The Distrowatch numbers are probably influenced with users that are testing new features as last 30 days, that capture new 10.2 downloads, show. Second fact for high number of Ubuntu downloads might be fact that they offer Live CD and many people trying linux will rather keep their system untouched.
It would be interesting to know how Distrowatch collects it's downloads statistics. I could just be click throughs or downloads from the 'watch page which may or may not be complete or even close to accurate.
It is interesting that Knoppix, IMHO by far better live CD, is not more popular. This is possible with Knoppix too, but than you are on your own for updates from Debian.
Pre-Ubuntu, Knoppix was the LiveCD of choice and there were many customized versions available that were based Knoppix. But since Ubuntu, such activity has significantly slowed and it appears that its community has shrunk. The long promised Knoppix 5.1 was just released today and I will be very curious to see how it performs. 5.01 was a bit on the slow side in performance.
It seems that many go for a solution that is Live CD, but offers installation and support.
Having a live CD is nice to see how well a distribution will run on a particular computer but the rubber doesn't hit the road until you install it. In my LUG, I have seen many times, including Knoppix, where the distro would run "Live" but not install and run without some significant tweaking. My two cents worth. Clint openSuSE 10.1, Registered Linux User #253140 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org