opt-in usage statistics 'phone home' WAS: [PD-dev] BUG: namespace prefixes broken in 0.40

Hans-Christoph Steiner hans at eds.org
Mon Nov 6 00:53:59 CET 2006


On Nov 3, 2006, at 3:54 AM, Tim Blechmann wrote:

>>>> Incidentally, I also think this highlights the need for a poll  
>>>> of the
>>>> Pd list at some point so we can get some idea of what users are  
>>>> using
>>>> what externals, abstraction sets, libraries, etc. I would love  
>>>> to see
>>>> the numbers, and it would probably be useful for Miller to see
>>>> what is
>>>> popular about Pd in a quantifiable scientific way.
>>>
>>> what about an opt-in usage statistics 'phone home'. initng does
>>> this for example.. firefox just does it without even asking..
>>
>> Funny, I was just thinking about something like that.  It would be
>> cool to know how many people are using Pd.  If you code it, I'll
>> include it in Pd-extended.  Then maybe it could make it into devel or
>> MAIN.
>
> this doesn't add any useful functionality for the user and is using  
> the
> means of adware/spyware/activation ...
> it will definitely not make it into devel as long i still have a write
> access to the cvs ...

Do you think we do this because we have a secret desire to be big  
brother?  The whole point would be to improve the user experience.   
If we know what people are using, then we can better target our  
limited resources.

I am completely aware of the privacy issues.  Doing this in an open- 
source way helps that a lot.  I don't think anyone wants to track  
people.  But there are well established ways of getting such data in  
an anonymous way.  Plus I think that we would actually increase  
people's privacy by creating real working models of anonymous data  
gathering that people can point to when large corporations and  
governments say that it can't be done.

.hc

------------------------------------------------------------------------

If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of  
exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an  
idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps  
it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into  
the possession of everyone, and the receiver cannot dispossess  
himself of it.            - Thomas Jefferson






More information about the Pd-dev mailing list