making Ubuntu easy

[Derek Broughton]

Chanchao wrote:

> On Tue, 2006-05-23 at 21:36 +0100, Matthew East wrote:
> 
>> The fact is that when a user tries to play an mp3, he should be given
>> the option to install support
> 
> Heck yes. :)

Windows, when confronted with an unknown file type, will ask if you want to
open it with an existing program or search for a solution on the net - I
wonder how difficult it would be to implement a solution that would (a)
suggest that proprietary file formats can't be directly handled by Ubuntu
because of licensing issues; and (b) google (reliably) for a fix.

> Now, ranting on a bit, seeing that the subject of this discussion seems
> general enough to keep On Topic:
> 
> Also generally speaking, Linux application have this tendency to show
> errors or warning messages only on the console, as if GUIs weren't
> invented in the last century.
> 
> This To All Applications Of The World, Hear Ye:
> 
>  *** If there's errors, Pop Up A #*&@(*@$# Window!!  ***

It depends.  _errors_ - things that prevent you from doing what you want -
should pop up a window.  One thing that even novice users prefer in Ubuntu
to Windows is that it _won't_ pop up windows to tell you things that aren't
actually necessary and you can't understand anyway.  The corollary is that
when error windows _do_ pop up, they should actually tell you something
useful, not just "Error: -168 at line 1432" (not a particularly Linux or
Ubuntu problem - I've probably seen more messages of this sort on Windows).

>> when a user tries to view a flash website, he should be given the
>>  option to install support,
> 
> Heck yes.. 

Well, the option to "not" install support :-)  I want it to ask me once, and
then go away.  So far, I can still get by without having to install flash. 

> You know what, I always got the distinct feeling that Edgy was to be
> about adding bling and innovative stuff. (or at least 'new' things,
> which is not a bad thing in itself, and it'll generate interest/hype for
> Ubuntu). However.........at a time when making Bluetooth work is
> bordering the ridiculous, or when sharing files the way you want it more
> often than not requires diving into smb.conf,

Bluetooth still seems pretty arcane but Kubuntu seems to have smb config
working well.  I haven't touched my smb.conf, directly, in many months.

>> So in my view the answer is no, there isn't a mindset that pushes
>> applications like EasyUbuntu down, there are simply better solutions
>> that we should strive for.
> 
> I can totally agree with that.   

Me too.
-- 
derek