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TPC Survey '97

Paul Cipywnyk

Thanks to everyone who filled in surveys at the January and February meetings!

We have forwarded your responses, complete with e-mail addresses to "XXX.com," "SPAM_Inc.com," and "MostWanted@INTERPOL.org."

O.K, seriously, I'm sure you're all dying to know what the "average" TPC user profile looks like. Well, the "average" TPC survey respondent is running Windows 95 on a Pentium CPU with 16-32MB of RAM.

Over two-thirds of respondents have an Internet account, and "frequently" use the Internet for e-mail and for browsing the WWW. While about the same number say they log on to the TPC BBS, the number of "frequent" users in any of the categories was low. Interest in the Internet was very high—I'll talk more about this later.

Only two respondents rated themselves as computer "beginners," but don't less this scare you away if you're a newbie—we welcome all levels of users.

NOTE: Totals within sections DO NOT always add up -- as some did not answer all questions, etc.

Total Number of Surveys Answered:	36
Members:	27
Non-members:	9

How long have you been a member?
Less than 1 year:	4
One to two years:	5
Three to four years:	7
More than five years:	11

Have served on the executive:	8
Interested in serving on the exec or volunteering:	16

Computer Experience
Advanced:	10
Upper Int.:	13
Lower Int.:	11
Beginner:	2

A little less than half of respondents work in either the computer hardware or software fields. Almost everyone who answered the survey uses computers both at work and at home.

Job in computer hard/software:	16

Use computer at work:	35
Use computer at home:	34
Use mostly at work:	16
Use mostly at home:	8
Use about even:	12

Microsoft operating systems--judging from traffic on the BBS, nobody loves them, but it also appears that almost nobody will leave them! The main operating systems used were some version of Windows. DOS-only die-hards were matched by Linux wizards. Looks like OS/2 is dead for TPCers. About a quarter used a Japanese OS.

Main Operating System:
DOS	3
Win 3.X	6
Win 95	20
Win NT	3
OS/2 2.X	0
OS/2 3.X	0
OS/2 4.X	0
Linux/Unix	3
Mac	1

Of the above, 9 said main OS was Japanese

Secondary OS:
DOS	5
Win 3.X	4
Win 95	8
Win NT	3
OS/2 2.X	0
OS/2 3.X	1
OS/2 4.X	1
Linux/Unix	1
Mac	4

Of the above, 8 said second OS was Japanese

People appear to be running fairly powerful computers. Almost two-thirds had Pentiums, and a bit less than a quarter had 486s. Most had over 8MB of RAM, with almost a third stocked with over 32MB. Only two respondents didn't have a modem, and of those who did, almost all were running at 28.8Kbps or faster.

CPU
286	1
386	2
486	8
Pentium	22
Pentium Pro	1
Other	1

RAM
<=4MB	2
<=8MB	2
<=16MB	12
<=32MB	10
Over 32MB	10

Modem
None	2
<=9,600bps	1
14.4Kbps	3
28.8Kbps	25
33.6Kbps	3
ISDN64K	1

Fax Modem, Yes:	31
Send faxes, Yes:	21
Receive faxes, Yes:	12

TPC BBS Use:

About two-thirds said they use the TPC BBS, but it appears that there are few "moderate" or "frequent" users in any category. I would like to add, though, that our SYSOP, Frank Angstead, says his logs show that more people use the BBS for Internet e-mail access than is indicated by this survey. The BBS recently moved and the numbers changed--please check the numbers elsewhere in this newsletter and log on!

Use the BBS, Yes:		21

I use the BBS for:
Chat
Never	4
Occasionally	2
Moderately	7
Frequently	8

Life in Tokyo/Japan help
Never	23
Occasionally	5
Moderately	6
Frequently	1

Computer hard/software help
Never	19
Occasionally	7
Moderately	5
Frequently	4

Computer hard/software news/info
Never	18
Occasionally	6
Moderately	7
Frequently	4

Shareware files
Never	21
Occasionally	11
Moderately	2
Frequently	1

File Transfer
Never	28
Occasionally	2
Moderately	4
Frequently	1

Internet e-mail
Never	27
Occasionally	4
Moderately	2
Frequently	2

People could circle the following canned comments as to why they don't use the BBS:

Too difficult to use	3
Not interesting	1
Not useful	1

Internet

A lot of people use the Internet, as over two-thirds said they have a personal account. People use the net heavily for e-mail and WWW browsing. It appears that FTPing files is also quite popular, as is subscribing to mail-lists, but USENET newsgroups aren't used very much. Nobody in the survey said they use Internet chat or telephony.

Internet Use:
Do you access Internet at work or school?
Yes	27
No	9

Do you have a personal Internet account?
Yes	27
No	9

If no, do you plan to get an account within this year?
Yes	1
No

Have you accessed the TPC site on the WWW?
Yes	17
No	19

My company/school has a site on the WWW
Yes	20
No	16

I have a personal home page on the WWW
Yes	13
No	23

I use the following on the Internet:
E-mail
Never	7
Occasionally	1
Moderately	1
Frequently	27

Mail lists
Never	19
Occasionally	4
Moderately	4
Frequently	9

USENET Newsgroups
Never	17
Occasionally	5
Moderately	8
Frequently	6

World Wide Web
Never	7
Occasionally	2
Moderately	5
Frequently	22

FTP
Never	13
Occasionally	7
Moderately	5
Frequently	10

Telnet
Never	19
Occasionally	10
Moderately	4
Frequently	3

IRC (Chat)
Never	30
Occasionally	6
Moderately	0
Frequently	0
Internet Telephony
Never	31
Occasionally	5
Moderately	0
Frequently	0

My WWW browser is:
Netscape 1.X	0
Netscape 2.X	7
Netscape 3.X	17
MSIE 2.X	0
MSIE 3.X	4

Purpose of Meetings:

It looks like we are as much, if not more, of a social club, than a hardcore computing club. Socializing and networking (of the face-to-face variety) outranked help and learning.

(note: scale of 1-4 from Not Important to Very Important)

Socializing
1:	4
2:	5
3:	11
4:	16
Total:	111

Networking face-to-face
1:	5
2:	5
3:	11
4:	15
Total:	108

Help with hard/software problems
1:	5
2:	10
3:	10
4:	11
Total:	99

Computer-related information/education
1:	4
2:	4
3:	14
4:	14
Total:	110

Topics and Interests

Well, it's the internet by a mile, folks. If we throw in the "communications software" category, internet-related topics took six of the Top 10 positions. Rounding out the Top 10 were "hardware," "operating systems," and "bilingual English/Japanese computing." (For more on this last one, see Ken Cotton's article on page 10)

I am interested in the following presentations or topics:

(Note: scale 1-4 from Not Interested to Very Interested)

(Note 2: If most of a survey had been filled in, but some answers for particular item were blank, I treated them as being "1" -- Not Interested)

(Note 3: The lowest a category could possibly score is 36, and the highest would be 144.)

Internet in general
1:	5
2:	3
3:	8
4:	20
Total:	115

How to use and search the Internet efficiently
1:	6
2:	3
3:	7
4:	20
Total:	113

Communications software
1:	5
2:	3
3:	14
4:	14
Total:	109

Hardware (new, how to use)
1:	5
2:	5
3:	14
4:	12
Total:	105

Operating systems (new, how to use)
1:	4
2:	8
3:	13
4:	11
Total:	103

How to publish and maintain a home page
1:	8
2:	7
3:	5
4:	16
Total:	101

Bilingual English/Japanese computing
1:	7
2:	10
3:	8
4:	11
Total:	95

Graphics software
1:	9
2:	9
3:	7
4:	11
Total:	92

Social implications/ramifications of computers/Internet
1:	10
2:	9
3:	5
4:	12
Total:	91

How to access the Internet
1:	9
2:	9
3:	9
4:	9
Total:	90

Word processing software
1:	10
2:	8
3:	10
4:	8
Total:	88

Application macros, simple scripts, etc.
1:	12
2:	7
3:	6
4:	11
Total:	88

Remote Access
1:	11
2:	9
3:	6
4:	10
Total:	87

LANs/Networking
1:	14
2:	6
3:	5
4:	11
Total:	85

Database software
1:	9
2:	13
3:	8
4:	6
Total:	83

JavaScript
1:	14
2:	5
3:	9
4:	8
Total:	83

Java
1:	14
2:	4
3:	11
4:	7
Total:	83

Desktop Publishing (DTP)
1:	9
2:	16
3:	3
4:	8
Total:	82

Programming in general
1:	12
2:	9
3:	4
4:	10
Total:	82

Video software
1:	11
2:	12
3:	7
4:	6
Total:	80

Audio/Music software
1:	13
2:	9
3:	9
4:	5
Total:	78

Visual Basic
1:	16
2:	4
3:	10
4:	6
Total:	78

Presentation software
1:	13
2:	11
3:	8
4:	4
Total:	75

Visual Basic for Applications
1:	15
2:	8
3:	8
4:	5
Total:	75

C/C++
1:	17
2:	7
3:	6
4:	6
Total:	73

Personal Information Management (PIMs)
1:	16
2:	10
3:	6
4:	4
Total:	70

Spreadsheets
1:	17
2:	8
3:	7
4:	4
Total:	70

Perl
1:	18
2:	8
3:	5
4:	5
Total:	69

Games
1:	20
2:	8
3:	3
4:	5
Total:	65

Delphi
1:	23
2:	7
3:	3
4:	3
Total:	58

Algorithmica Japonica Newsletter

How much of each AJ do you read?
None	3
Some	4
Most	9
All	18

The overall design/layout is:
Bad	0
So-so	2
O.K.	14
Good	15

The content is:
Too easy	1
Alright	29
Tough	1
Too hard	0

Is the content useful?
Yes	29

© Algorithmica Japonica Copyright Notice: Copyright of material rests with the individual author. Articles may be reprinted by other user groups if the author and original publication are credited. Any other reproduction or use of material herein is prohibited without prior written permission from TPC. The mention of names of products without indication of Trademark or Registered Trademark status in no way implies that these products are not so protected by law.

Algorithmica Japonica

March, 1997

The Newsletter of the Tokyo PC Users Group

Submissions : Editor

Tokyo PC Users Group, Post Office Box 103, Shibuya-Ku, Tokyo 150-8691, JAPAN