1.) Get all those FOSS developers, who develop a "normal user program" like let's say for KDE or GNOME, to understand that they have to have to write a program with the needs of average users in mind. That means, every non geek or non authistic human has to use the software without any fear but with ease.
1a) Drop the RTFM attitude and learn how to design UI's that need no documentation. If they want non autistics to use Linux they have to accept that these "normal users" set the rules of the user interaction. Discover, that creating software that is usable without pain for everyone is hard, it needs smart developers, it needs geeks.
1b) Drop the "a foolproof system will only be used by fools" attitude. I know a bunch of VERY smart people who simply turn their back on linux. A comparison that might help is the following: I know nothing about electronics, circuits etc. When I want to play a Audio CD with my HiFi, I absolute don't care which microelectronic is working in the background, I have a play button, a track selection button an that's all I need. I don't care a shit about what's happening behind. Normal users don't care about the point-to-point-protocol and they shouldn't.
2.) Get away of the concept that more features will improve a software. Like explained in 1.) this is the geek, power user perspective, not the standard user perspective. The standard user only uses a very small fraction of let's say kmail. He/She doesn't need the rest, and hence he/she shouldn't see any disturbing buttons, menus, popup's, etc. Cut down the functionality to basic features and make those main functionality easy and obvious to use.
3.) Develop software that doesn't ask useless questions or shows useless information to standard user: "application Foo couldn't open directory because it couldn't access MIME Service Bar". It's of zero use to a normal user, never ever display such thing. Either the software can fix the situation itself or it should simply say that it's not working.
4.) When configuration is necessary ( for example access to the net ) only ask the user questions that he/she is capable to answer: "Should the ppoep module be loaded into kernel?" is a question that 100% of normal user won't be able to answer. "Enter the username and password for your internet connection" is something that the majority will be able to answer.
4a.) Ask the user a minimum of questions: When it's technically possible that an installation routine can find out that it is installing linux on let's say a Dell Inspiron 8000, then the routine should lookup a config list, find the Dell, crosscheck with the EEPROM's and automatically setup for this laptop.
5.) Stop stupid things like in Fedora 6: You can install xmms or some other player, but there won't be any sound of an mp3 file because the MP3 decoding module won't be installed. It's not even included in the distro for licensing reasons. SO WHAT'S THE POINT OF INSTALLING AN MP3 SOFTWARE?
6.) Stop acting like you're alone on this planet, creating the 7th audio layer for Linux won't help anyone. I installed grip on the Fedora 6 box of my father. I can rip, encode, but I can't test play any track to check what I wanna rip, grip plays but no sound comes out. THIS IS RIDICULOUS!!!
7.) Remove any trace of ASCII, delete it out of the history books, and hang the enventor(s) in some dark cellar. Remove the char type out of the GCC parser! Unicode is the most wide spread real alternative and should be used throughout. I don't ever wanna see some "?$" letters instead of a ä or Ü.
8.) Stop that stupid "I have to configure the keyboard for the console and a 2nd time for X".
9.) Remove X. X had many years time and didn't get anywhere on the desktop. The 17.000 extension to the protocol won't change that. NO DESKTOP USER NEEDS NETWORK TRANSPARACY. In the graphic sector create something like directX. Write perfect, super fast drivers for all video cards, support ALL hardware features.
No, it was/is a Force DEC Alpha 21164/500 with a CPU board on a backplane (SBC A164). One of the problems is that I can't get any mobo documents because Force (www.forcecomputers.com) don't provide such on their home page. I could of course contact them (well, I didn't find any email contact on their page) but probably they would charge me a lot of money for dealing with my Alpha. Obviously I don't want to spend more money for support than I spend for the whole machine.
I'll try to contact Jack as you recommended, many thanks for the hint!!!!
And no, I didn't gave up yet, in fact I invested several days in the meantime to get it resurrected again, well, no luck yet.
For the time I'm interested in computers I always dreamed of possessing a alpha powered computer. Last week a bought a used one, had to change the firmware to install tru64, linux and openvms. Since the update the machine doesn't boot anymore. I can't even rescue the CPU as it is soldered on the board....... it really breaks my heard, so close, yet so far away....
I know a lot of people that still use Win95 and Office95. They might not have USB support, or they might not be able to read WinWord2000 files, but they don't care anyway.
They bought the computer several years ago, they do some writing with Word and some EMail and Internet surfing stuff. With other words, they first don't want a new computer (bad for Intel,... ) and second, because on a new computer there is a good chance that M$ Win*** is installed, they don't want new M$ stuff.
But this must threat M$, because as more and more users have a setup that works for them, the less will buy a new one which, in the long run, will reduce M$ income. So, the great idea is to "rent" the software, bind users tightly to the company and get monthly paid.
On the other hand I hope that there is a growing awareness that giving sensible information (business or not) in others hand is a matter of trust. So I expect M$ to show up with a big "you can rely on us" campaign and I think it's important to provide an alternative for the public.
Slashdot Mirror
My paroles to the FOSS developers:
1.) Get all those FOSS developers, who develop a "normal user program" like let's say for KDE or GNOME, to understand that they have to have to write a program with the needs of average users in mind. That means, every non geek or non authistic human has to use the software without any fear but with ease.
1a) Drop the RTFM attitude and learn how to design UI's that need no documentation. If they want non autistics to use Linux they have to accept that these "normal users" set the rules of the user interaction. Discover, that creating software that is usable without pain for everyone is hard, it needs smart developers, it needs geeks.
1b) Drop the "a foolproof system will only be used by fools" attitude. I know a bunch of VERY smart people who simply turn their back on linux. A comparison that might help is the following: I know nothing about electronics, circuits etc. When I want to play a Audio CD with my HiFi, I absolute don't care which microelectronic is working in the background, I have a play button, a track selection button an that's all I need. I don't care a shit about what's happening behind. Normal users don't care about the point-to-point-protocol and they shouldn't.
2.) Get away of the concept that more features will improve a software. Like explained in 1.) this is the geek, power user perspective, not the standard user perspective. The standard user only uses a very small fraction of let's say kmail. He/She doesn't need the rest, and hence he/she shouldn't see any disturbing buttons, menus, popup's, etc. Cut down the functionality to basic features and make those main functionality easy and obvious to use.
3.) Develop software that doesn't ask useless questions or shows useless information to standard user: "application Foo couldn't open directory because it couldn't access MIME Service Bar". It's of zero use to a normal user, never ever display such thing. Either the software can fix the situation itself or it should simply say that it's not working.
4.) When configuration is necessary ( for example access to the net ) only ask the user questions that he/she is capable to answer: "Should the ppoep module be loaded into kernel?" is a question that 100% of normal user won't be able to answer. "Enter the username and password for your internet connection" is something that the majority will be able to answer.
4a.) Ask the user a minimum of questions: When it's technically possible that an installation routine can find out that it is installing linux on let's say a Dell Inspiron 8000, then the routine should lookup a config list, find the Dell, crosscheck with the EEPROM's and automatically setup for this laptop.
5.) Stop stupid things like in Fedora 6: You can install xmms or some other player, but there won't be any sound of an mp3 file because the MP3 decoding module won't be installed. It's not even included in the distro for licensing reasons. SO WHAT'S THE POINT OF INSTALLING AN MP3 SOFTWARE?
6.) Stop acting like you're alone on this planet, creating the 7th audio layer for Linux won't help anyone. I installed grip on the Fedora 6 box of my father. I can rip, encode, but I can't test play any track to check what I wanna rip, grip plays but no sound comes out. THIS IS RIDICULOUS!!!
7.) Remove any trace of ASCII, delete it out of the history books, and hang the enventor(s) in some dark cellar. Remove the char type out of the GCC parser! Unicode is the most wide spread real alternative and should be used throughout. I don't ever wanna see some "?$" letters instead of a ä or Ü.
8.) Stop that stupid "I have to configure the keyboard for the console and a 2nd time for X".
9.) Remove X. X had many years time and didn't get anywhere on the desktop. The 17.000 extension to the protocol won't change that. NO DESKTOP USER NEEDS NETWORK TRANSPARACY. In the graphic sector create something like directX. Write perfect, super fast drivers for all video cards, support ALL hardware features.
..., looking for superlenses_init function, nothing found though.
No, it was/is a Force DEC Alpha 21164/500 with a CPU board on a backplane (SBC A164).
One of the problems is that I can't get any mobo documents because Force (www.forcecomputers.com) don't provide such on their home page. I could of course contact them (well, I didn't find any email contact on their page) but probably they would charge me a lot of money for dealing with my Alpha. Obviously I don't want to spend more money for support than I spend for the whole machine.
I'll try to contact Jack as you recommended, many thanks for the hint!!!!
And no, I didn't gave up yet, in fact I invested several days in the meantime to get it resurrected again, well, no luck yet.
matthias
For the time I'm interested in computers I always dreamed of possessing a alpha powered computer. Last week a bought a used one, had to change the firmware to install tru64, linux and openvms. Since the update the machine doesn't boot anymore. I can't even rescue the CPU as it is soldered on the board.... ... it really breaks my heard, so close, yet so far away....
matthias
I know a lot of people that still use Win95 and Office95. They might not have USB support, or they might not be able to read WinWord2000 files, but they don't care anyway. They bought the computer several years ago, they do some writing with Word and some EMail and Internet surfing stuff. With other words, they first don't want a new computer (bad for Intel, ... ) and second, because on a new computer there is a good chance that M$ Win*** is installed, they don't want new M$ stuff.
But this must threat M$, because as more and more users have a setup that works for them, the less will buy a new one which, in the long run, will reduce M$ income. So, the great idea is to "rent" the software, bind users tightly to the company and get monthly paid.
On the other hand I hope that there is a growing awareness that giving sensible information (business or not) in others hand is a matter of trust. So I expect M$ to show up with a big "you can rely on us" campaign and I think it's important to provide an alternative for the public.