Quoting: constYes, they exist and are sold. I know that. Still, people living in certain regions might overestimate their impact.

I agree with that. While I did see some Chromebook adds lately here in Germany, after like a decade (I don't know) of only hearing about them from the US, I still don't think they play an important role here.

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Quoting: CatKiller

Quoting: EikeWhy do you think so?

Because it is.

Wow.

Quoting: CatKillerAs to why it is worse, fitting a curve is explicitly enforcing a particular model on the data. There is no model here; it is simply a record of sampled users over time. Curve-fitting would be wildly inappropriate.

And you don't think developments in real life might be subject to mathematical description?

In my humble opinion, everybody with a bit of a mathematical heart should feel their toe nails roll up on the graphics.

If the linear line is only there to show that the numbers are rising, you could write it next to the curve as well instead: "These numbers are rising." Which would make very clear how much information this actually caries beyond what everybody can see in the actual numbers shown in the graph.

What the linear line is nebulizing is the actual change in trend, somewhere between the announcement and the release of the Steam Deck. Things were constant beforehand. Things went up since then. There's no rise since 2018, there's a rise since 2021.

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Quoting: CatKillerArbitrary curve-fitting is not better in any way - it is much worse.

Why do you think so?

I'm fine with not drawing two linear lines at hand-selected places, because it wouldn't be much better than having a single one, but there should be mathematical ways to find a much better fitting function.

A search dug up this, how about it?
https://tom-alexander.github.io/regression-js/ [External Link]

@Liam, do you have the numbers available computer-readable?

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Quoting: CatKiller

Quoting: EikeBecause the linear approximation systematically overestimates all of the oldest points and underestimates all of the youngest points (except a single one we would attribute to some measurement error, probably located in the far east). The line doesn't fit, and this not in a "jumpy" way (as to be to be expected), but in a systematical way. The curve to be approximated isn't linear, at least not over the whole time.

So we could either try two linear curves, or some curve with a slope (slightly) increasing over time.

It's not a fit to a curve. It's not supposed to be a fit to a curve, and it's not trying to be a fit to a curve. It's a trend line: a line which demonstrates the trend over time.

It fails to demonstrate the actual trend from 2018 to mid-2021 as well as in 2023.

Is there any reason not to look for a better representation than this?

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Quoting: pbOff-topic but it would be really cool if all f2p games had the "free to play" tag automatically applied. I have a dynamic F2P category wherein I have all the games with "free to play" tag, but half of the f2p games are outside of it... Alternatively maybe Valve could add it directly to the filters...

In my humble opinion, there's two totally different kinds of games costing 0 bucks: "Free to play" (we'll charge you in-game) and "Gratis" games. How would they automatically tell one from the other?

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Quoting: Liam Dawe

Quoting: Eike

Quoting: Liam Dawe

Quoting: EikeThe linear approximation to the curve really needs to be split into two parts! (somewhere in 2021?)

... or the software could come up with something non-linear?

Why?

Because the linear approximation systematically overestimates all of the oldest points and underestimates all of the youngest points (except a single one we would attribute to some measurement error, probably located in the far east). The line doesn't fit, and this not in a "jumpy" way (as to be to be expected), but in a systematical way. The curve to be approximated isn't linear, at least not over the whole time.

So we could either try two linear curves, or some curve with a slope (slightly) increasing over time.

Sadly, even the current trend-line is a Chart JS plugin, as it doesn't support trend lines at all.

Maybe I should look for one that does it better...

I try to avoid JS wherever I can :D , but which plugin is it you're using?
(But I guess there's people here with more knowledge in this field than me.)

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Quoting: Liam Dawe

Quoting: EikeThe linear approximation to the curve really needs to be split into two parts! (somewhere in 2021?)

... or the software could come up with something non-linear?

Why?

Because the linear approximation systematically overestimates all of the oldest points and underestimates all of the youngest points (except a single one we would attribute to some measurement error, probably located in the far east). The line doesn't fit, and this not in a "jumpy" way (as to be to be expected), but in a systematical way. The curve to be approximated isn't linear, at least not over the whole time.

So we could either try two linear curves, or some curve with a slope (slightly) increasing over time.

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The linear approximation to the curve really needs to be split into two parts! (somewhere in 2021?)

... or the software could come up with something non-linear?

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Quoting: GuestThe first quote was a meta question, trying to silence others

And that's the problem.

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Quoting: Guest

Quoting: Eike

Quoting: GuestYou have no right to talk about what belongs in the linux community

Quoting: GuestI dont know why you are so mad that people have their own opinions.

>shut up, people with opinions like yours dont belong in the linux community
>under what authority do you tell people where they belong or not?
I rephrased it for you if you didn't get it the first time

I totally understood what you said: You're entitled to an opinion, others (at your choice) are not. The following is enough answer to what you said:

Quoting: GuestI dont know why you are so mad that people have their own opinions.

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