On Wed, 30 Jun 2010 16:04:13 +0200, Michael Loeffler wrote:
Absolutely! :-) I like the idea of adding some training to attract more people to openSUSE and fill in knowledge where needed in a scalable way.
1. Professional or something related training 1.a End-user training As of today I'd stay away from end-user training or maybe we need some agreement on the term user in general. I don't see us reaching out to John Doe.
I think it depends on how we define "end user" - your breakdown below is a good starting point.
I do see the term user divided into two groups: - the user like my wife, my mum, my brother. They use a computer to do some productivity work (OpenOffice covers that mainly), they surf the internet, send/receive emails maybe some picture manipulation or additional a certain software (accounting, database) they need to fulfil their tasks at home or in their small business. They want to switch on/off the computer, maybe an update once in a while and have someone who helps them if something doesn't work. In short they want that everything works as expected without any change, they don't care how it works nor under which licence it is.
Even in this instance, some training material on how to get around the desktop, where to find things, and how to get help would be beneficial. We wouldn't want to do, for example, OpenOffice training, but pointing out equivalencies to what they're used to (for example, saying "on Windows you might have used Microsoft Office; in openSUSE, the most popular office suite is OpenOffice. Like MS Office, OpenOffice breaks the functionality out into word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and databases. [...]") That type of analogy-based training would be useful for things like how to connect to a wireless network, how to browse the web, how to read e- mail, etc. Fairly introductory-level stuff, but also information that can make the transition easier to make. It's also an opportunity to teach that level of user *why* the licenses matter. My wife commented to me the other day that she never used to care about the license software came under until she met me; now when she's looking at things like eBook readers, one of the first questions she asks is how difficult it is to modify and how flexible the platform is. The reason that's important to her is she understands why Free/Libre software is important and (in practical terms) how it helps to extend the life of the hardware she's purchasing. For many users, that single economic factor is a significant win. In some ways, the logic is not unlike that a friend of mine who purchased a Prius a few years ago explained; he did it not to 'save the planet', but because it lowered his petrol expenses.
- the user like some friends of mine. They do the same as the group above but aren't shy to dig into an issue, are willing to read an article or even the documentation to enhance/configure their system and most of them are willing to play around. They check if software match their needs, they change operating systems, they exchange hardware and they want to know what's going on.
This would be what I'd term an 'intermediate-level user'. They've gotten past the basics of system navigation and are interested/curious about digging deeper into it.
For me the first group is just out of sight as openSUSE - nor any other Linux I'm aware of - just doesn't meet their expectations. The second group we mustn't forget to make them happy with our distribution. They are the group we may convert into contributors.
The second group certainly is important, but I think you are underestimating the first group; just like contributors come from the user base, so too do the advanced users (who become contributors) come from the user base. The broader category #1's adoption is, the larger the pool for the second category comes from. Some people stay in the first group for a very short period of time, but more and more, I'm seeing non-technical users using Linux, and those users need to be able to learn to get to the next level. Jim -- Jim Henderson Please keep on-topic replies on the list so everyone benefits -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-project+help@opensuse.org