On Feb 12, 2012, at 1:49 AM, Josh Andler wrote:
On Sat, Feb 11, 2012 at 9:51 PM, Jon A. Cruz <jon@...18...> wrote:
On Sat, 2012-02-11 at 18:45 -0800, Josh Andler wrote:
A majority of our users aren't on OSX. It's not mathematically possible to get the most user benefit from targeting the number 3 group of users explicitly. I'm not saying it isn't important to address, but definitely not something that necessarily needs any more priority than addressing Windows users needs.
Ah, this was one issue that I thought needed to be called out explicitly.
We have far fewer users on OSX precisely because we are not native. We also have a much larger natural target user base on OSX because of the general perception of appropriateness for artistic work.
Yes, they tend to be snobs.
Sorry you're having such a bad day. Insulting a small but not insignificant (I suspect) user group will certainly do wonders for 'sales' and participation.
We have far fewer users on OSX because they expect perfection 100% of the time.
Acknowledging (and agreeing with) your rousing endorsement of OSX (100% perfection - wow), I think that one problem not unique to Inkscape is that most OSX users just don't have the slightest interest in how their systems function - as most of us that subscribe to this board probably do - they just want things to work simply and reliably, to look good, and to use the OSX interface that they have just about learned how to use (X11, what''s that?).
They also as a majority tend to equate spending money to quality.
Not so at all. A popular myth. They just buy what they like. And by and large, the competition isn't catching up very fast. Compare the price of APPL and MSFT.
We could provide the most integrated and most usable product, but free will always taint a good percentage of that crowd.
As a long standing member of 'that crowd' I find this expression of disdain quite inappropriate. If there was an OSX native version of Inkscape that worked well most of the time it would be immensely popular. I use Inkscape exclusively for my modest graphics needs. It's a brilliant application and I can't imagine needing anything more capable. But I have to mentally switch to 'DOS' mode to do it and remember that 'control' is now 'command'. No big deal you say - kinda like going to the UK and remembering to drive on the left - but just that minor aggravation is enough to put off my partner who will only use Inkscape under duress. I'm not a developer in any way, so much of the discussion here goes right over my head. But it seems there are several open source communities that do a decent job of supporting OSX users. GIMP comes to mind. Or NeoOffice. Or QGIS and GRASS. Firefox is pretty popular with OSX users too.
The point is, Inkscape does seem to struggle a bit with OSX. I've tried to participate in some of the packaging efforts of an OSX bundle in the past, and just that is incredibly difficult (for me anyway). I don't have an answer, other than to encourage those of you that make the decisions to at least maintain a steady focus on OSX. There is a big (maybe even wealthy ; ) ) prospective user group out there. I'll do what little I can, but will continue to rely on and be very grateful to those that are making it work as well as it does. You have my greatest admiration! (putting aside the bad-day rants)
Best
Stu
Apple [ ] to OSX in 30+ short years