Is this an ad for Google Analytics? [LWN.net]

Is this an ad for Google Analytics?

Posted Feb 6, 2010 17:24 UTC (Sat) by bgilbert (subscriber, #4738)
Parent article: Gathering web site statistics with Piwik

If open formats and using an open tool isn't a concern, Microsoft Word might be a better choice for now, because it does offer a wider selection of features. But users seeking an open source solution should look seriously at OpenOffice.org.

Since when does LWN compare open tools to proprietary ones?

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Is this an ad for Google Analytics?

Posted Feb 6, 2010 18:20 UTC (Sat) by corbet (editor, #1) [Link] (3 responses)

As the article was being prepared, I did try to direct its focus away from Analytics and toward Piwik itself. That said:

Proprietary tools - especially very widely used proprietary tools - can show what is possible and what people want. Piwik is likely to be of interest to sites wanting to move away from this particular proprietary tool - or which chose not to use it in the first place. People running such sites are likely to be interested in what they might gain or lose by making this change. Sorry, but I think the comparisons are appropriate, and I hope they were useful for some.

Is this an ad for Google Analytics?

Posted Feb 6, 2010 18:58 UTC (Sat) by rahulsundaram (subscriber, #21946) [Link]

I think its totally appropriate to compare like this

Is this an ad for Google Analytics?

Posted Feb 7, 2010 1:57 UTC (Sun) by bgilbert (subscriber, #4738) [Link] (1 responses)

I should have been more precise. The comparison itself doesn't bother me, but the presentation sometimes seems to endorse Analytics. For example, rather than saying that Google does a better job at showing geographic data than Piwik, LWN would usually say that Piwik doesn't yet do as good of a job as Google. This article, rather than following LWN's usual approach ("open source package X needs some work to catch up to package Y/the needs of its users/the expectations of people migrating from proprietary systems"), seems to say that users who need more features from their site statistics package should go use proprietary software.

Is this an ad for Google Analytics?

Posted Feb 12, 2010 9:18 UTC (Fri) by emeraldine (guest, #63520) [Link]

great article. not necessarily an ad for google, just comparing the two is very insightful already