On Thu, Dec 30, 2010 at 2:21 PM, Martin Owens
<doctormo@...400...> wrote:
On Wed, 2010-12-29 at 15:47 -0800, Leo Jackson wrote:
> You're right about the need for more information on how to source
> Inkscape; I don't believe you're at all right about starting with the
> text on the front page. What it says is correct. The modifications
> only need to take place on the download page.
This is terrible! what you ask is that user count be taken as more
important than community. Which is sad.
The point of the front page of the website is to focus on what will help people - in particular new users - the most. The fact that some people may like Linux more than Windows shouldn't come into it at all; it should be almost purely marketing. And I think the largest sample set of the people who we are appealing to are using Windows. (I'd like usage statistics for Inkscape and the website, but we don't have them, so this is merely belief; I'm not certain of the actual facts.) I don't care whether Linux may be seen as "community". When something is put as "Windows, Mac OS X and Linux" I see that as the normal way of putting it. "Linux, Windows and Mac OS X" would grab attention - in most people in a negative way. Ordering based on market share is simply the sensible way to do it.
The problem with the rest of your disagreement is that while they may be
what everyone thinks, it's horrible marketing and it's hurting free
software adoption. There just isn't any thought in how to present or
help with adoption so we end up hurting our users with it.
How is it horrible marketing? How does it hurt free software adoption? My argument was that it would be likely to detract from Inkscape, and make people less likely to do it. Simply because Linux is first won't make people want to try Linux, whereas having Linux first may well make Windows users (maybe some OS X users too) not try Inkscape.
Ubuntu isn't recognized as Linux by a significant set of Ubuntu users.
It's only recognized as Linux by Linux recognizing people. you may be
under the misunderstanding that Linux is recognised because you yourself
recognise it. :-(
The simple fact is that whether Ubuntu is recognised as Linux or not, it would be inaccurate and misleading to mention it by itself (to say nothing of reducing the literary value of the sentence significantly), while putting "GNU/Linux Free Desktops" in that sentence is simply cloying (and wouldn't help with the issue anyway - it would just confuse most people). If we mention operating systems in there at all (which I think we should), "Windows, Mac OS X and Linux" is, I believe, approximately the only decent way of putting it.
-- Chris