Canonical choose to collect user data to improve Ubuntu

Jun 22, 2018 17:25 GMT  ·  By

Canonical revealed today the initial desktop metrics that it gathered from Ubuntu 18.04 LTS users since the release of the operating system in April 2018.

During the development cycle of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver), Canonical announced that there would be an optional personal and system data collection tool implemented in the operating system to help them improve Ubuntu. Later, closer to the final release, it was revealed that the data collection tool was implemented in an all-new Welcome screen displayed only once after the first boot.

The data collected by Canonical to improve the Ubuntu Linux operating system contained information about Ubuntu flavor used and version, users' setups, installed software, network connectivity, OEM manufacturer, CPU family, RAM, disk size, screen resolution, GPU vendor and model, as well as users' location based on the options they choose during the installation.

These would help Canonical better understand the needs of its users and their hardware setups to make Ubuntu faster and better supported. Canonical said that the data collected will be made public at some point in time, and today the company revealed the first desktop metrics for its Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) operating system, which appears to be used all over the world.

"This data is based on the timezone selected at installation and not on IP address geo-coding. We do not store IP address. The US has the biggest concentration, but this could be skewed by people using the defaults during installation. Brazil, India, China and Russia are also big users of Ubuntu and we have users literally all over the globe in every country," said Will Cooke, Ubuntu Desktop Director.

An average Ubuntu Desktop install takes about 18 minutes

The data collected by Canonical so far during these past two months from those who installed Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) on their computers revealed numerous other interesting facts, such as that an average Ubuntu Desktop install takes about 18 minutes, a quarter of users using Ubuntu 18.04 LTS choose to upgrade from a previous version, 15 percent of users use the newly introduced Minimal Install.

As far as hardware setups go, most users use Ubuntu 18.04 LTS on a computer with a single CPU, though information about CPU cores is yet to be revealed, 4GB or 8GB of RAM, and a Full HD (1080p) display. Also, it appears that most users wipe their disks and reinstall Ubuntu from scratch, download updates during installation, and nstalls the restricted add-ons.

Canonical said that all this information gathered from Ubuntu users remains anonymous and that they plan on implementing it on a public website that will be revealed in the coming months during the development cycle of Ubuntu 18.10 (Cosmic Cuttlefish), which is currently scheduled for release on October 18, 2018. For more information check out the Ubuntu Report Github page.