Sent from Kevin Yeaux's mobile device.
On Aug 4, 2009, at 7:31 AM, Michael Letourneau wrote:
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 Yeah, the Desktop Tour is sounding like a better idea every day.
Unfortunately, I can't do anything with it until next week when I get
back hone, but I really think this quick, graphical tour is the best
idea for helping new users decide on a desktop.
--
Kevin "Yeaux" Dupuy
openSUSE Project Member
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