Gnome 3.0 General Sociological Research
Contents
Intro
First of all we would like to thank the 1000+ people that took the survey in the margin of one week and thus contributed for a better gnome. I (Anton) would like to thanks the others from Gnome Usability team too about their response and advices regarding the questions asked. I have tried to present the results as better as possible by using Open Source tools and the online services of Google Docs. You can view a summary for each question as well as some thoughts at the end of the Summary Data Chapter.
All the information and multimedia is licensed under the Creative Commons 3.0 License.
You should attribute derivative works as based on the Gnome General Sociological Research held by the Gnome Usability team. You should also include a link to this page in order for people to see the original results.
Summary Data
Question Diagrams
Note: Numbers that are bold show how many people have answered.
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/HowOldAreYou.png "HowOldAreYou.png")
Which Country Are You From (more detail)?
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/CountriesDetails.png){kind=link}
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/WhichCountryAreYouFrom.png "WhichCountryAreYouFrom.png")
What Is your Native Language (more detail)?
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/LangDetails.png){kind=link}
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/WhatIsyourNativeLanguage.png "WhatIsyourNativeLanguage.png")
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/WhatIsyourOSLanguage.png "WhatIsyourOSLanguage.png")
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/WhatIsyourEducationalLevel.png "WhatIsyourEducationalLevel.png")
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/DoYouPlanToStudyMore.png "DoYouPlanToStudyMore.png")
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/WhatIsyourOccupation.png "WhatIsyourOccupation.png")
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/WhatDoYouUseGnomeFor.png "WhatDoYouUseGnomeFor.png")
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/WhatDoYouDoWithGnome.png "WhatDoYouDoWithGnome.png")
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/WhatLinuxDitroDoYouUse.png "WhatLinuxDitroDoYouUse.png")
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/DoYouUseOtherDE.png "DoYouUseOtherDE.png")
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/HowLongHaveUsedLinux.png "HowLongHaveUsedLinux.png")
(Maximum numbers are 15 and 17 years)
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/InternetConnection.png "InternetConnection.png")
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/InstantMessengerRunning.png "InstantMessengerRunning.png")
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/HowOftenCheckMail.png "HowOftenCheckMail.png")
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/WrittenMsgsPerDay.png "WrittenMsgsPerDay.png")
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/DoYouHaveBlog.png "DoYouHaveBlog.png")
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/DoYouHaveWebSite.png "DoYouHaveWebSite.png")
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/WhatDeviocesDoYouHave.png "WhatDeviocesDoYouHave.png")
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/WhatDevicesWork.png "WhatDevicesWork.png")
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/WhatDoYouOperateDevices.png "WhatDoYouOperateDevices.png")
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/DoYouUseWorkspaces.png "DoYouUseWorkspaces.png")
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/SwitchWindows.png "SwitchWindows.png")
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/FindFiles.png "FindFiles.png")
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/ClutteredPanel.png "ClutteredPanel.png")
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/Entryintteruption.png "Entryintteruption.png")
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/RepetativeActions.png "RepetativeActions.png")
Studies(2f)GnomeGeneralResearch/MenuSearch.png "MenuSearch.png")
Free Text Comments
These comments are not formatted or corrected in any way and may contain errors or uncensored expressions.
View: User Comments (html)
Conclusions
Most of the survey results are not so unpredictable but it's purpose was to see what are the common feelings about some topics concerning Gnome's usability and is it worth further investigating and implementation. The huge amount of people that took the survey is a key sign that there is change needed and that it should happen for the first 3.0 release or at least an indication of a change should be visible. That is further supported by the many free text comments that exactly describe the needs of the people and what the development directions should be.
As you can see for yourself most of the question charts reveal useful data:
- People from all over the world use Gnome and would like their interface to be in the same language they speak into their country.
- Even though most of the Gnome users are very well educated they want to learn and study more.
- Currently GNU/Linux is used by Software Engineers (because it's comfortable) and by Students (because it's cheap). Other more specialized professions would have to make their way into Gnome/GNU/Linux by improving Gnome in its 3.0 version.
Nearly 3/4 of the people use Ubuntu.
Nearly 1/2 of the people use Windows as additional or primary Desktop Environment. That is due to the lack of good applications for pros in the Film/Entertainment, Medical and Building (CAD) industry.
- Most people would like to stay connected online as soon as their PC is on. Some though don't like to hang in IM at all.
- People use blogs but most of them don't have websites. Why not make Gnome 3.0 integrate that properly in the form of auto-blogger interface based on their actions(activities)?
- Users own a great variety of devices but not all of them are supported and operated well inside or with Gnome(GNU/Linux).
- 21% of the people don't use workspaces.
- People need a better (more intuitive) way to locate files on their computers.
- Top panel and menus need redesign because they are cluttered and hard to navigate through.
Raw Data
The raw data is available in open spreadsheet format 'ods' only. The file you can download here does not contain any personal sensitive information about people that took the survey (emails are removed). This file is provided for the purposes of further statistical analysis and research.
Download: Gnome 3.0 Research Spreadsheet
There are 32 attachment(s) stored for this page.