Gathering web site statistics with Piwik

We picked it because we can guarantee better privacy for our users than
with Google Analytics. We handle sensitive letters on the WriteToThem
website (also open source). Also, in general we prefer to use open source
software, rather than proprietary software.

Using Javascript can reduce false hits - it has been the easiest, most
reliable way to exclude all bots from results for a while now. Also, the
setup is more in the hands of the person managing the content - it is hard
to give access to the log files themselves for the tools to run on without
a Unix systems administrator, which although I have, not everyone does.

Finally, I am really happy to see this article. I am worried that more and
more "open source" developers are using closed tools made by Google, such
as Google Analytics.

Another good example is GMail. I know many hackers who use GMail, who would
never have dreamed of using Outlook in the 1990s. Unfortunately, there is
no open source web-based email client that is comparable to GMail yet.
Maybe RoundCube will be one day, but it needs developers.

Ideally I'd like an integrated open source package, maybe in a virtual
machine you install, that gives you (on your own domain) web based email
(with GMail-like threading and keyboard shortcuts), SMTP and IMAP. And
integrates it all with full text search, spam whitelisting and other
features that require communication between various parts of the email
system. All ready set up.

If we don't compete with proprietary on the web, then all the gains of the
90s competing with Microsoft will be wiped out.