March 2007

[opensuse-usability] More opinions on usability in Linux
by Rajko M. 31 Mar '07

31 Mar '07

The article: http://theosib.livejournal.com/1742.html is touching few aspects of popular operating systems. Part that comparing file system hierarchy usability in Linux, MacOS and Windows is interesting. It almost always leads to heated discussions while article and some comments have valid points about need for a new solutions. -- Regards, Rajko. http://en.opensuse.org/Portal -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-usability+unsubscribe(a)opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-usability+help(a)opensuse.org

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[opensuse-usability] A Usability Based Challenge!
by Andrew Laignel 27 Mar '07

27 Mar '07

Hi. I've lurked here for quite a bit (I was advised to subscribe to this list on another forum in response to the challenge posted below) and haven't really seen much activity, so I just thought I'd toss in my 2c. To be honest I have not used Suse that much - I've seen it in action and used it for a short time, but nothing in depth. I've mainly used Ubuntu (I seriously don't know what all the fuss is about), Mepis, PCLinuxOS (Quite like it) and a few other random distro's. My concern … [View More]is based around the general feeling and attitudes of the Linux community at large, rather than centered around any one distro. Anyway... I first decided to try out Linux a couple of years ago (I've known of it for much longer) as I run an Internet cafe and would have quite liked to avoid the Microsoft tax. I tried a few distro's for a short time - FC4, Mepis and Ubuntu (warty). At the end of the trial I weighed the various benefits of all platforms and decided to stick with Windows, as none of the distros offered enough advantages to make it worth the extra time and had many significant limitations (mainly with regard to usability). I am not 'Pro Microsoft', nor am I 'Pro Linux', I am 'Pro whatever gets the job done best'. I decided to put a post on the Ubuntu forums detailing the reasons why I was not going to use it and the limitations I found. As a programmer myself that is the sort of information I want to know. The reasons people are using my software are nice, the reasons people aren't are nicer. Unfortunately I was promptly flamed to a crisp by a vocal percentage of the forum regulars who refuse to hear a bad word about Linux. Even saying something as simple as 'Why not make .deb's double clickable?' would get a hail of negative responses. Excuses were made for everything - nobody would recognize one single point as valid. I tried a few other forums, all with the same results. Bringing up issues with usability always ended the same way. I in fact found it impossible to have any constructive discussion of usability issues without it turning into a flamewar. My eventual conclusion is that constructive criticism of Linux simply doesn't happen in an open forum, that there is no place set aside for it to happen (no Linux distro I have yet seen has a 'tell us what you think' forum) and pretty much no effort is made to open a (honest) dialogue with end users about what they like/dislike. The only place close to this is bugzilla, which doesn't handle usability issues, only programming bugs. From my experiance using Linux (and OSS software in general) the software is generally powerful, stable, yet usually with a sub-par GUI and pretty much no attention paid to usability. I do not approve of people signing up on Linux forums to bash the OS but I feel the community in general is so defensive any comments no matter how benign or well said are seen as attacks - possible because they see it as an attack on the FOSS ideology - and any comment made is seen in a 'Linux vs Windows' capacity, even when only talking about Linux with Windows being irrelevant to the discussion. It always gets twisted to X vs Y. As a result of this no public discussions of Linux' pitfalls are allowed to exist resulting in the developers being essentially insulated from the end users. Criticisms and comments from the people using the software are not sought after and more often than not actively suppressed, and the only form of feedback that works is bugzilla - which will never address usability issues. So, anyway, after that longer-than-planned rant, my challenge is this: Find a place on the Internet that constructive criticism of Linux actually takes place where you can discuss caveats in the OS and talk about usability and what can be done to improve it in a calm and civilized manner. It's a harder task than you'd think. And if no such discussions take place how are any developers ever meant to know what the main concerns/problems that the general userbase is having? I just think that the open sharing of ideas is just as important as the open sharing of code, yet it practically never happens. I'd also like to contribute my expertise (graphic design & usability) as would many other people yet even discussing the topic in public is pretty much prohibited. Hey, I just reckon if you let (and encourage) people talk about what they would like, many good ideas may come of it. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-usability+unsubscribe(a)opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-usability+help(a)opensuse.org [View Less]

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[opensuse-usability] Maybe short the name this mailing list ?
by Alexey Eremenko 24 Mar '07

24 Mar '07

Wouldn't that be better to just cut the name of this mailing to: "opensusebility" ? :) -- -Alexey Eremenko "Technologov" -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse-usability+unsubscribe(a)opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse-usability+help(a)opensuse.org

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[opensuse-usability] Online Questionnaire on Gnome/KDE for my master thesis ... Online-Umfrage zu Gnome/KDE für meine Diplomarbeit
by Martin Neuwirth 24 Mar '07

24 Mar '07

Hello/Guten Tag! Read below the line with the many (---) signs for the german version of this mail. I am a student at the technical university of Vienna. I hope that you can help me out by taking part in my online questionnaire, which deals with usability aspects of the two biggest user interfaces Gnome and KDE for open source desktops. I am doing this research as a part of my theses in computer science. The questionnaire can be found at: http://www.schilf.at/gnomeKde/index.php?… [View More]

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