On Thu, 2001-12-20 at 11:20, Lutz, Tom wrote: > I know that we're not missing the main idea but I can't resist... > > What do we think the main populace of Bible software users (basic or > advanced) will be working on, Windows of Linux? Clearly, today, it's > Windows. I don't see this changing too much in the near future and wouldn't > develop for something other than Windows for Bible software because of it. > > How to reach the most people: go where they are and today that's Windows. > > > Tom > >
Note: I'm not sure if this is on topic or not. I think it is, therefore I am sending it. Please forgive my mistake if not. Interesting logic, which I hear a lot. But it is slightly flawed. While most computer users are Windoze users, they are trained to think commercial software is the best (and only) solution to their needs. Few think of any Open Source application as something they could use for "real" work. So the majority of Open Source software users are going to be Linux. So I'm guessing that the predominant Sword user is of the Linux persuasion. You also make the assumption that Open Source developers are going to develop for a target platform because it's the most popular on the market. Which is a commercial software mentality. But doesn't quite work here. Most Open Source developers are going to contribute to the platform which they use. Again, this favors Linux. Most Windoze developers (that I know, anyway) don't understand Open Source, even fewer yet actually contribute. Granted the goal of Sword is to distribute free Bible software to anyone. But given the current mentality of "most" users about Open Source, I don't think it has hit main stream yet. And I am not sure it will until the common user understands the value of Open Source in general, and Sword in specific. About the only caveat which I have experienced is in regards to Java. There are a large number of Java developers that contribute to Open Source projects such as Apache. A large number of them also work on a Windoze platform. This is the one area (other than Sword) in which I have seen the two philosophies (seem to) work in unison. But of course Java in and of itself breeds a whole new mentality: "platform independence". So your implication that Sword should be focusing it's development efforts on it's largest audience is correct (if it had control over that aspect). But the assumption that that platform in Windoze is (I believe) inaccurate. Actually, it would be interesting learn the actual stats. Does anyone know the percentages of the platforms that visit Crosswire, download Sword, its UIs, and/ modules? I'd be willing to parse through the log files if needed. /mike -- ****************************************** Mike Dougherty -- Java Software Engineer ****************************************** Overdrawn? But I still have checks left!
