[ubuntu-web] Girl gets Ubuntu on a Dell by mistake, absolutely hates it...

[Matthew Paul Thomas]

On Jan 15, 2009, at 10:14 AM, Brett Alton wrote:
>
> http://www.wkowtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=9667184
>
> This girl in the United States ordered an Ubuntu-loaded Dell laptop by
> accident, expecting it came with Windows. She was confused due to
> Ubuntu 7.10's inability to load her Verizon Internet CD (which she
> doesn't actually need) and that Microsoft Office was incompatible with
> it (even though she could use OpenOffice.org).
>
> Now, Ubuntu has already come a long way from 7.10, but I am posting
> this to the ubuntu-desktop, ubuntu-education and ubuntu-website
> mailing lists because I believe this story's message is important: How
> do we ensure that previous Windows users are comfortable using Ubuntu?
>
> Maybe post some information on the Ubuntu website how OpenOffice.org
> can save/edit/read Microsoft Office documents?

That probably wouldn't have helped Abbie since she couldn't connect to 
the Internet at all, but it would help others considering switching to 
Ubuntu in the first place. (Compare the first question on
<http://www.apple.com/getamac/faq/>.)

Canonical's Design team is planning a redesign of the Ubuntu Web site 
sometime this year, and this is one case we'll consider. We look 
forward to working with the Web Presence Team in that redesign process.

>                                                What about a wizard for
> installing the Internet (DSL, dial-up, etc.)?
> ...

That would also help, along with smarter behavior from Firefox when you 
aren't connected to the Internet. (That is, it shouldn't say "Firefox 
can't find the server at www.ubuntu.com"; it should say "This computer 
is not connected to the Internet", with a button for setting up your 
connection.)

Cheers
-- 
Matthew Paul Thomas
http://mpt.net.nz/
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: PGP.sig
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 186 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part
Url : https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-desktop/attachments/20090115/9d542ae2/attachment.pgp