Our best foot forward

[Patrick]

indeed I am unsure of how to contribute.

It would seem that I could take the prize for both the longest and most 
poorly written emails as the feedback I am receiving is disconnected 
from the message I was sending.

To summarize my long winded emails:

Ubuntu is the ultimate OS for the power user, programmer and System 
administrator.This is what needs to be promoted.

Something like a helper script is badly needed but a post installation 
script is basically the same thing, no need to re-invent the wheel, it's 
better to improve whats already there.

Most post installation scripts are turned off by default, they should 
not be.

The post installation scripts are not very accessible. The configure 
option should also be available under the right click in synaptic.

The post installation scripts should have more of a tutorial element to 
them.

The post installation scripts should be divided up between programmers 
and tutorial writers.

The tutorial element should be written by users that were recipients of 
the first ones, not by long time Linux experts who are disconnected from 
the experiences of a new user.

I want to help write these post installation script tutorials.

I apologize for contradicting myself on the documentation issue. The 
documentation that is written is already excellent. The only problem 
with it is that some users, like me, may get confused as to what is 
Ubuntu specific and what is Linux specific, they are not always the same 
as my manual compiling experience taught me. A Synaptic like search 
repository within the OS that pointed outwards to Ubuntu specific online 
documentation would be helpful.

-Patrick


Matthew Paul Thomas wrote:
> On Nov 20, 2007, at 1:50 PM, Patrick wrote:
>> ...
>> We should be putting forth what Ubuntu can do that Windows cannot. It 
>> is the ability to set up so many services and customize so many 
>> things that makes it amazing. Most of this still needs to be done at 
>> the terminal though. People need to be able to use it's rich set of 
>> features without so much suffering.
>>
>> All of my suggestions seem to be rebuffed and the general feedback I am
>> getting is that everything is already the way it needs to be.
>> ...
>
> I think the problem is that you're unclear about how you want to 
> contribute.
>
> You proposed helper terminal scripts for setting up server functions, 
> and then you said perhaps it wasn't a good idea after all.
>
> You said the post-install scripts should be better, and Onno invited 
> you to report bugs about specific problems. Have you?
>
> You said the help and support could be better, I invited you to join 
> the documentation team, and then you said "I don't think it is lacking 
> in terms of the casual user" and "I am not having trouble searching 
> for documentation".
>
> You suggested running usability tests, I invited you to do just that, 
> and then you said it would be difficult to find representative test 
> subjects. (True, but it's just as difficult for almost anyone else.)
>
> Forgive us if we're running out of ideas for how you can help. :-) 
> Writing mailing list messages does not, in itself, improve Ubuntu.
>
> Cheers