On Thu, May 02, 2002 at 09:53:15PM -0600, Tony Lambregts wrote:
I have done a lot of thinking about the Application Database http://appdb.codeweavers.com lately and how the rating system works. We currently have 848 Applications in there but only 58 with a 5 star rating which works out to less than 10% and thats the good news. The bad news is that of those 58 only 26 rate that without windows installed. After takeing a closer look, none of the apps I looked at actualy rated 5 star by my way of judging. Now maybe I'm overly critical but in my way of thinking If the app doesn't install in wine then it shouldn't get a 5. IMHO We need to set criteria that give us a better/less subjective way of measuring how well we are doing. So this is what I have come up with.
Installation (total possible 2) Installs in wine with fake windows 2 points Installs in wine with windows mounted 1 point Does not install in wine 0 points
Running & DLLS (total possible 2) Runs fine using all builtin dlls 2 points Runs fine using native dlls 1 point Does not run/crashes on startup 0 points
3 Running general (total possible 2) program does not crash ever 2 points Program crashes only after long use or rare aspect used 1 point program crashes on startup or doing common function 0 points
Screen Presentation/layout (total possible 2) App looks exactly like it should 2 points Small problems that do not affect working with app 1 point App is unusable because of display problems 0 points
Fonts (total possible 2) Fonts look exacty right 2 points Fonts not exactly right but acceptable 1 point Fonts unreadable or totaly wrong. 0 points
Mouse (total possible 2) Mouse behaves as expected 2 points Mouse behaves strange but can still use app 1 point Mouse behaves badly and is unusable 0 points
Keyboard (total possible 2) Keyboard reacts as expected. 2 points Some keys/key combinations dont work but most do. 1 point Keyboard locks up or unresposive 0 points
Files save/restore (total possible 2) Able to save and restore files without any problems 2 points Can save and restore files but have problems 1 points Cannot save or restore files 0 points
Sound (total possible 2) Not applicable Sound is correct 2 points sound is ok most of the time but has minor glichs 1 point Sound is garbled or missing 0 points
10.Joystick/gamepad (total possible 2) Not applicable joystick/gamepad works correctly 2 points joystick/gamepad have problems but mostly work 1 point joystick/gamepad unresponsive 0 points
11.Registy/rememberd state (total possible 2) Not applicable Program remembers key settings from one session to next 2 points Program remembers most settings but not all 1 point program does not remember most settings at all 0 points
- Date tested. Verison of wine used
Way too complicated IMHO.
Do you really think people will put up with this system if currently they very frequently don't even mention whether they actually tried the app on Wine and what results they got ? (yes, I added a comment which asks them to also mention this)
A lot of the submissions that I commit leave several things to be desired, too (which I frequently improve a lot before committing, which shouldn't really be my job, though).
IMHO the fact that the current *easy* rating system doesn't get used properly sort of indicates that it would be even worse with a more complicated system. One possible bad result: less people putting up with submitting apps, because it's "too much work", thus dramatically fewer apps listed. Do we want that ?
IMHO we want as many apps listed as possible, even with a somewhat fuzzy picture, as opposed to simply listing Office, IE, HalfLife and Starcraft with perfect rating and description.
People do want to know whether a particular highly weird app (take "Femta" as an example ;-) might have the slightest chance of running on Wine, so having a relatively broad base is also pretty important.