuntu users use Galeon than Opera, and greatly so.

My First Use of Chrome

2009-02-20T10:29:00.000-08:00

I tend to collect browsers, but have not used Chrome because Google did not see fit to release a nix version. However, I was passing our local T-Mobile shop and noticed their demo Think Pad had Chrome installed, so I decided to give it a spin.

Opened up this blog, fine, clicked a link, and then it froze.

Obviously with this omen Chrome is not intended to be my new browser!

Microsoft having to make an effort?

2009-02-14T07:48:00.000-08:00

I read the BBC article "Microsoft to launch retail chain".

Quotes:

The stores will also promote new operating system Windows 7 and updates of Windows Live and Windows Mobile.

The company plans to sell computers installed with Microsoft software....

Buying a computer without Microsoft software is not easy. So why launch these shops?

To me it seams that Microsoft has not had to try for so many years, if you wanted a computer then it would run Microsoft or Microsoft. Now there are viable alternatives developing (especially Apple and Linux / open-source) and Microsoft is starting to feel vulnerable. So at last Microsoft is having to make an effort to sell its products, rather than users just being stuck with them, and their shoddy support.

All Counting The Same Site!

2009-02-09T10:57:00.000-08:00

What are the counters are saying today (clumerative available percentages to date):

BraveNet (added yesterday):

Browser -

Mozilla 53.13 %

Internet Explorer 6.x 12.01 %

Safari 20.23 %

Unknown Browser 14.47 %

Internet Explorer 0.16 %

OS -

Windows XP 61.02 %

Windows NT 20.72%

Linux 7.40 %
Free BSD 6.74 %
Mac OS X 4.11 %

OneStat:

Browser -

Opera 94.48%
Other 3.87%
Search engine crawlers 0.55%
Internet Explorer 0.55%
Mozilla 0.5

OS -

Unix 56.91%
Linux 35.91%
Other 5.52%
Windows 1.66%

BelStats:

Browser -

Opera 8.5 85.71%
Opera 9.0 14.29%

OS -

FreeBSD 85.71%
WinVista 14.29%

SiteMeter:

Browser -

Opera 9x 43%

Firefox 1x 30%

IE 7x 14%

Opera 8x 6%

Safari 6%

IE 8x 1%

OS -

Win XP 32.6%

Free BSD 29.5%

Linux UNIX 14.7%

Win NT 8.4%

Mac OS X 7.4%

Unknown 6.3%

Win VISTA 1.1%

StatCounter:

Firefox 3.0 44.60%
Opera 9.6 14.20%
Safari 3.2 13.60%
IE 7.0 11.40%
Chrome 1.0 9.80%
Opera 9.5 3.80%
Wii Web Browser 0 1.00%
Opera 8.5 0.60%
Firefox 2.0 0.40%
IE 8.0 0.20%
Safari 3.1 0.20%

Firefox 1.5 0.20%

OS -

WinXP 57.80%
WinVista 19.40%
Linux 11.00%
FreeBSD 7.60%
MacOSX 3.20%
Nintendo 1.00%

GoStats:

Only gives daily values, custom periods is a paid for feature.

24Log:

Browser -

Opera 9 44.00%
Firefox 3 24.00%
Internet Explorer 7 12.00%
Opera 8 8.00%
Safari 4 4.00%
Firefox 2 2.00%
Internet Explorer 6 2.00%
Internet Explorer 1.00%
AOL Browser 1.00%
Google Chrome 1.00%
Firefox 1.5 1.00%

OS -

Windows XP 33.00%
FreeBSD 26.00%
Linux 18.00%
Windows Vista 11.00%
Other 7.00%
Mac OS X 5.00%

Extreme Tracking:

Browser -

Opera 9 36.96%
Firefox 3 36.30%
Safari 8.91%
MSIE 7 7.59%
Opera 8 3.96%
Chrome 1 1.98%
Other/Unknown 1.65%
Firefox 2 0.66%
MSIE 6 0.66%
Firefox 1.5 0.33%
AOL 0.33%
Safari 3 0.33%
MSIE 8 0.33%

OS -

Windows XP 39.60%
FreeBSD 29.04%
Windows Vista 13.86%
Linux 9.57%
Mac OS X 4.29%
Nintendo Wii 2.64%
Other/Unknown 0.99%

Motigo:

Browser -

Opera 9.x 74.4 %
Safari 3.x 25.6 %

OS -

FreeBSD 53.5 %
Windows XP 25.6 %
Linux 20.9 %

Visit by a Google Bot

2009-02-08T01:30:00.001-08:00

A few days ago I had a visit from a GoogleBot. Even with all the counters on this site I almost missed this event!!!

So how was this visit reported?

Onestat:

Date & time: Feb/05 8:28 AM IP address: 66.249.67.152
Country: United States City: Mountain View
Organisation: Google Inc
Referring url: bookmark

StatCounter:

GoogleBot Image

This event went completely unnoticed by the rest:

BelStats, SiteMeter, GoStats, 24Log, ExtremeTracking, and Montigo

Net Applications Market Share January 2009.

2009-02-01T01:52:00.000-08:00

Net Applications Market Share monthly figures for internet usage in January are available.

Browsers: Regarding Decembers figures Net Applications warn: "IMPORTANT: The December holiday season strongly favored residential over business usage. This in turn increases the relative usage share of Mac, Firefox, Safari and other products that have relatively high residential usage.

Therefore, all December usage statistics should be read in that context."

However, there has not been the decline in "alternative" browsers you would expect to see. Internet Explorer has shown a small decline of 0.5% usage to 67.65%. Firefox and Chrome have risen slightly, 0.14% to 21.48%, and 0.07% to 1.11% respectively. Opera fell slightly, 0.01% to 0.70%. Safari saw the biggest growth of the month, with a 0.32% increase to 8.25%.

Opera 10 has appeared for the first time under browser versions, with a share of 0.02%. This may contribute towards the slight dip in Operas percentage as many internet usage counters do not yet count Opera 10.

Operating Systems: Windows saw a decline in share of 0.37%, giving it a total of 88.31% of global internet usage. Windows decline was been Apples gain, with Mac usage increasing 0.27% to 9.90%, and iPhone usage increasing 0.04% to 0.48%. Linux usage also declined slightly, 0.03% down to 0.82%. There was very little change with other operating systems.

Identification of Opera 10

2009-01-31T09:08:00.000-08:00

On the 4th December Opera launched the first alpha of Opera 10.

A month later I have opened this blog using Opera 10 / Kiwi Linux to see how each counter reports this.

OneStat: Other / Linux

SiteMeter: Default 10.00 Opera/10.00 (X11; Linux i586 ; U; en) Presto/2.2.0 (This visit does not count against total browser numbers, Opera 10 is obviously not among SiteMeters known browsers).

StatCounter: Opera 10 / Linux.

GoStats: Opera 10 / Linux.

log24: Opera / Linux (Log24 lists Opera 9 as Opera 9).

eXTReMEtracking: Other / Linux.

Motigo: Opera 10 / Linux.

So full marks to: Motigo, GoStats, and, StatCounter, plus a commendable result for log24.

This test shows either the flexibility of a counter, i.e. being able to create a new variant from the information given, or that the counter is maintained efficiently, with new variants being added soon after release.

Steve' Stats

2009-01-24T11:39:00.000-08:00

I have used the Opera browser and various operating systems for a number of years. This has encouraged me to take an interest in the stat counters found on web sites I visit.

What I find interesting is how various counters count internet usage in very different ways, and come up with differing results. Hence, I decided to set up this site to compare the results produced on a single site, and possibly guide others to the counter/counters most suited to their needs.