WhatWindowsUsersWant
Introduction
While I was happy with my research on WinningTheDesktop, I knew what was there was open to a charge that the survey size (eight of my friends) was not statistically valid. I brainstormed ways to generate quantitative data on what Windows users want and came up with an analysis of the most popular downloads of all time on Cnet's downloads.com http://www.downloads.com.
Methodology
Version 1: Data from an advanced search on downloads.com of all software was analysed to determine which were the most downloaded programs ever by Windows users. The top 30 downloads - representing 1.3 billion files downloaded - were analysed.
Version 2: The methodology was then revised to look at the 250 programs that had over one million downloads each and group them by functionality. These 250 programs represent almost two billion downloads, a reasonable sample size. .
Limitations
As downloads.com only provides demo, shareware and freeware software, this is clearly a subset of all demand. If someone can identify a source of data on best selling commercial software, we can analyse this data is a future project (Amazon???). List not comprehensive/complete - does not track Windows Updates, Mozilla, or numerous others. Should be treated as directional.
While we believe downloads.com users represent the ideal Ubuntu Linux switchers, this may not be the case.
Objective
Identify the key software functionality Windows users are looking for and benchmark this demand with current Hoary availability.
Conclusions/Key Findings
The Ubuntu Technical Board should consider adding the following functionality to Ubuntu Hoary +1:
1. Chat is huge. 424m downloads! Chat, chat and more chat. How about more chat options out of the box instead of 50 text editors and 100 image viewers? (BTW that's more aimed at open source than Ubuntu)
2. Add more [P2PFileSharing] P2P software. More than 377m downloads of the various competing protocols.
3. Add a download manager with more functionality than Firefox - for example gwget2 - by default. Downloads managers make better use of broadband connections.
4. Add daily changing background functionality (cf webshot http://www.webshots.com)
5. Easier way to acquire additional RestrictedFormats codecs (mp3, divx, others) (e.g. non-official "Klik"-like site http://klik.atekon.de/). There is probably a lesson from Firefox's control over plug-ins that we can copy.
6. Fix CD/DVD burning. Ok, let's just get this solved and forget about it.
They say in advertising that the three most powerful words are "Win Free Sex." With windows downloaders, we can construct the ultimate come-on: Ubuntu: chat while you are downloading free stuff without getting spyware then uncompress and play it on your media player. That's it - that's the 1.3 billion download sentence.
Seriously, when we start SpreadUbuntu.com (cf http://www.spreadfirefox.com/), we have the making of a good story. Its just still a little rough around the edges right now.
Results
After creating the first version of the results (version 1), I decided there was a better way to display more information, more clearly (version 1). You will find version 1 further down the page..
Revised Results (Version 2)
- In the revised version I looked at the 250 programs that had over one million downloads and grouped them by functionality. These 250 programs represent almost two billion downloads (1,946m), a reasonable sample size.
- Please feel free to contribute your thoughts to the availability/issues section, especially on the ones that have a question mark. This is still a work in progress. -Tim
I have graphed these results, but can't figure out the syntax to add the photo inline here in moinmoin. The image is at - Tim
https://www.ubuntulinux.org/wiki/downloadnumbers.
Note: This list has almost no KDE/qt-software. Check out Kubuntu for applications like Kopete, Kget, Kontact, Kaffeine, Konqueror (with its sftp/ftp/webdav etc protocols), Digikam, Ksnapshot, Konversation etc.. -OttoKekäläinen
Rank |
Functionality |
# of Downloads |
Availabile in Default Hoary |
Available in Multiverse/Universe |
Limitations/Issues |
1 |
Chat |
424.3m |
Gaim |
Xchat, licq, gossip |
Poor file transfer |
2 |
[P2PFileSharing] P2P |
377.2m |
Gnome Bittorrent |
amule, xmule, bittornado, qttorrent, apollon, mldonkey, fidelio, gtk-gnutella, gift, nicotine, dcgui |
Add Azureus or LimeWire? |
3 |
Spyware Cleaner |
195.7m |
Unnecessary |
- |
Let's not get cocky |
4 |
Compression |
172.0m |
File Roller |
gzip, rar |
|
5 |
Media Player |
151.8m |
Rhythmbox, Totem |
Muine, XMMS, gxine, mplayer, vlc, amarok, xine, zinf |
|
6 |
Download |
90.4m |
Some functionality in Firefox |
aria, d4x, gwget2 |
|
7 |
Change Desktop |
61.5m |
Some functionality in Gnome |
wallpaper-tray |
Opensource webshots? Subscribe to others photos in Gnome? |
8 |
Browser |
49.3m |
Firefox |
epiphany, galeon |
|
9 |
Firewall |
46.1m |
Unnecessary??? |
firestarter |
|
10 |
FTP |
43.3m |
Nautilus (places/connect to server) |
gftp, filezilla |
|
11 |
Antivirus |
33.4m |
Unnecessary??? |
aegis, clamav |
|
12 |
Fix System |
28.0m |
Unnecessary??? |
? |
Not as much of an issue or more sophisticated users? |
13 |
Games (various) |
27.3m |
Some basic games |
Tuxracer, cedega, WINE (not WineX aka. Cadega) plays World of Warcraft among others |
|
14 |
Burn CD/DVD |
26.4m |
Work in progress |
K3B |
|
15 |
23.5m |
Open office, pdf viewer |
evince, gpdf, xpdf, cups-pdf |
flpsed (editor) available |
|
16 |
Translate User Interface |
22.8m |
Open source uses a different model |
- |
|
17 |
Image Viewer |
22.7m |
Eye of Gnome, gthumb |
F-Spot |
|
18 |
Various Windows Updates |
21.2 |
Ubuntu Update Manager, Synaptic |
|
|
19 |
Graphics Editing |
15.7m |
Gimp |
Scribus, Inkscape, Sodipodi |
|
20 |
Colorful Mail |
13.7m |
None (vs. Incredimail) |
? |
Opportunity |
21 |
Ripper |
12.9m |
sound-juicer |
grip, goobox, abcde, cdparanoia |
|
22 |
Flash |
12.5m |
Firefox plugin |
? |
|
23 |
Web Design |
11.8m |
|
Screem, bluefish, peacock, quanta, NVU |
|
24 |
Search |
8.8m |
Some functionality in Gnome |
Beagle with Optional requisits |
|
25 |
Play Solitare |
8.2m |
Solitare |
AisleRiot Solitare |
More solitare? |
26 |
Music Converter |
8.1m |
|
kaudiocreator |
|
27 |
Data Recovery |
5.3m |
- |
? |
|
28 |
Shockwave |
4.1m |
|
None Sign Peitition |
|
29 |
Java |
3.7m |
- |
Java |
|
30 |
Music Mixer |
3.6m |
- |
? |
|
31 |
Hex Editor |
2.2m |
|
ghex |
|
32 |
Password Helper |
2.0m |
|
|
|
33 |
Clock |
1.6m |
Functionality in Gnome |
- |
|
34 |
Screenshot |
1.6m |
Basic functionality in Gnome |
GIMP (offers more advanced functionality) |
|
35 |
Dynamic IP |
1.5m |
- |
? |
|
36 |
Remote Desktop |
1.5m |
Basic functionality in Gnome (vino) |
|
|
37 |
Share Webcam |
1.4m |
- |
? |
|
38 |
Virtual Desktop |
1.1m |
Basic functionality in Gnome |
|
|
39 |
Video Editor |
1.0m |
- |
? |
Original Results (Version 1)
The number of downloads data uses downloads.com data as of 2005.02.26.
Rank |
Program |
# of Downloads |
Functionality |
Capability in Hoary |
Limitations/Issues |
1 |
ICQ 2003 Pro |
252,486,877 |
Chat using ICQ protocol. |
Out of the box availability in Gaim. |
Gaim not as pretty/cool as ICQ. |
2 |
Win Zip Pro 9.0 |
137,948,953 |
Compress/uncompress files in zip format. |
Out of the box availability in Archive Manager (File Roller). |
None |
3 |
Morpheus 4.7 |
131,027,188 |
P2P client on Gnutella, eDonkey, LimeWire, Grokster, G2, Neonet and BitTorrent. |
Out of the box availability Gnome BitTorrent. Emule and Gnutella in Universe. |
Combined functionality in one program? Support for other protocols? |
4 |
AdAware SE 1.05 |
111,859,962 |
Remove adware/spyware. |
Not required. |
None, but let's not get cocky |
5 |
iMesh 5.0 |
88,864,120 |
PSP client on Fasttrack and Gnutella network. |
Gnutella available in Universe. |
No linux fastrack client available (?). there is a gift-fasttrack plugin for giFT |
6 |
ICQ 5 5.02 |
75,896,813 |
Chat using ICQ protocol. |
Out of the box availability in Gaim. |
Gaim not as pretty/cool as ICQ. |
7 |
Spybot S&D 1.3 |
49,862,939 |
Remove adware/spyware. |
Not required. |
None, but let's not get cocky |
8 |
Download Accelerator 7.4 |
48,096,581 |
Download manager. |
Basic functionality built into Firefox. |
Is there an advanced functionality Linux plug-in? |
9 |
Lime Wire 4.6 |
39,582,910 |
P2P client on Gnutella network. |
A Linux LimeWire client is available, further, gtk-gnutella has similar capabilities. |
The LimeWire-client is not in Universe. Gtk-gnutella supports the same network though. |
10 |
Zone Alarm 5.5 |
34,912,480 |
Firewall. |
Ubuntu doesn't run any daemons that listen to the outside world by default. |
What if they do? |
11 |
Webshots Desktop 2.2 |
34,344,394 |
New pretty desktop background everyday. |
Can manually change desktop background. |
Opportunity to add functionality to Gnome? |
12 |
AOL Instant Messenger 5.9 |
33,746,137 |
Chat using AIM protocol. |
Out of the box availability in Gaim. |
None. |
13 |
DivX Player/Codec 5.2 |
25,045,262 |
Watch movies in DivX format. |
May be available with a lot of work. |
Not available in Hoary/GStreamer (RestrictedFormats). |
13 |
Win Amp 2.91 |
25,045,262 |
Listen to mp3 (and other) music. |
Rhythmbox installed by default. XMMS and others available. |
Can't play mp3's out of the box. Somewhat difficult to enable. Not all codecs installed by default. Does not automagically install missing codecs (RestrictedFormats). |
14 |
Bear Share 4.6 |
23,937,136 |
P2P client on Gnutella network. |
Gnutella client available in universe. |
None. |
15 |
Win Rar 3.42 |
23,559,855 |
Compress/uncompress files in rar/other formats. |
Out of the box availability in Archive Manager (File Roller). |
None |
16 |
Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0 |
21,817,644 |
View pdf files. |
Out of the box availability in Hoary. Open Office can make pdfs. Acroread available in Multiverse. |
None. |
17 |
Trillian 3.1 |
17,289,759 |
Chat using mIRC, AIM, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo protocols. |
Out of the box availability in Gaim. Xchat also available. |
None. |
18 |
GoZilla 4.11 |
17,289,759 |
Download manager. |
Basic functionality built into Firefox. |
Is there an advanced functionality Linux plug-in? |
19 |
CuteFTP 6.0 |
14,327,723 |
FTP file transfer. |
Out of the box availability in Hoary (places/connect to server). Numerous programs available in multiverse/universe |
None. |
20 |
Real Player 10 |
13,857,990 |
Music player/browser plugit including ra codec. |
Rhythmbox installed by default. Helix (and others) available in universe. |
Can't play mp3's out of the box. Real Player for Linux not available (RestrictedFormats). |
21 |
Nero Burning Rom 6 |
13,657,003 |
Burn CDs/DVDs in numerous formats. |
Gnomebaker, graveman, K3B (kde based) perform quite a good job. |
None, maybe a more intuitive integration into Nautilus? |
22 |
Lingo Ware |
12,962,998 |
Translate GUI into other language. |
Open source uses a different model. Work in progress - feel free to pitch in. |
You want it, you do it. |
23 |
Incredi Mail Xe |
12,550,896 |
Make pretty emails. |
None? |
Opportunity. |
24 |
GetRight 5.2 |
11,877,974 |
Download manager. |
Basic functionality built into Firefox. |
Is there an advanced functionality Linux plug-in? |
25 |
Quicktime 6.5 |
11,544,300 |
Movie player and codecs. |
Totem/Gstreamer available out of the box. |
Not all codecs installed by default. Do not automagically install missing codecs (RestrictedFormats). |
26 |
Windows Media Player 7.1 |
11,353,921 |
Listen to mp3 (and other) music. Play video |
Totem/Rhythmbox installed by default. Numerous others available. |
Can't play mp3's out of the box. Somewhat difficult to enable. Not all codecs installed by default. Does not automagically install missing codecs (RestrictedFormats). |
26 |
WS FTP 9.0 |
11,131,875 |
FTP file transfer. |
Out of the box availability in Hoary (places/connect to server). Numerous programs available in multiverse/universe |
None. |
27 |
Sonique 1.9 |
10,944,929 |
Listen to mp3 (and other) music. Play video |
Totem/Rhythmbox installed by default. Numerous others available. |
Can't play mp3's out of the box. Somewhat difficult to enable. Not all codecs installed by default. Does not automagically install missing codecs (RestrictedFormats). |
28 |
Grokster 2.6 |
10,093,631 |
PSP client on Fasttrack network. |
None. |
No linux fastrack client available (?). |
29 |
Direct X 9.0 |
9,592,105 |
Multimedia system for Windows games. |
None. |
None. |
30 |
Avant Browser 10 |
9,505,772 |
Alternative browser using IE engine. |
Firefox enabled out of the box. |
None. |
WhatWindowsUsersDemands
Here's my view of what Windows users demand and why they won't change to Ubuntu (and what's need to be done before they'll move to Ubuntu forever). WhatWindowsUsersDemands
Feedback/Discussion
http://www.gnome.org/~clarkbw/blog/GNOME/background_channels - fufills the "desktop changer" one, though afaik, no useful rss feeds for it exist
- Kino for video editing?
- If anyone is interesting in adding to this analysis - think of it as open source market research - I can email you the spreadsheet. With some effort we could count all programs over 1 million downloads. Email me at tjlmorris g ma il. - Tim
1. The main concern about Gaim should be it's lack of features compared to ICQ. The "send file" support is not finished. This one really important restriction. Also the inability to assign custom key bindings to standard actions is one big disadvantage. I think coolnes is a matter of taste. Using the power of GTK+ and themeing Gaim can be as cool as you like it. 17. I don't know if it is aviable in universe/multiverse or elsewhere - but I can't imagine that Xchat-2 is not aviable with Ubuntu. -StefanNicolin (The default XChat in ubuntu is currently (august 2nd, 2005) 2.4 - WouterdenHaan)
- I'm not an ICQ user myself, so maybe "cool" is the wrong word, but 328 million downloads (vs. 26.9m for Firefox) says it has something ("brand" "hype"). I added Xchat to the list. - Tim
- I'm thinking of restructuring the analysis: sorting by functionality first, then listing the programs that offer that functionality. That way the conclusions are more obvious and I can go down the list further (Top 100?). For example:
Functionality |
Rank |
Program |
# of Downloads |
Capability in Hoary |
Limitations/Issues |
Chat using ICQ protocol |
1 |
ICQ 2003 Pro (252.5m) |
328.4m |
Out of the box availability in Gaim. |
Gaim not as pretty/cool as ICQ. |
ICQ 5 5.02 (75.9m) |
- I've since done this (version 2 above), though without the list of names as 250 programs was too many to list, though they are listed in the spreadsheet -Tim
I think the new layout looks good. Also I think your approach to gathering data is nice, since the people who download new software are possibly just the semi-advanced (I'm using the word advanced quite freely here) users that might want to try out ubuntu. Approximating the needs of this particular group in this way is probably quite accurate, though obviously not complete. For example most Windows converts dislike the sloppy mimetype handling in linux, yet this issue is not visible through this method of study. - MikkoVirkkilä
Be sure to check out the GeneratingStatsOfPopularWindowsSoftware script -MikkoVirkkilä
- Thanks for that. I incorporated your numbers and redid the results. -Tim
What about a column for things outside multiverse/universe, for example LimeWire and RealPlayer? -Tim
Some people have reversed engineered the FastTrack/Kazaa protocol, and built a plugin for giFT for it: http://developer.berlios.de/projects/gift-fasttrack . -BasKok
cups-pdf can be used as a PDF printer. Factual inaccuracy: gconf keys are the same as Windows registry, though there is one gconf registry per user. Solitaire is provided by gnome-games. - Martin-ÉricRacine
- thanks, incorporated; things like this, please just add/change -Tim
- moved flpsed(editor) to limitations/issues as not in universe (can we add it to universe?
From PieterHollenberg Mon Mar 28 15:41:50 +0100 2005 From: Pieter Hollenberg Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2005 15:41:50 +0100 Subject: ideapool:what windows users want Message-ID: <20050328154150+0100@https://www.ubuntulinux.org>
good approach, Tim. issue 21 is now solved, because Gnomebaker is available in universe. please add the video edit application because this is popular too for lots of people. second, people like to see each other while chatting ,so ubuntu need to have bettter hardware recognition e.g. webcam and videocamera hardware !!.......Pieter Hollenberg
From AbdullahRamazanoglu Thu Mar 31 18:20:41 +0100 2005 From: Abdullah Ramazanoglu Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2005 18:20:41 +0100 Subject: Excellent work! Please also see these links. Message-ID: <20050331182041+0100@https://www.ubuntulinux.org>
>From KubuntuSuggestedPackages wiki page: http://www.grokdoc.net/index.php/Switching_to_Linux#Programs_on_Linux_having_the_same_or_similar_function_as_a_given_Windows_program http://linuxshop.ru/linuxbegin/win-lin-soft-en/table.shtml http://www.linuxlaboratory.org/56.php http://www.linuxlaboratory.org/54.php http://www.grokdoc.net/index.php/Application_Crossover_Chart Also I would like to express that we seem to be running at the exact same frequency. Here is my position on how to handle package selections: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=21666
From LewGoettner Mon May 16 13:39:06 +0100 2005 From: Lew Goettner Date: Mon, 16 May 2005 13:39:06 +0100 Subject: Webshots Message-ID: <20050516133906+0100@https://www.ubuntulinux.org>
There's a nice GPL'd Webshots-style software at: http://www.jamesbarford.net/gwebdec.php
There is a lot of different Windows users. I think that most of them will not download software, but stick with IE/MSOffice/(iTunes|WMP). So what is important is to define a "target" population. That can be kids (I think the chat+P2P thing is that), experimented users, occasional users... So define a population and try to get a good part of it is a more reasonable approach than just say "let's get the Windows users". On the one hand, experimented user can be easier to get because they are eager to learn (and able to learn). On the other hand, experimented users have strong habits and applications they like (most of them Windows-only). -- ErwanLoisant
From Richard Ellis October 19 2005
There's a forum thread I started last month at LinuxQuestions.org on what MS Windows software is still being used by people with Linux systems. The outstanding productivity application needs seem to be graphics-intensive stuff like desktop publishing (DTP). We need to descend on Adobe and convince them to offer versions of their stuff that can run on Unix systems. They have to already be thinking about this because the new Apple OS X is built on BSD unix. It includes a built-in emulator that can handle older MAC software (Apple uses the euphemism "classic") like PageMaker. A Linux DTP application (Scribus) is being developed but it can't import stuff from other functionally similiar programs and in general it is not really ready yet for prime time.
I notice above a note about some of the Linux media players which implies limited functionality. Functionality of these tools is mostly a matter of installing the appropriate codecs and a web search will quickly surface sources for Linux systems that can handle virtually anything.
From davidkirk May 24, 2006
I think we're missing something here. Counting downloads does not identify all functional uses... what we're missing is a good usenet reader. The current Ubuntu set of software includes nothing for accessing newsgroups. Windows users have it with Outlook Express, or Netscape 7.x, or Mozilla, or Thunderbird or a number of other clients. Since Thunderbird and Mozilla are available in Linux format, this would help people using Windows to migrate. Another possibility might be the Pan newsreader, but it's a learning curve. The more 'adventurous' crowd in Windows would be open to using Firefox and Thunderbird for their routine Internet access.
WhatWindowsUsersWant (last edited 2008-08-06 16:36:12 by localhost)