[tomboy-list] Collecting usage data

[Steve Deobald]

On 6/20/07, Raymond <rayauge at doublebite.com> wrote:
>
>
> "Other" "anonymous" users are satisfied with the existing product or are
> not using it at all. When one of
> these "other" users sees a product taking a direction which they dislike,
> they do one of two things:
>
> - they complain (which is good and means they have become of the first
> type of user, those who speak up)
> - they leave (these are the unsatisfiable users who wouldn't allow or
> submit anon usage data anyway).
>

Sorry, but I don't think these broad generalizations often stand up in
reality. I can easily put myself in one category or the other based on my
behavior at any given minute of any given day. I complain, I compliment, I
write bug reports. But I also vote with my feet. Frankly, I'd kill for
anonymous usage statistics for all the applications I use on a regular
basis.


I personally think that this is evil except in the most complex
> situations... in this particular situation, being
> that tomboy is not widely used (this is not in anyway a knock on it's
> value), and I'm talking orders of
> magnitude in comparison with other applications, I would consider it "not
> ok" to collect usage data.
>

What would make collecting anonymous usage data "ok"? Wider use? Is it "ok"
for Apple to collect usage data on iTunes because it is widely used, by most
definitions? What are the definitions surrounding Tomboy's usage? Linux
users? All computer users? Power users?

On the issue of "evilness," it would seem one first has to identify emotion
toward the collection of usage data in general. Personally, without
guaranteed anonymity, this makes me uncomfortable. The fact that Tomboy is
open source guarantees this anonymity, which makes the proposal sound like a
good idea. Couple this with the ability to opt out, and I'd go out of my way
to support collecting anonymous usage data.

"Out of my way," of course, is relative. But I would certainly install a
plugin, at the very least.

If anyone knows of any open source projects which accomplish this task
already, please ping me off the list. We're actually looking for just such a
project to help with / start in the office.

Cheers,
-steve
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