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We all don't use it to install software but still, with millions of users worldwide, I'm surprised to see the amount of reviews for popular software.

  • VLC (2026)
  • Chromium (1432)
  • Eclipse (271)

In comparison, Google Play has hundreds of thousands of reviews for VLC and other apps that are not that popular. Why is this?

The question is not aiming for an opinion based answer. I would like to know if there are factors that may reset or reduce the amount of reviews shown. Something like not showing other languages, locations or reseting the reviews when a package is upgraded.

Katu
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    Did you leave a review there? ;-) – Pilot6 Sep 19 '15 at 15:04
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    I think you need an account to leave a review, and in Play, you start off with one, but people have to make one in USC. Then too, the vast majority of installation instructions don't use USC. Combined, I don't expect much traffic from USC. Also, I'd think there are waaay more Android users than Ubuntu users. – muru Sep 19 '15 at 15:06
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    Because i) android apps, unlike Ubuntu's, ask for reviews with a popup; ii) people are already logged in when they visit the google play so it's easier to leave a review and iii) I don't know but I would be very surprised if there weren't more Android than Ubuntu users. – terdon Sep 19 '15 at 15:29
  • @terdon I think your comment is a valid answer to the question more than a comment. Yes, there are more Android users but I still feel that the difference in the amount of reviews is too big for that to be the only explanation. Less than 400 reviews for Ubuntu restricted extras after years is almost unbelievable. – Katu Sep 19 '15 at 15:36
  • It is a valid answer but I'm afraid that's not a valid question :) We can't know for sure, so this is "primarily opinion based" and will probably be closed as such. – terdon Sep 19 '15 at 15:41
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    The question wasn't aiming for an opinion based answer. I was hoping that the answer may be something like... i) You only see reviews in your language/location. ii) Reviews are reseted when the software version of the package is updated. iii) They are reseted with a new distro... or other explanation. But not an opinion like, because it's not popular to leave reviews. – Katu Sep 19 '15 at 15:47

1 Answers1

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I think it's because so few people use the Ubuntu Software Center. Personally I prefer installing programs with the command line interface, with apt-get.

heemayl
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Promille
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