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Measuring the Size of a Developer's Community?
Travelr9 asks: "I am engaged in a project where upper management is deciding whether to use Linux or Palm OS on a new device. Leaving aside the technical merits of each [in the context of this decision, either could work well] a key question is the size of the developer communities (for both OS and applications) of Linux vs. Palm. I have searched for info on this topic, and have come up blank aside from vague assertions. Is anyone capturing real numbers and stats? This also brings up an interesting conceptual question -- how do you measure the size, quality, impact, etc., of a developer community? Number of bodies isn't enough. Number of apps? Number of lines of code? Frequency of major releases in core application or platform categories? Can you measure a concept like 'quality of developer community' usefully?"
Does size matter?
The development community could be fairly large for a platform that has been around for a long time. However, this platform may be about to be superseded by a new upstart with a smaller yet growing community
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Maybe SourceForge's stats could help in this case... Not the whole truth, but something still.
.: Max Romantschuk
I assume from the context that the new device you mentioned is PDA-like? I think that what you should not forget in the case of Linux is that you do not only have to look at the Linux PDA developers community. A big percent of what is done by the "desktop linux" developer's community can be utilized easily also in PDA -like environment. I can show you no hard facts, but I believe this is a big difference in favor of Linux. I guess, you should try to see your device and the applications & other software you fancy running on it taking this aspect into account as well.
If your going for handhelds, palm is the way to go cause it's stable and standardized and entrenched. Linux on the handheld is newer and can come in many varieties. The palm OS is the same where ever you go.