You have a forum dedicated to Microsoft. Although it also is for discussion of Bing, it clearly functions as a catch-all category for general discussion about Microsoft and Windows. My suggestion is that you also make a Mac/Linux category. Macs are popular among web designers and Linux currently powers the majority of web-servers, so why not make a Mac/Linux category as well? This is after all a forum where a broad range of computer related question are discussed, so I think that a Mac/Linux category is appropriate here on Digital point. Regards, Brown Crow
While I agree every technical forum should include such a board, I feel anything *nix/BSD related is waaayyyy over the head of most people on DP.
Okay, I did a quick search about threads relevant to Linux/Apple, and this is a small sample of what I found. I definitively think that such a section would be useful... Linux: threads that don't refer to server issues: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=327712 http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=2194760 http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=2165638 http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=2287904 http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=2282908 http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=2237674 http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=272036 http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1220594 Apple: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=2211319 http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=2290881 http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=2065760 http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=2300608 http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=2271622 http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=2296935 http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1820951 http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=2261475 Generic “which is the best OS†threads: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1731523 http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=2042877 http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=2279739 http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=2260020 http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=2156989 http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=2192169 http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=1498613 Regards, Brown Crow
Would need a LOT more threads than that. A good rule or thumb is if there are around 50 new topics per week... then we consider a sub-category.
Sorry for bugging you, but you'll also have to remember that people don't make threads if there are no fitting category to post in. New categories inspires new threads. When I looked around on this forum I've found that quite a few of your sections get a LOT less than 50 new threads a week... And the links above was just a sample. I guess I could dig up many more; for instance I deliberately left out all the threads about iPhone/iPad, etc. A final question: If you're not creating a Mac/Linux section right away, where would you recommend that we post about Mac/Linux in the meantime? Cheers, Brown Crow
There are a LOT of posts about Apple products throughout this forum and at least 50 per week! There are a LOT of Linux users on this forum, or at least those who claim to be.
I don't think Linux section is required, because most of the topics related to linux here are about web hosting and we already have a section for apache,security etc.
So if one were to ask about how to configure rc.d in Linux, would we ask that in Apache, Security or etc.?
Yes but whenever anyone mentions anything but Windows on DP, the only thing they've heard of is Linux.
My initial idea was a combined Mac/non-server Linux sub-forum. The stuff about servers are already well covered in other sections IMO. --- Even though Microsoft is dominating in the desktop computer market, there are a lot of users who don't use Windows. Many members of DP own Macs, or use Linux which nowadays isn't only about servers. Even Dell ship computers with Ubuntu pre-installed. And in many areas of computing, Microsoft is the loosing part. Linux isn't only the marked leader when it comes to servers. Android has over 100 million users, while Windows Phone 7 has a measly 1.6% market share. Let's face it, we're living in 2011, and computing is different now compared to 2003.
I'm not disagreeing that many users use non-Windows here (myself included), I just don't really see a need for a separate sub-forum at this point. If we start getting more topics related to it, then sure... things are fluid here. Just not really in a position to do it *now* is all.
Okay, perhaps you all of a sudden will see a lot of Linux/mac threads here I understand that you want to make sure that new categories aren't introduced just to end up being left inactive, and principally I agree that one ought to be careful when introducing new categories... Thanks a lot for being open-minded! Cheers, Brown Crow