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Date:	Thu, 8 Oct 2015 05:56:49 +0200 (CEST)
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Subject:	Re: [geda-user] GTK3, Glade interface designer (router, auto?)
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On Thu, 8 Oct 2015, Kai-Martin Knaak wrote:

> Peter Stuge (peter AT stuge DOT se) [via geda-user-
> Ht4Cp5ncgjRBDgjK7y7TUQ AT public DOT gmane DOT org] wrote:
>
>> Evan Foss (evanfoss AT gmail DOT com) [via
>> geda-user AT delorie DOT com] wrote:
>
>>>> Remember that the mailing list will only ever represent a very
>>>> small subset of the full userbase.
>
> That's what we like to believe. But what if the full user base is not
> that much larger than the subscriber list of the mailing list? Partly
> serious. Are there any hints to realistic estimates?

I have the same impression.

We either have a lot of users installing from distribution packages 
without trying to seek _any_ contact with us. Or there are really only a 
handful of power users and probably a cuple of dozens "casual" users out 
there (judging subjectively from the mailing list traffic).

Well, I know one user who is using geda (gschem, pcb, but not the 
simulation flows; he used to be on the list, is still using the tools 
weekly, but stuck with an old version). This suggests there might be such 
a "mass" of hidden users.

It's pure speculation, but:

- gschem did not have up to date windows binaries for some time and IIRC 
we didn't have windows installers;

- in the same time major distros kept on having geda/gaf and pcb available 
as packages - not sure about BSD

I'd guess those hidden users are more likely to be Linux (or BSD?) users 
than windows users.

>
>
>>> Yes but it involves a lot of the more serious users.
>>
>> I don't believe that at all.
>>
>> Many on the list are big users, but all big users are not on the
>> list.
>
> It is the classical "silent majority" conundrum. There is no way to
> know what the silent majority is up to. Any argument which refers to
> what the silent majority wants or does not want is inherently weak.

I agree and I think it'd be nice to somehow reach at least a portion of 
those users and query them. If my above speculation is right, the only way 
to them is through distro packages, which makes this harder.

Lately I found a Ruby packaging problem in Debian; I used debbugs to 
report it. I really liked how the whole thing just worked - it was driving 
me through the process, and I did not have to register in some web service 
for a one-time bugreport and it collected a lot of mechanical info (e.g. 
software versions) automatically. Maybe a similar mechanism in gschem 
and pcb (as a GUI menu item or CLI or whatever) could help.

Regards,

Igor2

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