Linux has become omnipresent. It's presence is so deep that a user may not even know that he/she is in-fact using Linux, the kernel. The GNU combined operating systems do give Linux its identity.
 
In recent times some GNU/Linux based products have become overly popular. Looking at Google trends, you will get an idea about what terms are more popular on Google -- which means what are people looking for.
 
We looked for a comparison between 'mother' Linux and grandson Ubuntu and newly born Android. You can very clearly see that queries for Linux have come down recently as Ubuntu picked up.
 

 
The most interesting aspect is the rise of Android in 2010. It is not only beating (in terms of search queries) Linux and Ubuntu, but is heading towards a steep climb.
 
What does it mean? Android today powers most smart phones. New user are looking for various information around Android.

Seasoned Linux and Ubuntu users do know where to look for right information -- notably mailing lists and forums, thus they do not generate generic Google queries. That's my best guess. 
 
That doesn't mean 'decline' of Linux's popularity at all. The fact is, despite being based on Linux these OSes have created their own identity, thus instead of querying for Linux, users look for specific OSes.
 
In fact Android is a great boon for Linux. The gaining popularity washes off the myth long established by proprietary companies that Linux is blunt and complicated.
 
In the desktop segment, Ubuntu has beaten the queries for once favorite Fedora. Fedora now gets less than half the queries of Ubuntu.

 
Ubuntu is doing a decent job on desktop, but it has seemingly missed the tablet bus. Android is Linux' salesman in these segments.
 
Mark Shuttleworth, needs to do more that polishing sound notifications. One of the major issues with Ubuntu is its focus on the next release. Once a version is out no one at canonical cares about it other than security patches. 
 
Things which used to work well with previous releases break with current ones. My iBall Tablet used to work fine with 9.10, but 10.04 has broken it and the issue is pending unsolved for months now.  Hope Ubuntu will pull up its socks.
 
Now, if we look at trends from India. We notice that India still generates decent queries for Linux, but is missing in queries pointed directly at Ubuntu. Indonesia, Russian Fedration  and Europen countries seem more curious about Ubuntu. In case of Android, Indians seems to be looking for information related to Android.

 
USA which doesn't generate much Linux queries comes into picture, next to Russian Federation, when it comes to Android queries. Overall, Asia generates more Android queries than the rest of the world.

So, what does it all mean in the end? It means Linux is to computing what plastic is to modern society -- it's omnipresent.

  Follow Muktware editor Swapnil Bhartiya on Google Plus.