• RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works
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      8 months ago

      Too lazy to click, but it’s probably browser data. By default pretty much all browsers report OS info while browsing.

      The intent is to ensure compatibility with the sites, and it’s also used to push relevant info to the front, e.g., going to the “download” page and having the first download link be a .deb instead of .exe.

      It’s unfortunately also used as part of the data collected for browser “fingerprinting” so it can be a touchy subject and may get spoofed by some users, leading to erroneous data, but in aggregate it can be used to give a general sense of OS and browser market share for studies like this.

    • muhyb@programming.dev
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      8 months ago

      They detect this from browsers, it’s not really accurate. For example, if you’re using LibreWolf, they’ll detect you as Windows 10.

      • laurelraven@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        8 months ago

        Which just means the real number is likely higher since Windows browsers are almost certainly not getting counted as Linux

        • nexussapphire@lemm.ee
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          8 months ago

          Probably not. The majority of users use chrome or whatever their os comes with. There are edge cases but it would be the minority that think about privacy and such.

          I’m to lazy to worry about tracking so I install ublock, enable do not track in the settings of Firefox, and call it a day.

          • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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            8 months ago

            It is probably more likely that a Linux users is detected incorrectly, but the percentage of users doing something to cause this is almost certainly small enough to ignore.