[tomboy-list] Collecting usage data

[Raymond]

I sincerely hope I did not offend anyone with my opinion on this
question. If I did, I wholeheartedly apologize.

Although I don't like the prospect of anon data collection entering into
an application I really enjoy and that 
ranks in the top 6-7 in usage on my machine, I wouldn't stop using it
only because of it... nor would I be 
offended by any decision to go ahead with implementing it. I mean
really... only joined this list last week, so 
I feel honoured that people are actually responding to my opinion at
all.

:)

Ray

PS: I've been known for blowing things out of proportions from time to
time. Heads up?? :)

On Wed, 2007-06-20 at 15:39 -0500, Steve Deobald wrote:

> 
> 
> 
> 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
> 

Raymond Auge <rauge at liferay.com>
Software Engineer
Liferay, Inc.
Enterprise. Open Source. For Life.


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