Mailinglist Archive: opensuse-ux (89 mails)
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Re: [opensuse-ux] A bit of a rant.
- From: Martin Schmidkunz <mschmidkunz@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 17 May 2007 09:37:21 +0200
- Message-id: <464C0631.8090503@xxxxxxx>
> Firstly, and as a side result of the 'developers == users' approach,
> very rarely is there ever any avenue for user feedback available. Most
> large scale distro's have no place to discuss what they
> like/dislike/need about the software in question.
Yes, I fully agree with you on that point. It is very vital and
invaluable for us to get feedback from "real" users. And I want to
reassure you that we are open to any kind of
suggestions/comments/criticism as long as it is part of a fair discussion.
> Bugzilla, and the GPL, is largely the reason for the first point.
> Everyone has the power to either submit a bug report or fix it
> themselves. The problem with this approach is that Bugzilla, while fine
> for crash reports, is entirely incapable of handling usability issues.
> Improving the software through a refined UI is simply not on the table
> with regards to Bugzilla.
Well, you can of course add some screenshots :-)
But I agree with you, that there are better ways to discuss these
issues. We are trying now to do this by presenting our ideas in the
openSUSE wiki (http://en.opensuse.org/UX) and to discuss them via this
mailing list.
> You can also, of course, code the changes
> yourself, but the enormous investment of time (that most people simply
> don't have) and the skill required makes this highly impractical.
Besides that, it might be a potential way to make things inconsistent.
> I admit I have not tried Suse for more than a few minutes (it does seem
> much more professional than Ubuntu though)
Thanks :-)
> so I will use Ubuntu as an
> example of what I mean.
To be honest, we have a similar "problems" with our YaST GUI.
But we start working on that, so maybe not for 10.3 but for further version.
> I'm not a fan of MS by any stretch,
> but I use software to achieve an end and don't care about ideology +
> politics, yet the FOSS community has a larger propaganda and FUD machine
> than Microsoft could ever hope to have. Software is judged on
> ideological considerations, rather than based on impartial
> considerations. It makes having rational, honest discussions nigh on
> impossible.
Yes! You got a very good point on that.
> Linux needs to find out why
> people *don't* use it, not why they do.
So, what do you think, what might be their reasons not to use Linux?
Wow! Thanks for your comments, Andrew. I have to admit that they are in
many way similar to my own thoughts.
I would really like to encourage you to comment our stuff and/or to
bring up your own ideas.
Thanks a lot,
Martin
--
Martin Schmidkunz
User Experience Specialist
martin.schmidkunz@xxxxxxxxxx
+49 (0) 911 740 53-346
-------------------------------------
SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, GF: Markus Rex, HRB 16746 (AG Nürnberg)
-------------------------------------
Novell, Inc.
SUSE® Linux Enterprise 10
Your Linux is ready
http://www.novell.com/linux
--
To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-ux+unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxx
For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-ux+help@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> very rarely is there ever any avenue for user feedback available. Most
> large scale distro's have no place to discuss what they
> like/dislike/need about the software in question.
Yes, I fully agree with you on that point. It is very vital and
invaluable for us to get feedback from "real" users. And I want to
reassure you that we are open to any kind of
suggestions/comments/criticism as long as it is part of a fair discussion.
> Bugzilla, and the GPL, is largely the reason for the first point.
> Everyone has the power to either submit a bug report or fix it
> themselves. The problem with this approach is that Bugzilla, while fine
> for crash reports, is entirely incapable of handling usability issues.
> Improving the software through a refined UI is simply not on the table
> with regards to Bugzilla.
Well, you can of course add some screenshots :-)
But I agree with you, that there are better ways to discuss these
issues. We are trying now to do this by presenting our ideas in the
openSUSE wiki (http://en.opensuse.org/UX) and to discuss them via this
mailing list.
> You can also, of course, code the changes
> yourself, but the enormous investment of time (that most people simply
> don't have) and the skill required makes this highly impractical.
Besides that, it might be a potential way to make things inconsistent.
> I admit I have not tried Suse for more than a few minutes (it does seem
> much more professional than Ubuntu though)
Thanks :-)
> so I will use Ubuntu as an
> example of what I mean.
To be honest, we have a similar "problems" with our YaST GUI.
But we start working on that, so maybe not for 10.3 but for further version.
> I'm not a fan of MS by any stretch,
> but I use software to achieve an end and don't care about ideology +
> politics, yet the FOSS community has a larger propaganda and FUD machine
> than Microsoft could ever hope to have. Software is judged on
> ideological considerations, rather than based on impartial
> considerations. It makes having rational, honest discussions nigh on
> impossible.
Yes! You got a very good point on that.
> Linux needs to find out why
> people *don't* use it, not why they do.
So, what do you think, what might be their reasons not to use Linux?
Wow! Thanks for your comments, Andrew. I have to admit that they are in
many way similar to my own thoughts.
I would really like to encourage you to comment our stuff and/or to
bring up your own ideas.
Thanks a lot,
Martin
--
Martin Schmidkunz
User Experience Specialist
martin.schmidkunz@xxxxxxxxxx
+49 (0) 911 740 53-346
-------------------------------------
SUSE LINUX Products GmbH, GF: Markus Rex, HRB 16746 (AG Nürnberg)
-------------------------------------
Novell, Inc.
SUSE® Linux Enterprise 10
Your Linux is ready
http://www.novell.com/linux
--
To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-ux+unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxx
For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-ux+help@xxxxxxxxxxxx
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