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Despite having just 5.8% sales, over 38% of bug reports come from Linux

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Re: Despite having just 5.8% sales, over 38% of bug reports come from Linux

#201

Post by NamTaf »

reginold wrote: post #92
JeremyNT wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, although my kneejerk reaction to the subject line was to expect another sad article about how it's not worth it to support Linux, this author seems very happy with the decision to do so. > Worth it? Oh, yes - at least for me. Not for the extra sales - although it’s nice. It’s worth it to get the massive feedback boost and free, hundred-people strong QA team on your side. An invaluable asset for an independent…

Maybe there's a better term to throw at this. "Even though just 5.8% of userbase, Linux users contribute 55% of helpful QA feedback"

I think the title was intentionally a little clickbaity but I'm not exactly bothered by it. Clickbaity is a negative when the bait-and-switch robs you of the pay-off. In this case, I think it was overall a more interesting story and so for me subverting my expectations was actually a pleasant experience.

Re: Despite having just 5.8% sales, over 38% of bug reports come from Linux

#202

Post by seltzered_ »

reginold wrote: post #92
JeremyNT wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, although my kneejerk reaction to the subject line was to expect another sad article about how it's not worth it to support Linux, this author seems very happy with the decision to do so. > Worth it? Oh, yes - at least for me. Not for the extra sales - although it’s nice. It’s worth it to get the massive feedback boost and free, hundred-people strong QA team on your side. An invaluable asset for an independent…

Maybe there's a better term to throw at this. "Even though just 5.8% of userbase, Linux users contribute 55% of helpful QA feedback"

Multicapitalism might be the more academic term.

A developer invested time to support linux not necessarily for financial return but social capital returns in the form of more helpful QA feedback.

Re: Despite having just 5.8% sales, over 38% of bug reports come from Linux

#204

Post by conductr »

chias wrote: post #110
tyingq wrote: post #16

Great article, though he's benefitting from a specific slice of Linux users that are great to work with. On the other end of the spectrum, try releasing a php plugin for Wordpress, OpenCart, Magento, etc. I released a mildly popular, open-source, free add on in this space. The Linux users there are decidedly less technical, but still doing it themselves. What I got for "bug reports" was mostly terrible, few details/l…

I think the difference is: With a game that supports Linux, you get people who have chosen to run Linux instead of Windows because they prefer it. They have also worked enough with their system to get their Linux system capable of running games well, which may not be trivial for the given distro. With a Wordpress plugin or whatever, you get people who are running Linux because they "have" to. Trying not to sound "tru…

For similar reason, I think the level of experience is probably different. Meaning those could be the same person and time is the important variable. After they’re used to developing, they better understand what useful feedback looks like.

Re: Despite having just 5.8% sales, over 38% of bug reports come from Linux

#205

Post by anitil »

atomicnumber3 wrote: post #19
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #6

Glad to see that it was a positive view of the Linux bug reporters, rather than "Bah, I spend all my time fixing packaging issues from entitled Linux users who scream at me that the game doesn't work with their obscure, home-spun distro."

In a similar vein, I think the biggest value-add that Arch has over other distros is that it turns out having the filter of "can follow well written instructions through mildly tricky commands well enough to result in a bootable system" results in a community with a base level of competence, care, and patience that puts it at least two standard deviations above the other distros and at least four (I know how small th…

> Why would anyone accept Amex and its higher fees? Because they bring you higher value customers, sometimes dramatically higher value.

Why are Amex customers higher value? Is it because they're typically business cards rather than personal?

Re: Despite having just 5.8% sales, over 38% of bug reports come from Linux

#206

Post by ksaj »

Looking at the numbers, and the fact that most of the bugs affect all OS's playing the games, the title should probably something more like "Linux users file more reliable bug reports"

That's basically what's being said here, but you just know flag wavers are going to take the title to mean that Linux is more buggy.

Re: Despite having just 5.8% sales, over 38% of bug reports come from Linux

#207

Post by thayne »

NamTaf wrote: post #201
reginold wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe there's a better term to throw at this. "Even though just 5.8% of userbase, Linux users contribute 55% of helpful QA feedback"

I think the title was intentionally a little clickbaity but I'm not exactly bothered by it. Clickbaity is a negative when the bait-and-switch robs you of the pay-off. In this case, I think it was overall a more interesting story and so for me subverting my expectations was actually a pleasant experience.

OTOH, it could have a negative effect if people only read the title and not the actual content.

Re: Despite having just 5.8% sales, over 38% of bug reports come from Linux

#208

Post by ok123456 »

qayxc wrote: post #175
ok123456 wrote: post #118

Wine's crash handler provides a lot more details and diagnostic information if you know what you're looking at. "Oh RAX was 0 and de-referenced. That looks like a trivial memory error in SomeComponent.dll+0x302223." Other platforms are infantilized: "Oopsey doodle that crashed :(. Look for problem online? Oh no solution found. Sorry about that. Got it?"

That's not platform specific at all. If your program spits out proper crash logs (which most games do), it's a matter of locating and examining the log file. The "if you know what you're looking at"-part is pretty much nonsense as you're basically saying "if you are an experienced programmer with intimate knowledge of both the system and the hardware architecture". This is not something a regular user should be expec…

>The "if you know what you're looking at"-part is pretty much nonsense as you're basically saying "if you are an experienced programmer with intimate knowledge of both the system and the hardware architecture".

Same thing.

> This is not something a regular user should be expected to know. A good program should simply provide a proper feedback-channel and collect and send the appropriate information if the user choses to do so.

Then why do all these bugs fall through the cracks on other platforms?

Re: Despite having just 5.8% sales, over 38% of bug reports come from Linux

#209

Post by reginold »

seltzered_ wrote: post #202
reginold wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe there's a better term to throw at this. "Even though just 5.8% of userbase, Linux users contribute 55% of helpful QA feedback"

Multicapitalism might be the more academic term. A developer invested time to support linux not necessarily for financial return but social capital returns in the form of more helpful QA feedback.

Wow what an interesting term. Any idea where I can learn more?

Re: Despite having just 5.8% sales, over 38% of bug reports come from Linux

#210

Post by setpatchaddress »

fao_ wrote: post #168
LambdaComplex wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

esr seems to have a pretty big ego, just based on his writings. (e.g. at one point he declared that he can tell if someone is smart or not just by looking at them)

He actually at one point wrote that he was a reincarnation of the god Pan, so he has/had a very literal god complex, too. It's such a shame that he was the person to interpret hacker culture for those of us in the future, because he's hardly a good lens

I don’t disagree with your sentiment, but that wasn’t meant as a literal “I am the god Pan” — it was figurative, hyperbole. At least, that’s my recollection from when I read it a couple of decades ago.
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