On Mon, Aug 3, 2009 at 8:46 PM, Kevin "Yeaux"
Dupuy
Sent from Kevin Yeaux's mobile device.
On Aug 3, 2009, at 4:29 PM, Boyd Lynn Gerber
wrote: 1. Do we need new wording on the selection screen?
Probably, but as I've been saying in the past few emails I've sent, the best solution would probably be a tour of each desktop done by their selective teams. I was planning on introducing something like that in the launch of 11.2, as that would help new users decide by getting a look at each desktop. We could also help by incorporating this into the install (though it would have to be done pretty early in the dev cycle and not until 11.3 at the earliest, if we want it in the install.) -- Kevin "Yeaux" Dupuy openSUSE Project Member --
As a user, not a developer. And as a user of both Gnome and KDE (avidly KDE until a couple of months ago when I could not get a stable desktop on 4, and hopefully soon to go back), I'd like to make a couple of comments. I've seen arguments about a default selection being needed, because new users just want to click next. I've seen arguments about a default KDE selection being needed, because its the more often used desktop, and would likely have a larger base of installed users to get support from. I've seen arguments about a default KDE selection, to help in repairing a damaged relationship openSuse has with KDE developers. First, new users come in roughly three categories I would say. First, users who have no idea what they want or are doing and just are installing this to try something new. They have very little background in linux, if any, and really probably have not researched anything to any degree. These users are likely not going to understand or follow any real discussion of what a desktop environment is. Technical questions may in fact scare them, at the least its something they don't want to think about. To satisfy these users, you would actually want a group of non-technical questions that let you make technical assumptions. Like: "Do you do a lot of photo editing?" or "What do you want to do with this computer?" So that maybe instead of picking a DE they get a DE based on what the questions have revealed. (Obviously this is far more complex and related to asking the RIGHT questions, but really its the way many non-technical people want to interact with a computer, at least my wife says so ;) ) The question I think that needs answering is, how big a group of people is this for openSuse. Second, you have users who may have done some research, they picked openSuse for a reason. They may not know what DE they want, but they are willing to see screen shots or read some to get an idea. These people will click a link to get more information and WILL understand if its explained that the user base for openSuse is 70% KDE. And they will make an educated guess on what they would like to try from those descriptions. Would a default "help" them, maybe, but probably not much more so than a mini-tour or description. If they've bothered to pick openSuse for a reason, they will take a look at more information to make an educated choice here. Third, you have users that are coming from another distribution. They already know what they want to do and what they want to try. It doesn't really matter what you say here, they know what they want to do and will choose it. They may read the descriptions for the various DEs, but odds are they are going to do what they wanted to do in the first place. So IMHO, unless you are really trying to solve the first case of user, a default selection is not going to really solve a serious problem. Instead its the idea of reparations for damaged feelings. But to me, this feels like something to make one segment of people feel better, while making another feel worse. Directly or indirectly. If thats the case, there should be a way of fixing that relationship without damaging another. Michael -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org