The Application People Most Want Ported to Linux Is...
By Scott M. Morris
Posted: 26 Jan 2006
novell.com
Get excited! The results are starting to come in for the Linux App Request Survey we first posted at the beginning of January. There are some really interesting trends that we can see from the results. Let's take a look at what people are asking for and what countries they are from:
Top 10 Applications (last 21 days)
Rank Application
1. Quickbooks
2. Autocad
3. Photoshop
4. Itunes
5. Dreamweaver
6. Visio
7. Lotus Notes
8. Quicken
9. Macromedia Studio
10. Act!
Of those top 10 applications, two of them are financial management packages. Looks like there is quite a demand for that. It looks like there is a huge interest in the AUTOCAD arena, as well. Something that is very well worth noting is the demand for multimedia applications.
As well as what is in this data, it's interesting to see what isn't there, as well. One thing I did notice here was that there were no requests for any of the fundamentals, such as email clients, instant messengers, web browsers, and things like that. No one asked for a filesystem browser or a CD-burning program. In this respect, one could deduce that Linux has come far enough to satisfy all of those needs. Is Linux ready for the desktop? Considering these points, one could deduce that yes, it certainly is. It addresses all of the fundamental needs for running a basic desktop system.
Next, let's take a look at where these requests are coming from:
Top 10 Countries (last 21 days)
Rank Country
1. United States
2. United Kingdom
3. Germany
4. Canada
5. Australia
6. Czech Republic
7. Netherlands
8. Hungary
9. Sweden
10. India
I checked the numbers, and just under half of the overall requests came from the United States. About ten percent came from the United Kingdom. Why could that be? Well, it could be because the survey is in English. Or, it could be because most of the people who want to switch to Linux live in those countries.
However, it's also cool to see that we are getting requests from far-away places like New Zealand, Romania, Malaysia, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, and Singapore. Most excellent.
Guys, if we want to make a big enough impact for change to actually take place, we need to get many more people helping with this study. If you know anyone who uses Windows (which is a lot of people), please send them a link to this survey. Every single vote counts. If we want to actually convince Intuit to make QuickBooks and Quicken for Linux, we have to get their attention. The same goes with all the other applications listed here.
How can you help?
* In your forum posts, include links to the survey
* Send a link via email to contacts in your address book
* Send links via instant messenger
* Send a link to your system administrator
* Petition webmasters of computer-related sites to put a link to the survey on their site
There are many, many ways to spread the word. Be creative.
I am very excited about the positive impact that we can make on the Linux movement. Let's get everyone we know, get out, make some noise, and be heard! |
