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Are there available any usage share statistics across all Ubuntu releases?

I'm asking in regards to Google Chrome no more providing updates for Ubuntu 12.04 starting in early March 2016. According to comment #5 in Chromium Issue 580892, usage of Ubuntu 12.04 is extremely low:

Yes, it is unfortunate to drop support earlier than the distro release's EOL. We did make a conscious decision to drop support:

  • Usage of Ubuntu 12.04 is extremely low.
  • Remaining Ubuntu 12.04 users are free to upgrade to Ubuntu 14.04.
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It's too difficult to get a precise (get it?) statistic about Ubuntu (and generally all Linux distributions) usage. That's because it's redistributable (you can install your Ubuntu copy in any computer you want) and most users manually install it instead of buying a computer with Ubuntu preinstalled.

There are a few projects dedicated to counting the amount of Linux users around the world, such as linuxcounter.net, but the numbers are not very reliable.

Chrome developers probably got the "low 12.04 usage" affirmation because the Precise Pangolin is aging (4 years flew in light speed) and they probably have some kind of engine for counting the number of downloads in each operating system.

You can take a look at this Wikipedia page, but again, have in mind that actual numbers are very difficult to reach:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_adoption

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  • Hehe thanks for considering my answer trusty XD
    – Eduardo Cola
    Feb 21, 2016 at 22:10
  • Just being xenial ;-)
    – Elder Geek
    Feb 21, 2016 at 22:11
  • From your "Linux adoption" wiki link I've found a follow link to GendUbuntu 12.04 which was deployed in France to 65,000 machines in 2014. So it's not so long ago. I also use personally 12.04 and in one big company I know 12.04 is the main Linux distribution supported. I have a feeling that some Chrome devs just invented the "extremely low usage" for their convenience.
    – Czarek Tomczak
    Feb 22, 2016 at 7:06

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