Re: How Linux (and Debian) compare?
Dear friends,
> > It'd be interesting to know how many active Debian systems there are out
> > there!
>
> Me too. There was some discussion on debian-private a few months ago
> about writing a package that would collect stats about the systems
> it was installed on - and send them via e-mail to a central server that
> would summarize them. Of primary interest would be what packages were
> installed. It might be nice to collect info on the number of users,
> and what types of hardware is being used.
>
> Of course, there is some danger in doing this. In particular, the
> information could be used to detect security vulnerabilities (I'm
> going to have to address this with dwww too).
>
> There is also the confidentiality aspect: I wouldn't want the information
> published in a raw non-summarized format - since that might be used
> by commercial types to target me in some marketing database.
>
> A "dfeedback" package would be a nice little project for someone to
> tackle, if they are comfortable with the issues. Having some statistics
> would definitely make it easier for people to make business decisions
> related to Debian products and marketing. I'm also interested in seeing
> how many people have dwww installed. :-)
I'd be careful on the way you do this. I too wouldn't mind knowing how
many ppl use Debian but I would certainly not like emails to be sent with
details of what I have installed on my system (specially if I do not know
they are being sent and what info is being sent).
An alternative would be to have a registration package that would allow
those who *wish* to register to do so easily and as securely as possible.
Just a thought...
Dave
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