Larkware

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Larkware Reader Survey #2 Answers

It took me a bit, but I've managed to tabulate the reader survey answers. Thanks to the 485 of you loyal readers who took the time to answer, often leaving me detailed comments in the freeform section. I greatly appreciate the feedback. Sponsors first, then results, of course.

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Sponsors

For the first set of questions, I asked respondents to consider all of the Larkware content that they'd read so far, and to think about how they'd adjust the balance in the future if it were up to them. Here's how it shook out:

Software Links
More: 190 (39.4%)
About the same: 288 (59.8%)
Less: 4 (0.8%)

Hardware Links
More: 68 (14.2%)
About the same: 319 (66.7%)
Less: 91 (19.0%)

Information Links
More: 233 (48.8%)
About the same: 240 (50.3%)
Less:4 (0.8%)

Community Links
More: 141 (29.4%)
About the same: 304 (63.5%)
Less: 34 (7.1%)

Rants
More: 201 (42.1%)
About the same: 251 (52.5%)
Less: 26 (5.4%)

Developer Software Reviews
More: 193 (40.3%)
About the same: 252 (52.6%)
Less: 34 (7.1%)

DBA Software Reviews
More: 75 (15.8%)
About the same: 260 (54.7%)
Less: 140 (29.5%)

Sysadmin Software Reviews
More: 48 (10.1%)
About the same: 257 (54.2%)
Less: 169 (35.7%)

Book Reviews
More: 213 (44.9%)
About the same: 212 (44.7%)
Less: 49 (10.3%)

Editorials
More: 247 (51.8%)
About the same: 212 (44.4%)
Less: 18 (3.8%)

The next set of questions were about MSDN subscriptions

Are you currently an MSDN subscriber?
No: 202 (42.2%)
Yes, at the Library or Operating Systems level: 7 (1.5%)
Yes, at the Professional Level: 32 (6.7%)
Yes, at the Enterprise Level: 45 (9.4%)
Yes, at the Universal Level: 193 (40.3%)

Do you intend to be an MSDN subscriber after VS2005 is released?
No: 177 (37.6%)
Yes, at the Library or Operating Systems level: 13 (2.8%)
Yes, at the Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition with MSDN Professional subscription level: 72 (15.3%)
Yes, at the Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition with MSDN Premium subscription level: 73 (15.5%)
Yes, at the Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Architects with MSDN Premium subscription level: 30 (6.4%)
Yes, at the Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Developers with MSDN Premium subscription level: 56 (11.9%)
Yes, at the Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Testers with MSDN Premium subscription level: 1 (0.2%)
Yes, at the Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite with MSDN Premium subscription level: 49 (10.4%)

If you're currently a Visual Studio user, has the VS 2005 pricing led you to consider switching to a different IDE?
Yes: 100 (22.7%)
No: 341 (77.3%)

If you're currently a Visual Studio user, has the VS 2005 pricing led you to consider switching to a different language (such as Java or SmallTalk) entirely?
Yes: 33 (7.5%)
No: 408 (92.5%)

And finally, the general questions.

Which (if any) of these languages do you do serious development work with? (This was a "pick many" question, so the percentages add up to more than 100%)
VB 6.0: 148 (31.3%)
VB.NET: 195 (41.3%)
C#: 338 (71.6%)
C++: 134 (28.4%)
Java: 78 (16.5%)
SmallTalk: 3 (0.6%)
Python: 57 (12.1%)
Perl: 33 (7.0%)
PHP: 43 (9.1%)
Ruby: 18 (3.8%)

Which language(s) are you upset that I left out of the list above?
As I expected, people were all over the map on this one. I've eliminated the ones who admitted they were joking.
SQL (various flavors): 18
C: 14
JavaScript: 14
Delphi: 13
ASP: 6
VBA: 6
VBScript: 6
Lisp: 5
ColdFusion: 4
XSLT: 4
Boo: 3
Scheme: 3
Fortran: 3
FoxPro or VFP: 3
Microsoft Access: 3
Haskell: 2
ABAP: 2
ASP.NET: 2
COBOL: 2
CSS: 2
F#: 2
Forth: 2
XML: 2
Chili: 1
Clarion: 1
C-Omega: 1
csh: 1
D: 1
Eiffel: 1
English: 1
HTML: 1
IDL: 1
Intersystems Cache ObjectScript: 1
Ladder: 1
Lotus/Domino: 1
Lua: 1
nawk: 1
PL/I: 1
PowerBasic: 1
Prolog: 1
PL/S: 1
Rebol: 1
Spanish: 1
Squeak: 1
VB5: 1
XPL: 1
YACC: 1

How many Web sites do you regularly read for developer news?
none: 35 (7.3%)
1: 6 (1.3%)
2-5: 217 (45.2%)
6-10: 128 (26.7%)
11-20: 45 (9.3%)
21 or more: 49 (10.2%)

How many RSS feeds do you regularly read for developer news?
none: 81 (16.8%)
1: 5 (1.0%)
2-5: 59 (12.3%)
6-10: 57 (11.9%)
11-20: 70 (14.6%)
21-50: 74 (15.4%)
51-100: 60 (12.5%)
101-250: 45 (9.4%)
251 or more: 30 (6.2%)

And of course I read all the general comments that you kind people sent. I won't reprint them all here; I'd get a seriously swelled ego if I did. I think my favorite was the reader who told me simply "Don't you ever dare stop The Daily Grind!"

Lucky winners of the prize drawing have been notified by e-mail. I'm not posting names publicly because I promised to keep e-mails confidential, so if you didn't hear from me, well, better luck next time. And many, many thanks to everyone who responded. The guidance and encouragement really help a lot.