-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1
Michael A. Peters wrote: | On 01/09/2005 02:50:52 PM, Havoc Pennington wrote: | |> |> My prediction is that mounting it by default is what virtually |> everyone |> wants. | What I'm guessing most users want to do is add and remove files for use | on the device itself later, which needs to be done with a front end | that speaks to the devices library database. Thus I would think most | users want an _application_ to be able to talk to it, which can be | accomplished by mounting the device when the application wants it. | This is a lot of guessing. It all seems to be centered around how should we interact with newly attached [storage] devices. I've seen the discussion numbers of times on this and the other lists and as many crazy ideas as how to solve the dilemma. I dont believe the answer is that simple.
Advanced users often prefer to work at the file system level and interact with storage/mp3/digicams with a file manager and normal/basic users like to be walked through the process of doing whatever it is they need to do (normally by an application front-end of some sort).
I dont particularly like the idea of device connection as an interrupting UI event nor do i like the idea of auto mounting it without approval or notification (but i dont think asking the user to jump through hoops to mount/configure the device is an acceptable solution either). This also seems to be an issue with network interfaces and virtually any other connected (hot-plug) device.
My proposed solution is a system tray based utility that discreetly notifies users when new devices are detected and provides them with an opportunity to mount/configure the device. This way we dont interrupt the user interface but instead provide them with information to make the decision with the added benefit of allowing them to make their selected action permanent in the future.
Devices need not be handled immediately upon notification but can be delayed until the user has finished the task at hand. Devices would probably remain in the systray utility until they are configured or detached from the system again. Perhaps we leave them in there the whole time and have 3 states of device existence (Newly Attached, Configured, Removed).
I'd be happy to write up a full mock up of this process if there is any interest. There are a number of ways i believe we can make the device initialization and configuration process simpler, unified, elegant and more powerful at the same time. This is one of the single most important issues for desktop migration in my opinion. People are ok using whatever applications as long as they "Just work" the way they want them to but they are very unwilling to get into the midst of a device configuration debacle.
Best wishes, - -mf -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.6 (GNU/Linux)
iD8DBQFB4jWCBVsNYjF2rDYRAi+0AJ9VJFYcQ4nswqCBqJxkwBwpZrNZKwCeLARw RgOxPSllI0G4DAC39Hk479o= =oYRB -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----