Re: The number of etch installations is rocketing...
On Thu, Apr 12, 2007 at 01:13:55PM +0200, Thijs Kinkhorst wrote:
> On Thu, 2007-04-12 at 05:29 -0400, Joey Hess wrote:
> > I wonder if it would be reasonable to make d-i hit one of two urls
> > depending on whether the user chose to enable popcon, and count the
> > results.
>
> Since there are some potential drawbacks to this functionality, what
> concrete gain would the project have for collecting that information?
As suggested by a Linux.com article about what Fedora did[1], you can
use it to be more convincing towards others. For example, when trying to
convince a software supplier to change license terms to be DFSG-free,
it will sound more convincing if we can actually give some better
estimate on how many users Debian has than "eh, no idea actually".
To quote the article:
| The metrics gleaned from Fedora's data collection amount to more than
| just a chance for developers to pat themselves on the back, however.
| They also provide the opportunity to show the growing number of Linux
| users within the computing community which, in turn, may goose hardware
| vendors into offering more Linux-friendly goods and services.
|
| "This provides objective data that helps prove Linux is growing and it
| helps build a case for Linux in general" says Spevack. "Also, we always
| say we wish hardware vendors had more [Linux-capable] drivers. Well, if
| you can go to them and say, 'Hey, there's millions of people using
| this,' then maybe they will listen. In the real world, you need data to
| prove your case. Well, here it is."
--Jeroen
[1] http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=07/01/15/2137215
--
Jeroen van Wolffelaar
Jeroen@wolffelaar.nl (also for Jabber & MSN; ICQ: 33944357)
http://Jeroen.A-Eskwadraat.nl
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