Welcome to the lastest Edwin digest, where we focus on Edwins latest roundup of a number found in a report regarding the number of workstations sold.
The semi-annual JPR Workstation Report found that 830 million workstations were shipped in the first half of 2004. Out of that number, PC-derived workstations accounted for approximately 92 percent of units and 84 percent of revenue.Edwin
Now, this quote claims that there was 830 million workstations (i.e. not PCs) sold in the first half of 2004 (i.e. in 6 months). Clearly this number is totally bogus, and when told so, Edwin prevailed and defended the number, or rather said that in order to "prove" (as if it needed to be disproved) it wrong, we would have to come up with a counter-reference. Merely referencing logic will not do for Edwin.
How many is 830 million workstations?
According to the International Programs Center, U.S. Bureau of the Census, the total population of the World, projected to 2/22/05 at 23:52:06 GMT (2/22/05 at 6:52:06 PM EST) is 6,420,413,288
Now, this next part might be hard for you, but try and follow along:
6,420,413,288 / 830,000,000 = 7.735,
or -- just as I said -- 1 workstation for every 8 people (rounded to the nearest whole number) on Earth. Adults, children, living in poverty Africa... ...whatever.Alan Baker
30% of the Earth's population is age 14 and under and another 7% is age 65 plus (source: Population Reference Bureau's 2004 World Population Data Sheet), but you seem to think it sensible for there to have been a workstation sold for every 2.5 people on Earth, age 15 to 64? That's SOLD in 2004. Even as a figure for workstations in *use* it's obviously ludicrous. Roughly half of the Earth's population lives in urban environments (48%, actually), so now we're looking at 1.2 billion people as the potential market for workstations. Do you see such workstations everywhere, Edwin. Because you would; brand new workstations for every urban adult in the entire world.Alan Baker
Edwin clearly states that his personal belief aren't important
You're not going to get to shift this topic from your failure to document workstation sales to talking about my personal beliefs.Edwin
So how come this erroneous number snuck into an editorial piece like that? Well, it seems to a be a widely misquoted number, :these sites have quoted the exact same story in the exact same erroneous way.
So, apart from relying on actual logic, do we know that this number isn't what the report found (i.e. that it isn't a misquote, but rather a misprint in the report)? Well, we could always link to the actual original report. As it is, the Jon Peddie Report (JPR) summary is actually available here, on the original site. Where it clearly says 830,000 - Ooops! And I think Alan Baker said it best
Here we go again with you defending an utterly idiotic position to your last breath. At which point, you'll finally admit you're wrong with extreme bad grace, *JUST LIKE ALWAYS*!Alan Baker