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

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