Hello there, My name is Panos and I am an undergraduate student of Control System engineering in Greece. I would like to participate in GSOC 2013 for OpenSUSE and this is my idea. More information about my knowledge in Computer Science, programming and Linux can be found here. btw I have no experience in Qt 5 but Ispeak C++ fluently. So, learning QML and Qt is not a problem for me. (link: panosgeorgiadis.com/about-me/ ) The problem: I am using Linux for the past 10 years (or 9) and all I see in forums are the same old questions. How to install that, How to install this, etc. Even in 2013, with Google search engine, one-click installers, a web full of tutorials,guides and how-to videos, people still keep asking for trivial stuff, like how to install graphics drivers, codecs, etc. Sometimes they make it, sometimes they don't and then they try a different distro with out-of-the box features, like Ubuntu. Real life scenario: When my sister installed OpenSuSE 12.3 last week, she couldn't play media (video) files. Thus, she downloaded VLC from OBS, but again she couldn't play the video due to the missing codecs. But she doesn't know what a codec is, so she downloaded all the possible media players through OBS and yet she couldn't play the video file. Another example, many friends of mine are gamers and they use Windows 7. Now, they want to test Steam in Linux and they go for Ubuntu installation. Why ? Let's say about nvidia and amd drivers, more and more people are trying Steam in Linux and they need proprietary drivers for their GPUs. Most of them are afraid to mess with driver-related stuff and finally they go with Ubuntu or Windows. Others, they don't even know what GPU they have or if their Radeon HD2000/3000/4000 is Legacy supported and even more if the new xorg is supported by the new driver etc etc. X broken situations. OpenSuSE needs to provide easy and modern way of handling with such trivial tasks. Don't get me wrong, OBS and one-click installers are great, excellent, magic tools but to use them you need to know what software you need in the first place. So, new Linux users, users that migrate from Windows 8 to Linux and don't know what software they need. They never heard of k3b, but Nero burning rom and such stuff. All they know is their task (eg burn a DVD), and OpenSUSE needs to provide them with the necessary tools to do the job in the most lazy and convenient way. Idea: Develop a program like Fedora's easylife (google it) exclusively for OpenSuSE that allows you to install must-have application based in tasks (like "Play Steam games") just by clicking. Imagine a program that is built only for OpenSuSE and allows you to mess with such trivial must-have applications. But this program will be useful for everyone, not just the "newbies". eg let's say I want to install all the programs I need to program in C++ with OpenCV and CUDA or OpenCL. I don't have the time to search into forums, I don't have the time to look for tutorials. But even providing me with an one-click installer, I have to know which programs I need in order to search for them and install them. Clicking is not the problem. But "where" to click ;) I am talking you about the most laziest and most boring user has ever been. - He wants to watch video. Click and install all the necessary stuff. - He wants to play Steam. Click and install all the necessary stuff. - He wants to record a song with his guitar using Line6 POD HD. Click and install. - He wants to develop an Android app. Click and install all the necessary stuff. - He wants to make a Youtube video. Click and install all the necessary stuff for screencasting, video editing etc. - He wants to setup phpmyadmin in localhost. Click and install all the necessary stuff. Whatever he wants, OpenSuSE provides him in most easy way. Just click the "task" he wants, not the "programs" and make it optimized and pre-configured for OpenSuSE distro. Many people use their scripts and let's face it, when you install a distro for the first time we all look for 10-things you have to do first after install OpenSUSe/Ubuntu/Fedora etc. So, why not, make a community software that is controlled by the community and not individuals personal opinions -- Jim's, Panos's, Andrew's, Maria's (randomly picked names). So, instead of developing a Software Center, develop a Task Center for anyone who wants to do a simple task. I think that the "recipe" is more important the "ingredients". Let me know your ideas and if this is good enough for GSOC project :) Have a nice day all of you :) -- Best Regards, Panos Georgiadis -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-project+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, email: opensuse-project+owner@opensuse.org