On 12/1/05, Ian Lynch <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Thu, 2005-12-01 at 19:23 +0800, Jacqueline McNally wrote: > > > I've been trying to think of ways of capturing figures for actual users > > of OpenOffice.org as opposed to how many are distributed, for example, > > no. of downloads. > > The only way I can think of doing it with any certainty would be > registered users. This could be simplified so the user would type in > their own unique code of say 10 random digits and letters that uniquely > identified their installation of OOo. If the code was already used, the > database would come back and say try again. If its quick and simple to > do and the button is visible always on the menu bar so it can be done at > any time, its more likely to happen but still a lot of people probably > wouldn't bother registering.
A series of numbers and letters? "Try Again"? Don't you think that smacks of "Product Activation"? I know the difference. But it's going to look like we're making them register or activative or something. People won't like it. People already complain about the voluntary registration that doesn't require any numbers or anything. It would be nice for the database to come back with "You are the > 10,301,234th registered user, welcome to the OOo community" or > something. There's one program I've used, I don't remember which it is, I think it's Nvu, that the first time you install and open it, it says "Please click here to let our developers know we've got a new user. It's quick, painless, and no personal information will be gathered. You have to be connected to the Internet for this to work." Whether you click "Okay" or "No Thanks" it goes away, and you never see it again. I think it's just like a "Ping" thing. We'd just need to set up a folder or server that would just receive and count the pings. Multiple pings from the same IP could be ignored. I'm pretty sure it's Nvu that does that. You might want to check it out. I've already got it installed on my computer, so it can't check. -- - Chad Smith http://www.gimpshop.net/ Because everyone loves free software!
