Launchpad desktop integration (Re: Ubuntu in the other news?)

[John]

Matt Zimmerman wrote:
> On Mon, Sep 19, 2005 at 07:02:29AM +0800, John wrote:
> 
>>I appreciate the reasons for doing this, but _I_ mostly use Linux off 
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>the Internet. And when connected, I'm mostly behind a firewall or two, 
>>and short of pinging a remote site there's no way for Linux to tell 
>>whether a remote connexion is possible.
>>
>>Software that assumes that access to the Internet is available _right 
>>now_ seriously peeves me - even more when, as in Windows Update in XP 
>>SP2, I cannot turn it off.
> 
> 
> The purpose of this feature is to provide convenient access to online
> resources related to the software, when the user requests it.  It doesn't
> access the network unless one of the menu entries is selected (e.g., "Get
> help online").
> 
> There's no assumption of Internet connectivity.  If it isn't available, the
> feature (much like, for example, the Google search box in Firefox) simply
> won't work.
> 

A lot of developers lose sight of the fact that many of their users are 
not as well equipped as they. Others think documentation on a web site 
is a fine substitute for documentation on the users peecee.

The idea is fine, but that cap doesn't fit every head.