Evolution

[Leif Gregory]

On Tue, 29 Jul 2008 05:42:24 -0600
Karl Larsen <k5di at zianet.com> wrote:

>     But are you saying that in the general Ubuntu population use of 
> Evolution is greater than the use of Thunderbird? That makes the
> users of this list weird. And it is not supported by any statistics I
> have seen.

Uhmmmm, no. Don't ever recall saying Evolution is more popular than
anything. Personally I could care less which mailer comes stock with a
*Buntu installs. I use Claws Mail, and even then it has it's
limitations.

Karl, sometimes the statistics are not going to agree with your
hypothesis. This doesn't make them wrong. Other users here have pointed
out sources of statistics for you to evaluate. I'm not saying those
other statistics are right either as I don't know the exact methodology
behind them, but discounting them out of hand just because they don't
agree with what you want to see isn't good science. You could dig into
their methodology and make a case for why their statistics might be
flawed, but until you do that and show why your methodology is more
accurate, most people won't believe you.

>     The other method that gets this result seems to use how often the 
> software is downloaded. This gives Evolution a big edge because it is 
> not downloaded and the number of users are those who didn't download 
> Thunderbird. This has real error built in.

I've always been wary of "downloads" as a measure of use. I download
stuff all the time, play with the app, but I don't always keep it on my
system and use it. Most of my evaluating of software is done in a VM to
keep my day-to-day system clean. If I decide I like an app, then I'll
install it in my day-to-day system.

>     This was started because there are a lot of people wanting to
> remove Evolution and have problems after doing so. It is a real
> problem.

I've got no opinion one way or another on the reasons why you're doing
it. I'm just trying to help you understand that if you're serious about
it, then you need to build a serious methodology.

There's nothing saying you can't take samples from multiple sources,
provide discreet statistics on each of those sources, and then
aggregate statistics on your multiple sources. However, I'd caution
that you ensure transparency in your results so people can determine
how you derived your statistics. 


-- 
Leif Gregory
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