Re: how many users is enough? (was Re: Debian Installer 7.0 Beta4 release)
On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 9:00 AM, Jon Dowland <jmtd@debian.org> wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 12:39:54AM +0000, Russell L. Harris wrote:
>> > Let's welcome more (I assume we do want more users on our base, don't
>> > we?
>>
>> There needs to be a "critical mass"; but beyond that point, an
>> increase in numbers is not necessarily beneficial.
>
> Agreed for 'mere' users, but another factor is how many users become
> useful contributors. A "conversion rate", if you will. And you can
> compensate for a poor conversion rate, to a certain extent, by having
> more users. I think we have a poor conversion rate in Debian, and not
> enough contributors.
>
We would have more contributors if Debian wasn't so proud of being for
advanced users.
Ubuntu has probably the same "complexity" for a developer, but as they
are more friendly to novices, they have more contributors.
We need to change the view that Debian is just for servers and gurus.
That way, we would have a better, as you say, "conversion rate",
without the need of more users. To have more contributors, I think its
easier to improve the conversion rate than to find more users.
Cheers,
Beco
--
Dr Beco
A.I. researcher
--> . <--
"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it
everyone you love, everyone you know..." (Carl Sagan, 1934-1996)
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