Introduction, questions

[Alistair Davidson]

Hi there.

I'm interested in getting involved in Ubuntu development. I've got no 
experience in putting together distributions or packaging, but I'm a 
programmer -I'm teaching myself to use Glade at the moment- and a 
layman's expert on usability. I've previously been involved in the KDE 
Usability project, I can't claim to have contributed much there but I 
learned an awful lot (some of it about how not to do things, but that's 
another rant...).

I've tried a few different distros over the years looking for one that 
was usable enough that it seemed it could be turned into something truly 
great (ie equal to or better than an Apple interface :o) ), and Ubuntu 
is the first I've seen- you've even converted me to Gnome. Great work 
folks! I also like the commitment to free software.

So, where would I be useful? I have particular interest in developing 
tools to help the user manage their system, fixing interface problems, 
and conducting zero-budget usability studies (ie I get friends, family, 
friends-of-friends etc, and fill out forms to record everything). I 
don't have the space to install the latest cvs, unfortunately, though of 
course I could keep cvs versions of specific programs.

While I'm emailing anyway, one issue I feel I have to red flag (sorry if 
it's been discussed/fixed already), which I think is really a Gnome 
issue- there are many tasks that only seem accomplishable by using the 
right-click menu, including ejecting CDs! Like I say sorry if it's fixed 
but this problem was enough to confuse me for a good ten seconds, my 
grandfather never would have worked it out, and other than that I'd like 
to get him using Ubuntu because it is better than Windows in the main.

-- 
Alistair Davidson
http://alistair.nocog.org