El vie, 08-05-2015 a las 16:19 +0000, C R escribió:
If your primary goal is to expand user base, then yes, supporting the os's that most of the planet uses, is a necessary first step. Once everyone knows what Inkscape is, and uses it, you can use the popularity of Inkscape, (faster updates, for example) to push people to Linux. It's too early to push. It's not easy enough to get Linux onto new machines, and it's not worth most people switching just to use Inkscape, because it is not popular enough. Popularity is a measure of success. It is neither shallow, nor simple.
I wonder if there is a real benefit on just expanding the userbase, if that doesn't come with an expansion in the developer-base. A large userbase can only benefit the project if there's a way to convert that userbase in some sort of cash flow to support full-time paid development. If somebody asks for successful free software projects, examples like Blender or Krita come up. However, those projects are successful getting funds for paid development, successful getting the media and the "industry" attention, and succesful integrating to workflows that are not necessarily based on free software. So I think it's a valid question to ask if Blender and Krita are really good examples of successful free software projects. They are indeed sucessful, but as "open source products", in the context of commercial software, within the rules of the market.
It's a tricky subject, because having programs as technically advanced as Blender or Krita makes free software platforms more appealing to users, but they are not necessarily successful bringing more people to free software operating systems.
For that reason, I don't think that having a large userbase should be among the goals of any free software project. The goal should be achieving technical excellence and giving users powerful tools alone. If you have that and the program happens to be both free of charge as free as in speech, putting no restrictions about how you can use and modify it, it won't be difficult to attract a large userbase.
To achieve the goal of technical excellence, power and flexibility, projects need the right people contributing. Good developers, good interaction architects AND good users. Not just lots of users. Advanced users, people who really know what they're doing and what they want to achieve when they use the tools.
Now, let's go back to Blender and Krita and let's see what really made a difference, apart from their apparent success getting funds and attention: They listened to the right people, and made decisions that made the software better. David Revoy switched from GIMP to Krita, and when he did he found a welcoming project that paid attention to his needs as an artist. He has both the skills and the experience to be considered a valuable asset in a project, even if he doesn't write a single line of code. A person like him gives a project credibility, since other artists who respect him as an artist will pay attention to the software. That's the userbase a project has to grow. The guys from Blender did the same, and you can tell by the impressive quality of the art created with Blender lately that serious artists have chosen it.
So, is it really necessary to grow a huge user base for that? I don't think so. Why not hunting the people doing awesome art with Inkscape and ask them about their needs to take decisions about the direction of the project instead? Defining an audience, trying to create the best tool for that audience.
If the tool is compelling enough for serious artists, they might consider switching operating systems if the software is awesome and they can't get it in their OS. Seems unlikely? Think again. That's exactly what people do when they move from Windows to Apple. They make the switch for a number of reasons, but one is definitely that they can get something they can't get in the other platform.
So, imho, there are a number of things that come before growing a massive userbase. And if we are going to use loose terms as "popularity", I'd say "credibility" should come first. Get credibility from top notch users giving them the right tools to satisfy their creative needs, and the rest would come effortlessly.
Gez.