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Shuttleworth Suggests 1-Way Valve For User Experience Testing
darthcamaro writes "No surprise but Ubuntu's Mark Shuttleworth has come out swinging in favor of the Linux desktop. Speaking at Linuxcon yesterday he detailed the things that he thinks Linux requires in order to win the desktop wars. Those include: co-ordinated software releases, better quality and design, some user experience testing and oh yeah, a dose of 'shut the f*** up' too. During his keynote, he extended an invitation to any open source application to submit their software for testing by user-experience experts. The sessions would be recorded for posterity, and the developer would not be able to interact with the user. "'If the developer is in the room, they have to say nothing. It's the shut the f*** up protocol,' Shuttleworth said. 'You sit and watch someone struggle with the software that you've so lovingly produced.'"
So what you're saying is that the only relevant part of an operating system is its GUI?
I re-read Anonymous Coward's post, and I can't for the life of me work out how you came to that interpretation.
Are you being deliberately disingenuous and argumentative, or do you have reading comprehension problems?
... and then they built the supercollider.
They basically have labs with one-way mirror. User is left alone in a sound-proof room and given a set of tasks to perform.
The problem is, that if the end result is anything to go by, (in terms of their products) the user in that room quite literally probably doesn't have an IQ of above 60.
Microsoft software is designed to be used by borderline vegetables. I'm not talking about user-friendliness, here, while still assuming that the user is even moderately intelligent. I'm talking about, again, interfaces that are designed for individuals with sub-75 IQ. If you're someone who is remotely competent or intelligent, life is miserable in Windows. Other than PowerShell, the CLI is virtually non-existent, and unless you want to download LightStep and risk its' instability, the GUI is almost completely locked as well.
Mind you, given how much more stable Windows is, at least, these days, I'm actually thinking of going back to it. I love FreeBSD as much as I always have, but I'm getting very, very tired of the relentless toxicity of the Linux community.
I've already given FOSS a 2-3 year hiatus before, because it got to the point where I simply could not stand the FSF and its' drones. If I leave again, I probably will not be coming back.