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Windows XP Starter Edition Review
Digitalommm writes "Paul Thurrott has a story on the latest developments on Windows XP Starter Edition. There are some very good points that the Linux community could adopt. An example is end-user training videos such as how to use a mouse." This is an optimistic, even glowing look at the Starter Edition, which even for Thurrot was not available for unsupervised use, only demonstrated by Microsoft for him. (For using-a-mouse videos, I would suggest also Roblimo's book Point and Click Linux .)
for the price/time involved with making/watching such a video, why not provide a fool-proof "play/experiment area" mode of the OS where you can do any mouse movement/clicking and it won't permanently affect the computer system at all? of course, it will still let you drag, click, open, etc. but it won't permanently alter the files, system, etc.
afterall, the best way to learn to use the mouse is to actually use it, not watch a video. this way, a novice user can play with the mouse to heart's content without fearing "oops, the system is no good because i moved something" kind of a situation.
do food processor companies deserve the credit for providing a video on how to plug in the power plug?
i know it sounds archaic, but i have watched no-skills mouse users and it's quite serious. they:
1) play "hunt the cursor" because of poor eyesight and lack of experience with visual on-screen clues
2) hold a mouse with two or less fingers
3) move the mouse around tepidly and definitely not straight such that the cursor movement bears little relation to on-screen movement
4) moving the mouse around in order to locate the cursor itself.
5) let go of the mouse and watch the mouse itself not the screen in order to press a button on it - result: mouse moves...
the use of a mouse is something that is taken for granted. try using your mouse with your OTHER hand for a few weeks to see what i mean (if you are not ambidextrous of course).
try also upping the cursor accelerator and click-speed to absolute max in order to simulate lack of coordination.
and then: don't you bloody dare write another application with many-leveled drop-down and drop-sideways menus ever again!
This is actually pretty scary and shows some insight on Microsoft's part. I setup my grandparents with a new PC like so. It doesn't get any easier than that. I even set it to one-click instead of double click. I figure all I had to teach them was how to use Firefox, Thunderbird and gaim. And if they ever needed the rest they could figure it out. But apparently they didn't know how to use the mouse. it was quite frightening. If I'm ever so old I can't learn new things as easily as I can now, shoot me.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
THis is why I could not stand the arguments like "Consumers chose MS with their wallets..." when the anti trust trial was going on.
Lusers do not know what Linux is or care. ALl they know is they bought a computer and want to plug it in and use it. Do they even know what an OS is?
I looked at the WindowsXP crippled errr starter edition in the link of the story. It is crippled regardless of what MS may tell you otherwise so they can get you to fork over $200 (alot of money in third world countries) if you want features like resolutions above 800 x 600. The users in these countries never owned a pc so they have no concept of features nor care.
My point is training video's will help users of course learn the os but they will only use what comes with their computer and nothing else. Installing software or requiring them to learn is too much of an effort. Many I bet wont even click the video's because that would be too much of an effort.
The exception would be a dos oriented computer which many OEM's like HP include in the countries that install the starter edition. Since dos requires the users to actually learn commands, most will find a friend to install WindowsXP for them so they can use a mouse with the nice pretty icons.
http://saveie6.com/