Hey everyone

you may remember my [url=http://www.opserver.de/ubb7/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=34840&Number=285191]previous survey{/url] about the way you use the forums. Your answers were extremely helpful and I promise I will show you what I made out of them in a bit, but for now I have a few more questions.

Thanks
Michael

Do you use drag and drop? single choice
	All the time
	Sometimes
	Never
	Depends on the application (please specify which)
Votes accepted starting: 10/05/09 20:45
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Which of the following is the primary operating system you are using? single choice
	Windows 7
	Windows Vista
	Windows XP
	Mac OSX
	Linux (KDE)
	Linux (Gnome)
	Other (please specify)
Votes accepted starting: 10/05/09 20:48
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Do you have Google Gears installed? single choice
	Yes, I am using a browser that comes with it (e.g. Chrome)
	Yes, I installed it manually
	No
Votes accepted starting: 10/05/09 20:49
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When working with files, which of the following features do you consider most important? multiple choice
	Copy / Paste
	Drag and drop
	View information about a file
	Ability to rename files
	Icons for different file types
	Ability to view the size of a file
	Ability to view the date and time when a file was last modified
	Ability to search for files
	Ability to sort files (e.g. by size)
	Other (please specify)
Votes accepted starting: 10/05/09 20:53
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On the last question I picked other:
- File comparison is important for me to track changes done.
- compression (e.g. zip) for transferring data
- multiple selection for e.g. moving or copying

- Do you use drag and drop?
Yes.

- Which of the following is the primary operating system you are using?
Windows 7.

- Do you have Google Gears installed?
No.

- When working with files, which of the following features do you consider most important?
* Copy / Paste
* View information about a file
* Ability to rename files
* Icons for different file types
* Ability to view the date and time when a file was last modified
* Ability to search for files
* Ability to sort files (e.g. by size)

I find all of what you've mentioned important when it comes to that last question. Basically you've mentioned all the basic file operations we'd expect.

Ah one thing concerning drag and drop: I usually use it when I don't understand the user interface or when it's structured poorly and does not support the standard shortcuts

the last question is a little wierd, nowadays everyone uses such "gestures".

I hoped you would say .. merge file , pick a text and merge with the other.
Subtract file .. clone file.

Compress file. etc

Thanks to everyone who has voted so far.

@MMike and @PHeMoX: I see your point, but the question asks for which of them you consider "most important" so basically it asks for the features that are most essential in a file browser which, if they weren't there, would prevent you from using it. I agree though that all of them are important.

Any OS with a graphical interface supports the aforementioned features so the question is more like "why should I use an external file browser in the first place if the system offers my a native way to do these things anyway?"

I don't see why this would be a question at all. Firstly, I never stated that this survey is about external file browsers as you should see because of the other questions and secondly it shouldn't matter because this is simply a survey about the way you use file browsers and not an attempt to convince you to use some alternative product. This might as well be some sort of psychological research. I am not saying that it is, but it could be a possibility.

Also there are scenarios where the file browser that comes with the operating system cannot be used. For instance, if you want to access files in your company's network from a remote location and the company doesn't allow you to use a remote desktop protocol to access them.

Yeah, it that case; renaming files and being able to copy and past them (or duplicating files for back-up purposes) is rather vital for me.

A search function comes in handy, but not necessary, my files data bases tend to be not huge.