From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Bastien Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: How big is the "niche" of Emacs users? Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:53:33 +0100 Message-ID: <87fy07i52a.fsf@bzg.ath.cx> References: <87hckotez0.fsf@linux.site> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1192798440 11050 80.91.229.12 (19 Oct 2007 12:54:00 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 12:54:00 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Fri Oct 19 14:54:01 2007 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1IirMT-0008Do-WC for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:53:58 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1IirMM-0001ci-LW for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Fri, 19 Oct 2007 08:53:50 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1IirM8-0001cb-4M for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Fri, 19 Oct 2007 08:53:36 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1IirM5-0001c1-Ud for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Fri, 19 Oct 2007 08:53:35 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1IirM5-0001bv-PU for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Fri, 19 Oct 2007 08:53:33 -0400 Original-Received: from mu-out-0910.google.com ([209.85.134.185]) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1IirM5-00087o-5J for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Fri, 19 Oct 2007 08:53:33 -0400 Original-Received: by mu-out-0910.google.com with SMTP id g7so579371muf for ; Fri, 19 Oct 2007 05:53:32 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=googlemail.com; s=beta; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:received:from:to:subject:in-reply-to:references:user-agent:date:message-id:mime-version:content-type:sender; bh=8TMp9Ro4W2mp+1Qzv7NaQTyev//zTWildVghm63SFnI=; b=PGtWokqXy0KiuIfdzFl1rTNLBTt8LQwJ5weWyN1wwuEHqGq/SIpQFYbQiL1hpGrcftyjfyXhkXtkGcYVna1686UbLH9cacfVpF1Yp+IYW15kSe8Oa8v1r0dRnI8GfigSiNZpOZhIsaeWdqbOg3UPFG1twiAQXAju9z4Mk9PN67g= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=googlemail.com; s=beta; h=received:from:to:subject:in-reply-to:references:user-agent:date:message-id:mime-version:content-type:sender; b=a2NWnTOBvy3WNfY2/VobENOlZdC+JS97p8eHRQvq3t8dYfz2dc9D3D0vkUkaLbcDhmLNtfJ3Wcnpn3YSLc6ZE+mrJG5NqDjtWE7OBNvEHkHnbqXBW1jLEUS9tXlL2oU1/bMr4tdO/XAPc9mdUg06sI50zSg7e26NuJk+rUemfz0= Original-Received: by 10.82.183.19 with SMTP id g19mr3549428buf.1192798411544; Fri, 19 Oct 2007 05:53:31 -0700 (PDT) Original-Received: from bzg.ath.cx ( [195.167.200.121]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id g8sm4691058muf.2007.10.19.05.53.29 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=OTHER); Fri, 19 Oct 2007 05:53:30 -0700 (PDT) Original-Received: by bzg.ath.cx (Postfix, from userid 1000) id 8469C158ABF; Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:53:33 +0100 (BST) In-Reply-To: <87hckotez0.fsf@linux.site> (roodwriter@ureach.com's message of "18 Oct 2007 15:11:47 -0400") User-Agent: Gnus/5.110007 (No Gnus v0.7) Emacs/23.0.0 (gnu/linux) X-detected-kernel: by monty-python.gnu.org: Linux 2.6 (newer, 2) X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:48558 Archived-At: roodwriter@ureach.com writes: > I can't imagine how you'd figure out usable numbers of > users. Emacs is a free program as and such is copied and > recopied from machine to machine. How hard would it be to > download one copy and then put it on 5,000 machines? The > server with the original copy would only count one download. Yes. I'm not interested in how many copies of Emacs live out there, but on how many people actually use it. A few numbers could from : - people posting on the gnu.emacs.* hierarchy - people subscribed to the emacs mailing lists - people switching from M-x doctor to a real therapist > I do remember that the owner of O'Reilly Publishing says his > Vi book outsells the Emacs book two to one. But I also > understand that he says that Emacs' built-in tutorial may > affect those numbers. Vi users need to start with a book, and to rely on it lifelong. > I'm the only one I know personally who uses Emacs, but I'm a > writer, not a programmer. Emacs users have time to actually *write* books. Just joking. But interestingly enough, it's not rare to hear about people using Emacs to write books. I can even remember of a specific tutorial for this. Maybe it's quite significant about how versatile Emacs can be. -- Bastien