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.'"

Comments

Good, I hate cats.

[oyenstikker]

shit damn fuck

Re:We don't need another desktop OS.

[bcmm]

Windows and Mac are fine.

No.


No, no no. No. Do you actually own a computer or do you send your Slashdot posts in by mail?

Re:Not the issue....

[sexconker]

The problem is, we have this odd expectation that any software, from a compiler, to a game, to an office suite to a browser should be instinctive by use of other software. That is, they think Word processor == Word. So when you take another word processor such as Open Office, they expect it to work -exactly- like Word. Any differences are seen as "faults".

True

Take someone fully new to computers and have them learn Linux or Windows and chances are they will figure out Linux faster.

False

Take someone who has used Windows all their life and give them Linux they complain because things aren't exactly the same.

True

Free truths: MS Word is actually amazingly rofuckingbust. Open Office? No. Their word processor is up to the task, but everything else in the suite, especially their spreadsheet app, is poop unfortunately.

Re:We don't need another desktop OS.

[cellurl]

Exactly, shut up. I could make Linux a desktop winner. First Linus needs to get his butt in California (is he at terafugarama anymore?) Anyway, then he needs to hang with Heff and create some BUZZZZZ. Screw all the loosers, or let us nerds come in the backdoor once in a while. Then he needs to date a supermodel or a bunch of gay supermodels or something to win the iPhone crowd. Then we got somethin!

Re:We don't need another desktop OS.

[sakdoctor]

This is an invalid argument. Knowledge level interacts with the inherent designs of the systems, and would still be true regardless of market share.

Linux
+ Know what you are doing = Very secure system. Fairly secure OOTB
+ Totally clueless = Secure in the "kiosk" sense. Don't give them the root password
+ "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" = Press yes to everything and get pwned

Windows XP
+ Know what you are doing = Much harder to lock down. Totally insecure OOTB
+ Totally clueless = Instantly Pwned
+ "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" = Instantly Pwned

Re:We DO need another desktop OS.

[retchdog]

You did it to yourselves, you fucking moron.

Re:Linux desktop is not dead.

[multi io]

But it might be economically non-viable. In many ways the Linux desktop and free software stack is better than the version you can get from Microsoft or Apple. For 80% of the users it can do everything they need.

...except copy & paste.

Oh, and dependable sound output, maybe even when using more than one sound-producing program at the same time.

Re:Not the issue....

[ceoyoyo]

Ah, right. ABSURD.

Let's see. Have they put the menu option to save a file in the File menu where it belongs yet?

PS: you demonstrate the problem with an awful lot of open source developers. Criticism is not "whining."

Re:Linux desktop is not dead.

[westlake]

For 80% of the users it can do everything they need. For 90% of the users it can 90% of what they need, and for 100% of the users it can do 80% of what they want. While those are made up statistics, I believe that 80% of the market can switch to a Linux desktop tomorrow and be just as productive as it is today. The problem is convincing them to do it. What the Linux desktop really needs is a marketing budget.

How about some more made-up stats:

100% of the user's 32 bit Windows apps will run under Win 7.
100% of the user's 64 bit Windows apps will run under 64 bit Win 7.
100% of the user's FOSS apps will run under Win 7 - and he can reasonably expect damn near everything in FOSS for the Linux desktop to be ported to Windows or begin as a native Windows app.

There are workable solutions for classic MSDOS and Windows games. gog.com

When the user goes shopping for a new PC he'll find a broad spectrum of Windows product in every form factor and at every price point.

So tell me again why he needs Linux.

Re:Ubuntu not ready!

[Blakey Rat]

Also it does work on Linux all you need is 2.6.30 and Xorg 7.5(possibly compiz too I don't remember) Just because you aren't intelligent enough figure it out doesn't mean that it doesn't work.

Yes, actually, it does. If I plug in a blender, hit the "Go" button, and it doesn't blend... yes, that means the blender doesn't work. It doesn't matter whether or not my IQ is 50 or 200, and it doesn't matter if I have a electrical engineering degree or not. Works and doesn't work is a pretty damned binary concept. And the latest Ubuntu doesn't work with a touchscreen.