"Using the Popularity Contest package, these two projects collect and post weekly anonymous reports about the software used on each system on which they’re installed. The result is a rare insight into the habits of FOSS users, including how often software is upgraded, what applications are used the most, and the differences between the expert-oriented Debian distribution and the more user-friendly Ubuntu distribution.
"The main purpose of the project is to collect information for installation, so that the most widely used applications can be put on the first CD of an install set, or installed automatically. In Ubuntu's case, the collected information is also used for software ratings in Add/Remove Software."
