OS/2 e-Zine! - May '97 Reader Survey Results

May '97 Reader Survey Results

Last month we decided to get to the bottom of the stereotype that labels all OS/2 users as "fanatics". In our attempt to sort the evangelists from the average users, we asked, "Do you promote OS/2?"

As usual, our survey revealed some expected and some surprising information about our readers and their dedication to OS/2.

Answers to our survey were accepted from May 16th until June 13th and any duplicate, incomplete or mangled submissions were discarded. We had a total of 1,907 readers send us valid replies to our questionnaire last month and the results were as follows:

Have you ever advocated OS/2 electronically?

To start off, we asked readers if they ever promote OS/2 electronically, giving examples such as USENET groups, e-mail, letters to editors, etc. As most people might, we assumed that the majority of our readers would answer positively to this question, and they did. A strong majority (79.0%), in fact, had done some sort of on-line OS/2 advocacy since they took up the cause. Still, a surprising number (21.0%) claimed they had never done so.

Have you ever demonstrated OS/2 in private?

Not surprisingly, considering the response to our first question, we found that a very high number of OS/2 e-Zine! readers have also promoted OS/2 to acquaintances in private. For this question we gave examples such as demonstrating OS/2 in your home or in a friend's home, and our readers overwhelmingly responded that they had. A whopping 96.7% of them have done so! Maybe IBM should be paying us?

Have you ever demonstrated OS/2 in public?

It turns out that our readers are not quite as eager to spread the word in public, though. When we asked how many of you had done the same kind of OS/2 evangelism at computer shows, retail stores, user group meetings, etc., you reported that the majority had, in fact, never done so.

Possibly this can be interpreted as indicating that OS/2 users are somewhat embarrassed by their use of the "forbidden software" but it's more likely that it just shows how difficult it can be to find a suitable venue for showing off Warp. Still, only 31.9% of our readers have ever done so. We wonder if that number is higher or lower than it would be for Windows or Mac users.

Have you ever caused anyone to purchase OS/2?

After the preliminaries were out of the way, we asked the real question last month and found a much more evenly distributed set of answers. The largest single group of people reporting in last month's survey (18.2%) stated that they were not sure if they had ever convinced anyone to purchase OS/2. However, those who had convinced one other person to jump on the bandwagon were a close second (18.0%) and almost one third of those surveyed (31.7%) had convinced either one or two people to purchase OS/2.

At least 16.6% of our readers say they have never convinced anyone to purchase OS/2 but the majority (65.1%) were sure they had steered at least some people down the right path. A surprisingly high 5.9% claimed to have convinced 21 or more people to purchase OS/2 (give those folks an award!).

That's it for last month's survey. Don't forget to fill out our questionnaire this month (it's on the next page) and check back in July for complete results!

Complete May '97 Survey Results

Have you ever advocated OS/2
electronically?

Category Count Percentage

Yes 1,506 79.0%

No 401 21.0%

TOTAL 1,907 100%

Have you ever demonstrated
OS/2 in private?

Category Count Percentage

Yes 1,845 96.7%

No 62 3.3%

TOTAL 1,907 100%

Have you ever demonstrated
OS/2 in public?

Category Count Percentage

Yes 608 31.9%

No 1,299 68.1%

TOTAL 1,907 100%

Have you ever caused anyone to
purchase OS/2?

Category Count Percentage

No 316 16.6%

Yes, 1 person 343 18.0%

Yes, 2 people 261 13.7%

Yes, 3 people 164 8.6%

Yes, 4 - 10 people 323 16.9%

Yes, 11 - 20 people 39 2.0%

Yes, 21 or more people 113 5.9%

Don't know 348 18.2%

TOTAL 1,907 99.9%

Note: the missing 0.1% in the above table is due to rounding errors.

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