Re: 0x009 - diappearing word processors

[Roger Dingledine <arma@mit.edu>]

In message <35E2C60D.4A9657AF@iname.com>, pete_st_onge@iname.com writes:
>Hi Folks,
>     I think I owe a bit of an explanation here. I originally removes
>all references to software types because my impression was that we
>wanted to focus on the OS, so that our references to software were more
>general in nature (corporate vs free / share -ware). We have talked in
>the pass about word processors, spreadhseets, and databases (In fact,
>these were the reasons I wanted to be part of the research group in the
>first place :-)
>     Now, that said, I would only be too happy to put these back in,
>though I would strongly prefer to put all three of these items back in
>and not just wordprocessing (though I will concede that wp's are by far
>the most common computer tool for masses), given that we are trying to
>get as broad a spectrum of users as possible to take the survey.

Hrmmm. Not everybody uses a computer for wordprocessing. I think they
should be very broad questions, and there should be 1-2 of them. If we
want to get more complex than that, then
a) we can't justify not getting more complex on a lot of other issues,
b) we should build a new survey for that topic, later on

(imho)

>     To that end, I'll resurrect the software questions I had before and
>put them into the survey in the Software section for 0x010. Thanks to

But yes, it's worth looking into. We might realize that our questions
are abstract enough that they work for all software categories, for
instance. (Like the questions about reading/writing/converting industry
standard file formats.)

Ok, so I looked through my last post of "OS questions, draft III" vs
the survey on the web, and there are a couple improvements. The only
things that confused me on first glance were:

* The "OS Stability" and "application stability" are now way far
apart on the survey. But I guess that's the price we pay for making
sections. Not everything will fit perfectly.

* Aieee. There are two 'internet' sections. Or have I been up so long
that I'm seeing double...

* In the first Internet section, there are some questions about getting
to look at the source for the OS/applications. Down under the 'software'
section, there are some more questions. These overlap. I'm still kind
of keen on putting in those three questions (quoted from the GNU webpage)
for the OS, and then again in a separate place on the survey for the
applications. I'm curious if the answers will be different.

Do people think we lose anything by ditching the ones we had originally
come up with, in favor of using the ones with the GNU wording?

Thanks,
--Roger