The numbers

alex on 2007/08/31 04:52 of Lazy Susan

System capabilities poll is closed, here's what I can see since this time last year:

20% more Intel dual-core CPUs. Multithread away!
9% more Linux, which is now the majority primary platform (55%). Watch the case in the filenames, people.
9% increase on 2+GHz CPUs and 6% increase on 1+ GB RAM, so don't be afraid of those brute-force algorithms. Though there is a 5% drop in 3+ GHz CPUs (possibly due to the increase in multi-cores).
12% drop in Windows and DirectX users, suggesting that we're seeing a conversion of Windows users, not necessarily attracting more hippie Linux users.
5% drop in PowerPC and Mac OS X usage. Have these people moved to Linux? Given up on gaming? Why didn't they just buy an Intel mac?

To reach the biggest target, you should write for OpenGL (89% supported; I'm guessing most of the other 11% have it but don't realise it) and Linux (85% primary and "also-haves" combined). However, write for the lowest common denominator: only 52% of respondants claim to have any hardware shader support.

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Comments

richard on 2007/08/31 05:47:

Thanks, alex!

BTW, for some other numbers... we now have 158 people signed up in 91 teams (the final count for last comp saw 191 people in 102 teams)

Deathworks on 2007/08/31 09:06:

Hi!

Personally, my Windows XP was on the machine because we bought it from the shelf - which at least here in Germany means, current version of Windows pre-installed.

However, I don't trust M$ enough to go with my own machine online.

If I ever need to get a new computer or want to go privately online, I am determined to go with a Linux-only machine (second, dedicated computer?). I definitely won't let Vista get into my home. But that is all hypothetical at the moment.

Deathworks

Neppord on 2007/08/31 18:18:

oupps where ware that pool?

ironfroggy on 2007/09/02 05:26:

Of course, when you say multithread you mean multiprocess, right?

alex on 2007/09/02 06:01:

ironfroggy: er, yes. Or lobby for a GIL-free Python ;-)

Treeform on 2007/09/02 06:13:

how can people not have shaders now day?

alex on 2007/09/02 06:26:

Based on the bug reports I got from my last Pyweek entry, it seems a lot of people (in this community) use integrated video chips -- ones that do not even provide a complete h/w GL 1.1 implementation, let alone shaders. I'd guess a lot of these are laptops, and also a number of Windows and Linux users never get around to installing real video drivers.

Tee on 2007/09/02 12:01:

ironfroggy: Threads are also run in parallel in dual-core or other parallel machines, aren't they?

malcolmt on 2007/09/02 12:38:

Tee: because of Python's global interpreter lock (GIL), all threads run on a single core or CPU. If you want parallelism, you have to go multi-process.