URL: http://cxc.harvard.edu/ciao3.4/survey/index.htmlLast modified: 26 September 2006Software Survey ResultsPresented here are the results from the CXC Software User Survey conducted in March 2003. Each of 108anonymous respondents was assigned a number in order to correlate answers within the survey. Note that a set anumbers was skipped in this process, resulting in comments being numbered up to "126"; this error in no wayaffects the survey results.Contents:User Information• CIAO Tools and Applications• CIAO Documentation• Image Display Applications• Portable Systems• Web Browsers• Memory• Software Installation• Proposal Tools and Applications• User InformationTotal number of respondents: 108How they described themselves:Undergraduate Student: 2• Graduate Student: 21• Post−doctoral Researcher: 23• Astronomer who occasionally works in X−Rays: 3• X−Ray Astronomer: 39• Other: 20 (List)• Level of experience with scientific analysis software:New User: 8• Occasional User: 11• Regular User: 46• Expert User: 36• Software Survey Results − CIAO 3.4Software Survey Results 1CIAO Tools and ApplicationsWhat kinds of CIAO analysis tasks do you perform most often?Never Rarely Sometimes Often AlwaysACIS ImagingSpatial10 9 21 22 34HRC ImagingSpatial51 19 12 3 0ACIS ImagingSpectral8 6 16 36 32ACIS HETGGratingSpectral34 11 19 20 11ACIS LETGGratingSpectral45 15 14 10 2HRC LETGGratingSpectral55 8 12 11 2ACIS Timing 43 19 16 8 3HRC Timing 63 10 7 4 1Can you easily perform these tasks using CIAO?Yes: 52• Sometimes: 46• No: 5• Responses: Tasks users cannot easily do now.How often do you use the following CIAO command−line tools, scripts, or applications?Never Rarely Sometimes Often Alwaysahelp 2 6 28 47 16chips 29 18 22 19 6csmooth 33 16 20 18 6detecttools 47 13 11 14 9Software Survey Results − CIAO 3.42 CIAO Tools and Applicationsdmcopy 3 2 12 41 41dmfilth 50 17 18 3 1dmgroup 29 16 22 14 11dmimg2jpg 46 18 14 10 3dmlist 8 9 18 28 35firstlook 66 14 6 7 0lightcurve 24 14 28 21 9mkgrmf 35 14 22 17 8mkpsf 43 22 16 10 0prism 42 14 15 18 5psextract 29 15 19 17 15sherpa 33 14 21 16 13s−lang asembedded inCIAO37 21 21 9 3Responses: Other command−line tools used often.These responses have also been collected into the following table:Tool Number of Votesdmextract 16mkrmf 11acis_process_events 11mkarf 9ftools 6dmhedit 5mkwarf 5detect tools 4mkexpmap 4Isis 4Software Survey Results − CIAO 3.4CIAO Tools and Applications 3mkgarf 4dmstat 4Three votes each: destreak, dmimgcalc, dmregrid, fullgarf,merge_all, mkinstmap, tgextract, tg_resolve_events, s−langembedded in IsisTwo votes each: acisreadcorr, apply_acisabs, dmcoords, dmmergeOne vote each: acis_set_ardlib, acisspec, asphist, dmkeypar,hrc_process_events, mkeypar, plist, pset, reproject_events, xspecHow often do you use the following packages to analyze Chandra data?Never Rarely Sometimes Often AlwaysExternal (List) 24 1 9 15 19FTOOLS(List)9 13 18 23 14IDL 29 4 11 15 32IRAF 52 19 11 2 0ISIS 43 12 5 11 13PINTofALE 69 5 2 2 6PROS 69 10 6 0 0SPEX 73 10 2 0 0XMMSAS 63 12 3 2 2XRONOS 70 8 2 5 0XSPEC 13 11 21 20 30Other (List) 14 1 4 10 1Responses:CIAO features users liked best.• CIAO features that should be added or improved.• CIAO features users liked the least.• Software Survey Results − CIAO 3.44 CIAO Tools and ApplicationsHow do you compare using CIAO to other astronomical analysis systems?NoOpinionMuchMoreDifficultSomewhatMoreDifficultAboutEqualSomewhatEasierMuchEasierCIAO vs.othersystems8 4 14 39 24 10Responses: Features that make other data analysis packages easier to use than CIAO.CIAO DocumentationDo you read any of the following CIAO documents?Never Rarely Sometimes Often AlwaysAhelp Pages 1 4 31 45 19AnalysisGuides15 20 38 23 4Dictionary 36 34 18 5 2FAQ 31 28 27 7 3Manuals 7 21 37 30 5Threads 1 5 15 40 39Why? Topics 33 24 21 8 3How do you rate the following with regard to documentation?NoOpinionPoor Marginal Satisfactory Good ExcellentCompleteness 10 4 18 29 34 5Ease of use 6 4 10 34 37 9Technicalcontent8 5 17 38 31 1Responses:CIAO documentation features that users liked best.• Software Survey Results − CIAO 3.4CIAO Documentation 5CIAO documentation features which are missing or need improvement.• Image Display ApplicationsHow often do you use the following image display applications? (Free software)Never Rarely Sometimes Often Alwaysaipsview 81 1 3 2 0aladin 72 6 7 2 0ds9 0 1 10 22 66fitsview /xfitsview73 4 8 2 0gaia 77 3 2 2 0gimp 46 21 11 9 2karma 79 4 0 1 1POW (fv) 57 5 15 9 3saoimage 59 14 10 5 2saotng 68 14 4 1 0skycat /jskycat75 7 4 0 0ximtool 67 13 6 2 1xv 20 14 29 21 7Other (List) 25 0 0 10 4How often do you use the following image display applications? (Commercial software)Never Rarely Sometimes Often Alwaysidl 25 6 20 9 30mathematica 61 17 5 5 1matlab 79 6 0 0 0photoshop 61 10 12 4 0Other (List) 28 0 1 5 1Software Survey Results − CIAO 3.46 Image Display ApplicationsResponses:Can you make publication quality images in a journal's desired format?• Image display features which are missing.• Image display features users like the most.• Image display features users like the least.• Reasons for using one particular image display application.• Current and Future Portable SystemsWindow Managers / DesktopsWhich window manager/desktop do you use now?Which will you use in the next year?CurrentlyIn the nextyearCDE (dtwm) 35 28fvwm 21 18Gnome/sawfish 23 27kde/kwm 25 30OpenLook(olwm/olvwm)7 7Other (List) 13 17WorkstationsSun Sparc/SolarisWhich version of Solaris do you use now?Which will you use in the next year?Currently In the next yearSolaris 2.6 9 7Solaris 7 4 2• Software Survey Results − CIAO 3.4Current and Future Portable Systems 7Solaris 8 39 31Solaris 9 1 10Other (List) 4 3Compaq Alpha / Tru64 UnixWhich version of the OS do you use now?Which will you use in the next year?CurrentlyIn the nextyearCompaq Tru64 Unix4.0f4 3Compaq Tru64 Unix5.02 1Compaq Tru64 Unix5.12 3Other Tru64 version 0 0Alpha linux 0 0• PC SystemsPC−Linux (x86)Which version of the PC−Linux (x86) OS do you use now?Which will you use in the next year?Currently In the next yearRedhat 6.2 19 13Redhat 8.0 24 42SuSE 7.x 2 3SuSE 8.x 2 3Debian 2.x 9 5Debian 3.0 8 13Mandrake 8.x 2 1Mandrake 9.0 2 3• Software Survey Results − CIAO 3.48 Compaq Alpha / Tru64 UnixSlackware 8.0 1 1Other (List) 17 11Apple PowerPC (G3−G4)Interested in a PowerPC port?Yes: 31♦ No: 22♦ Which version of the OS do you