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Groklaw Tries Their Own Linux Usability Study
inode_buddha writes "There's a new project taking shape at Groklaw. Calling it Grok-docs, it aims to do what many of us have long whined about - a large-scale linux usability study. Evidently, PJ had some frustrations with linux, and is asking for suggestions. So far, it seems to be following a Wiki-style setup. Everybody is welcome, especially those with little or no linux experience. I hope the distros and vendors are watching this one!"
Its funny how people think children need micro meals and ideas prechewed four levels beneath having any accuracy.
Just because you don't get it doesn't mean someone else won't. Especially when that someone else is a child.
Someone set us up the bomb, so shine we are!
See, this is exactly the type of thinking that's STOPPING Linux from becoming a popular desktop OS. The old elitist "you're not smart enough to understand it" is absolutely ridiculous.
Wake up Ziviyr, most people aren't computer geniuses.
That CSS file that blocks ads
The easy, cool, experienced thing to say in response is "RTFM" or "read the man pages and leave me alone." That works for the experienced switcher, or those who have some experience with computers. Most grandma-types (and I'm using that as a stereotype, so all you computer-whiz grandmas need not send me mail, k?) are not going to know how to even find the FM, let alone be able to RTFM. "Man pages? What's that, honey? I'm a female. Aren't there pages for me?"
One of the good things about Microsoft is they spend the money to do usability studies so that grandma types can figure out how to send email. This grokdoc project is going to apply the many eyes principles of the community to replicate the usability principles that Microsoft can just throw money at. We can't throw money at this, but we can throw eyeballs. (go ahead, make your joke, I'll wait.)
This is a new site, not on Groklaw itself, and it is a community project, not just PJ. So don't worry, Groklaw is not going anywhere, and PJ will still have time to tear into those legal papers. And yes, we know, there are other Linux doc projects, and those are wonderful, but they are not yet grandma-friendly enough, and so now the community will attempt to add to the existing docs something new, targeted at a new audience. An audience we actually do want to see using Linux if we are ever to see widespread adoption of the software. Remember, the /. crowd is atypical. The vast majority of computer users lack of knowledge of the machines would make our hair stand on end if we focused too much on their ignorance. So we can either crack jokes about them, or we can pause a moment and give them a helping hand. The grokdoc project is an attempt to give a helping hand to a new type of Linux user.
Face it - computers are fast becoming commodities. I don't think it is unreasonable to expect a computer to be as easy to use as a toaster or Microwave. Yes, us geeks will whine about it but why should mum and dad give a toss about where some dumb configuration file is or what some arcane command line parameters are. They just want to write an e-mail, a spreadsheet or visit a few websites...
I couldn't agree more. Treat people like they know what they are doing, and they start living up to your expectations.
Lindows Steals Copyrighted Art and Promotes Porn
That crack you're on is really, really good. Where can I get one?
... well, less intuitive than Windows. We'll leave it at that.
I've been managing UNIX systems for about fourteen years now, with a focus on Solaris. I've installed my share of W95/W98/W2K/WXP systems. I've pretty much always had an install that ended up being what I expected it to be. I have read *no* documentation on how to install Windows. Ever. I'm pretty sure that I've never even watched someone install Windows.
I've installed Linux a few times. I had to tell it what serial mouse I was using and what video card I was using. I had to figure out how to apportion swap. Mind you, figuring out what swap was was easy for me coming from the UNIX world, but for the average person? And the tool to repartition the filesystem was
Look, Windows is the scourge of humanity, there's no disagreement there. But claiming it's as easy to install Linux as it is to install Windows? That way lies insanity.
In my opinion, there should be two separate clipboards, which I refer to as the "Tempboard" and the "Permboard" for clarity. Yes, I hear many of you saying--this is the way it's implemented. Well, yes--partially. Let me first explain The Right Way to Do It, followed by applications that break the rules.
The Right Way to Do It:
(I'm using Eterm 0.9.2, Gaim 0.75, and Opera 7.23 on a Fedora box. Please let me know if these errors don't happen on other versions or other distros.)
- Select some text in a Gaim window, then close that window and attempt to
middle-click paste it into another program. No pastage.
- In Gaim, select some text in the textbox and then attempt to middle-click pa
ste it to the same text box. No pastage.
- Highlight some text in Opera. Then unselect it. Try to middle-click paste
it somewhere. It works!
- Highlight some text in Opera. Unselect it. Highlight something in another
window and close that window. Try to middle-click paste--you get the old fake
Opera-select.
- Highlight something in an Opera textbox. Middle-click it to the url box.
It works. Highlight something using the keyboard. Middle-click it to the url
box. It pastes instead your old highlight.
- In the Gaim textbox, type "Text1". Select the text and CTRL-X it. Type
"Text2" in the textbox. From another window, select "Text3".
- CTRL-X "Text1" in Gaim again. Select text from Eterm. Shift-Ins in the
terminal window. Shift-ins in Gaim. Different things are pasted to each
window!
- CTRL-C text in Gaim's chat screen, and try CTRL-V to paste it into the
textbox below. It instead pastes what was previously in the Permboard.
Does anybody else have ones they'd like to add to my list?Problem: The Tempboard gets deleted when the window is closed.
Problem: The Tempboard gets deleted when you middle-click inside the same text input widget.
Problem: Opera uses "fake selects" in order to work around the clumsy situation of not being able to highlight multiple things at the same time. Firefox does is that well, and so does OpenOffice.org. As we shall see, they don't always get it right.
Problem: The Tempboard reverts to Opera's old fake-select when the window is closed.
Problem: Highlighting with the keyboard doesn't update the Tempboard.
Go back to Gaim, select "Text2", and type Shift-Ins. "Text1" is pasted.
Problem: Shift-Ins pastes from the Permboard, not Tempboard.
Problem: Shift-ins pastes from the Tempboard in Eterm, but pastes from the Permboard in the Gaim window.
Problem: Selecting chat text and CTRL-C doesn't update the Permboard.
Dlugar
Computer Go: Writing Software to Play the Ancient Game of Go
The first key to understanding users of Windows and the Mac is that they want the O/S to fade into the background. The needs and obsessions of the O/S hobbyist, the developer, the system administrator, fundamentally do not interest them.
But it is a dangerous mistake to call them noobs or lazy because their focus lies elsewhere. They can spend an extraordinary amount of time and money in the mastery of applications which interest them, Photoshop and Office are the obvious examples and they can be quick and ruthless in weeding out the second-rate.
Let RealNetworks stand as the example here,
Ok I blew all my moderation in this thread just to speak my mind. Most of the replies to this parent are so retarded I don't know if I should be embarrassed that i'm at the same website as them or pity that theyre such arrogant, elitist, pretentious dorksnobs who somehow think their dorksnobdom puts them on a pedestal so that all of the unknowing can praise them 5 times a day at set intervals.
Just because you don't get it doesn't mean someone else won't. Especially when that someone else is a child.
Ok let's focus on the child thing here, I guess a good thing to know would be do you have a child? And if so does your child know how to run linux? And if so does your child know the intricacies of linux and OSS in general? And if so, in all honesty, how normal is your child? Really?
His comment had nothing to do with elitism. He simply stated that some children don't need hand holding to use their computers. I know this is true - I was writing BASIC programs on my dad's C64 when I was 7 or 8.
Come on now, writing ANY type of program at 7 or 8 is AB-FUCKING-NORMAL, I don't care how smart you are, when you're 7 or 8 you're flying kites and playing little league, so I call bullshit. I call bullshit cause you think the dweebs and nerds here will give you credence and props cause you were one of the maybe 5, 10, 100? kids globally 'programming at 7 or 8'. Sorry Doogie Howser, you were learning to read and write at 7 or 8, and if you weren't, in all honesty, how normal of a child were you? Really?
once you start telling people how to do things, especially if they usually do it differently from you, they start to rely on being told how to do it. the solution? RTFM!
Oh you go girl! RTFM!!!!! Yeah, you told em there!!! But did you happen to notice that the WHOLE FUCKING POINT OF THIS ARTICLE/DISCUSSION IS THAT THE MANUAL IS INSUFFICIENT!? Of course not, because you're a moron.
Lots of adults don't either. I know any number of adults who got to grips with DOS commands back in the '80s (whether by choice or because they had to).
So of people YOU knew in the '80s, likely extremely hip people, you knew "any number of them" who got to grips with DOS commands. Who the fuck cares? You could've, and likely knew other nerds, and even if you didn't, it wasn't a random sampling of people because the fact is, as much as you want to deny it, the average person is not a fucking computer geek, they don't "get it", and I don't understand why you don't "get that".
Anyone who can do that has the basic skills to get started with a *nix box of any flavour. Unless, of course, evolution works in reverse, and we're all getting dumber.
No, anyone who can do that has the basic skills to copy and delete files. Come on, are you really trying to say 1980's MSDOS is on par with doing much of anything from a linux command shell today? Knowing ALL of MSDOS TODAY still isn't much on par with doing much of anything from a linux command shell today. It's not even relevant.
As opposed to the "You're stupid enough to use this OS"? Yeah that's an improvement. Quite frankly as an average user, your characterization of average users isn't an improvement. So stop helping us.
Oh god shut up "average user". Are you also offended that your tv remote came with instructions to install the batteries? I mean, an average user who was as above average as you could figure out how to install the batteries, no? What the fuck are you whining about anyway? I really don't know.
I'll sum this up for the egotistically blind, so that they may fail to absorb any of it. If you write computer programs, or if you write about computer programs, or if you document computer programs, err, well i'll just cut this short, if you use, or know how to use, or have heard of anything but Microsoft Windows, then you're NOT a typical user. It's pretty simple, right? Yet so many who are supposedly the "elite" fail to grasp it.
I think the point is the freakin manual sucks. Yes after a while it makes sense once you get used to certain terminology etc. but at first glance it makes absolutely no sense. Tell somebody with little computer experience to open up a root console and they will rightfully look at you like you just spoke to them in Chinese.
The other problem is that a lot of documentation is very distro and even distro version specific. The breakneck speed of development and the fractured nature of all the distros make it hard to find the right documentation. Enter a serch term in google and you might find something that works in RH but wll not work on Mandrake. heck something that worked one way in the 9.0 version of your curent distro works differently in the 9.2 release.
It's not as easy as yelling RTFM every tie there is a problem.
I just spent the weekend getting sound and 3D acceleration working on my MEPIS system. The documentation was full of: it works this way but there might be 15 different options depending on X, Y and Z. I almost had to draw a diagram to cover all the possibilities.
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OS X is closed source. This means that it is the work of the devil - its purpose is to make the end users eat babies.
Linux is the only free OS. Yes the BSD lincenses may appear more free, but as they have no restrictions, they are actually less free than the GPL. You see, restricting the end user more actually makes them more free than not putting restrictions on them. You must be a dumb luser for not understanding this.
And you obviously dont have a real job. A real job involves being a student or professional academic. You see, academics are the ones who know all about productivity - if you work for a commercial organisation you obviously do not know anything about computers. Usability is stupid. Whats wrong with the command line? If you cant use the command line then you shouldnt be using a computer. vi should be the standard word processor - you are such a luser if you want to use Word. Installing software should have to involve recompiling the kernel of the OS. If you dont know how to do this, you are a stupid luser who should RTFM. Or go to a Linux irc channel or newsgroup. After all, they are soooo friendly. If you dont know how the latest 2.6 kernel scheduling algorithm works then they will tell you to stop wasting their time, but they really are quite supportive.
Oh, and M$ is just as evil as Apple. Take LookOUT for instance. You could just as easily use Eudora. Who needs groupware anyway, a simple email client should be all we use (thats all we use as academics, why cant businesses be any different).
And trend setters - Linux is the trend setter. It may appear KDE is a ripoff from XP, but thats because M$ stole the KDE code. We all know they have GPL'ed code hidden in there somewhere (but not the things that dont work, only the things that work could possibly have GPL'ed code in it).
And Apple is the suxor because they charge people for their product. We all know that its a much better business model to give all your products away for free. If you charge for anything, then you are allied with M$ and will burn in hell.
its .conf not .CONF
/etc/dhcp.CONF .CONF files
thats where youve been going wrong all this time.
vi
*opens new file*
ARGH!!! - crappy