Open source devotees aren’t quite as addicted to Apple as other people online, but they still use Apple overwhelmingly over other products and systems.
Web application developer Eldarion (www.eldarion.com) conducted an online survey of people who use and contribute to open source, people who use open source but don’t contribute to it, and people who neither contribute nor (knowingly) use open source. 132 people responded to the survey in March and April 2015.
° Nearly three out of four (73%) open source contributors use at least some Apple products.
° The majority of open source contributors (65%) use OS X as their main operating system, with 22% using Linux and 8% using Microsoft Windows.
° More than one in two (57%) open source contributors surveyed use the iPhone, while 38% use an Android phone.
° The top reason given by open source contributors for choosing Apple was “I like the ecosystem” (33%), followed by “dependability” (30%), “better than Microsoft (21%), and “other” (16%).
° For the minority of open source contributors who avoid Apple entirely, the top reason given was “ no quote because Apple is the antithesis of open source” (50%), followed by “ no quote it’s overpriced and not worth the money” (31%), “it’s so cool it’s uncool” (13%), and “other” (6%).
“Our online survey revealed some illuminating insights,” says James Tauber, CEO of Eldarion. “By and large, the open source community is composed of intelligent, independent-minded thinkers who are also pragmatists. It’s no surprise that a diversity of opinions were reflected in our survey. The OSS community might like to gripe about Apple, but the fact remains that most of us still rely on Apple because we value what the company offers.”
