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Re: Experience the New Windows



On Thu, 22 Feb 2001, Diwakar Ranganathan wrote:

> i think you're confirming my opinion that linux programmers want linux
> to be a programmer's OS and they dont want linux to be easy. comrade,
> please be honest and dont take offence! dont linux programmers want to
> keep linux for themselves?

If you want an unsolicited opinion on this ;-) - I think it isn't about
keeping the OS for themselves, it is about more about apathy (no offence
meant to anyone).

Most OpenSource programmers tend to take things to a functional stage, and
then expect the community to pitch in to make it a V1.0. The problem is -
since the functional stuff does the job, adding a GUI to it or (shudder -
the horror of it ;-) *documenting* it seems like a job best left to
others, and naturally there *are* no others.

This is what I meant by

> The time has come for techies to stop building a better mousetrap, or
> at least divert resources to building distros and apps that give the
> average (and not so average) home user something to be of use without
> requiring him to be a believer or propeller-head.

There is a wealth of apps out there. Many of them are actually fully
functional and completely usable - except that they aren't documented in
any usable fashion, which means the user doesn't actually get to use them
or even know about them, even if they are installed with his favourite
distro!

Someone needs to write some good startup material for these apps. Someone
else needs to coordinate things to maintain a common look and feel to
these docs.

This is something *most* programmers shrink away from, mostly because it
sounds like *real work*! ;-)

What I am talking about is building a "Joe Ramaswamy compatible"
post-installation process/experience for Linux distros that give new users
an experience similar to what Windows users experience when they get their
new machines, and gives them a quick overview of what they have, allowing
them to begin using those apps.

Atul

p.s. I am not trying distract from the value of a regionalised Linux, but
that wasn't what we were discussing - we were discussing why Windows still
tends to give a better user experience to Home PC owners.

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Atul Chitnis       | achitnis@xxxxxxxxxxx (PGP:6011BCB8)
Exocore Consulting | http://www.exocore.com
Bangalore, India   | +91 (80) 3440397 Fax +91 (80) 3341137
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