On Sat, Mar 6, 2010 at 6:22 PM, Les <hlhowell@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Hi, Craig, > While those of us who use lots of applications may be familiar with the > general concepts and will prowl a bit to get the right combination, And since there is so much energy wasted on different projects, the right combination often ends up being the "best" combination, which is often far from ideal. Then, tell me, are you an expert in photo and video editing software, in databases, spreadsheets, voice mail, etc.? Wouldn't it be nice if there was a default repository where you could find applications to, at least, get you started conveniently? > those who use computers only for a task just what to know how to do the > things they need to do. > > This is no way unfair. Not caring about those people is unfair to Linux users. You end up with 18 months old motherboards whose only BIOS option is entering the password. That's if you're lucky. If the newbie uses one of those "fun little distro" as LinuxMint or Ubuntu, he might end up to a blank screen and, then, it will be "Linux doesn't work!" It's a vicious circle. Less people use Linux because it doesn't work and Linux doesn't work because less people use it. Userfriendlyness is in no way a combat between geeks and newbies. In all applications, you can offer a second level of configuration for geeks with a warning to newbies. > The point is, though, that for the computer to be useful, it must meet > the needs of the users, not the developers. It is a vital distinction. > A good engineer listens to this kind of feedback and tries to come up > with a solution. > A foolish manager will denigrate this kind of input, and loose > credibility with both staff and customers, as well as doom his product, > whatever it might be, to obscurity. I've worked for or with some of > those from time to time, and it is an exercise in design and engineering > futility. Shit, I almost cry reading this common sense. Maybe it would be instructive to know you better. Are you a geek or a "suit"? Who did you work for? Can you tell us more about real case scenarios? > And to be honest, good documentation is a major weakness in Linux on > all fronts, from the OS itself, to the utilities. There are not enough > books and not enough well written on-line tutorials to really help the > novice, and those that do exist don't seem to ever be updated (except > for the Wiki's). Sometimes, the right information is there but amongst so much (hopefully) well intentioned, but badly written information that you have a hard time getting to it. Then, somebody who knows the answer provides the right keywords and pretends that "Google is your friend". Of course, the eternal RTFM motto, with nothing understandable to newcomers, also drives newbies mad. See how Daniel J. Barrett explains basic commands in the "Linux Pocket Guide". I believe all the man pages could be rewritten in the same style and the man pages would be made clearer for everybody. Geeks usually disguise their basic inability to write in Shakespeare's language behind technical mumbo-jumbo whose format, they believe, will necessarily make things clearer. Of course, just the opposite happens. > This is all just my honest opinion based upon my personal experience. It's all the way mine too! -- users mailing list users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
