[Fwd: RE: The regular MS Windows user's perspective]

[Louise McCance-Price]

Hi Ryszard

Thank you for your feedback.

A tutorial using screenshots/visual aid would be great.

The doc team is working to get documentation for Ubuntu streamlined and 
useful.
The Installation How To's were the first to go up and yes - I do think 
they could be better.

Doc team - let's add this to the to do list.

Thanks again Ryszard, and welcome to Ubuntu.

best
Lu


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	RE: The regular MS Windows user's perspective
Date: 	Mon, 29 Nov 2004 17:40:13 +0100
From: 	Ryszard Kasprzyk <Ryszard at terra.es>
To: 	'Louise McCance-Price' <lu at canonical.com>
CC: 	<info at abovetranslations.com>



Dear Louise,

Thank you for the extensive reply and the offer. We localize WiFi drivers,
MBs, Intel press releases, etc., but I am afraid we cannot help your
community with Polish localization: we have a pressing Yahoo project over
the next months, and we do not have any resources for additional
commitments. 

I can only give you the following advice:

I test GNU systems every three years or so (Lycoris was the latest one), but
I always find that installation instruction of Unix clones is scary from a
regular Windows newbie's perspective: they usually do not use the graphical
interface of "Step 1 Do this, Step 2 Do that with this" a la MS, Apple,
Adobe or Symantec software. My first contact with computers many years back
was via Unix and DOS command-line interface, but after translating many
guides for popular users, I have found such a procedural visual approach to
be effective also with myself :)... 

So why don't you put simple graphical instructions on your home page,
advertise some more and your user base may double :)... The developers and
community will find the necessary materials easily, while the new users want
to get (test) things fast, so in two clicks they should arrive at: 

"Download this system! If you a Windows user [a link to
http://www.ubuntulinux.org/support/documentation/howto/installation-i386 ] 

You may enhance these instructions, e.g.:
"Download this CD image and burn it to a CD"
->
"Download this file with the CD image by clicking this link and saving it to
your computer. Then open your CD burner application [whatever, Nero, etc.],
select "Open new project" | "Disc image". In the "File type" list, select
"Iso image" and open the file saved in the previous step. Burn the CD. Then
restart the computer with the CD inserted - the full Ubuntu will start on
its own!" Throw in some screenshots.

I am serious: us, regular computer users are risk- test- and TLA*- averse!
;)

Best regards,

Ryszard Kasprzyk
www.abovetranslations.com

*Three Letter Abbreviations

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Louise McCance-Price [mailto:lu at canonical.com] 
> Sent: Monday, November 29, 2004 4:19 PM
> To: Ryszard Kasprzyk
> Cc: Dafydd Harries; Sivan Green
> Subject: Re: The regular MS Windows user's perspective
> 
> Hi Ryszard
> 
> That's good constructive feedback, thank you.
> 
> On the wiki - in the Documentation section - there are the 
> beginning documents for users who are familiar with Windows 
> and are now moving to try Linux. These are being developed by 
> our community.
> 
> On the wiki - we have some useful documentation that will 
> assist you - http://www.ubuntulinux.org/wiki/FirstSteps
> A link to this document when it's finished, will be good.
> 
> Download the Live CD - you can boot from the CD itself to try 
> Ubuntu without installing it on your system.
> 
> The install CD - there are installation How To's in the 
> support documentation.
> I have included the links here for ease of finding the info:
> 
> http://www.ubuntulinux.org/support/documentation/howto/install
> ation-i386
> http://www.ubuntulinux.org/support/documentation/howto/install
> ation-amd64
> http://www.ubuntulinux.org/support/documentation/howto/install
> ation-powerpc
> 
> I see from your website - www.abovetranslations.com that you 
> do translations in Polish. It would be wonderful to get you 
> involved in Polish documentation (on the wiki) If you'd like 
> to help in the writing Polish documentation - please join the 
> documentation team mailing list or join us on IRC - freenode 
> - #ubuntu-doc. Sivan is working on a document designed to 
> assist new linux users  (cc'd) and your suggestions I know 
> he'd welcome.
> 
> if you are interested in translating Ubuntu into Polish if 
> you and your team is interested in helping on this front. Daf 
> (cc'd) is the person to contact regarding translations of Software.
> 
> On the wiki - there's extensive information on what is 
> included in the Warty Warthog release.
> http://www.ubuntulinux.org/wiki/WartyWarthog
> 
> and then further information on the Hoary hedgehog release.
> http://www.ubuntulinux.org/wiki/HoaryHedgehog
> 
> 
> all the best
> Lu
> 
> 
> Ryszard Kasprzyk wrote:
> 
> >Hello,
> >
> >I decided to test your package, out of curiosity. Still, 
> although I've 
> >been using computers for 15 or more years, and I recognise the basic 
> >acronyms, ISO, torrent, and stuff, you have no easily accessible 
> >pre-installation instructions  on your 
> ><http://www.ubuntulinux.org/download/> site. Think of a 
> regular Windows 
> >user, me included - we see a list of files and don't want to 
> waste our 
> >time experimenting and scratching their heads which package 
> will fit their system and what to do with the downloaded 
> file... Serious.
> >
> >Just a thought.
> >
> >Ryszard Kasprzyk
> >
> >Web: www.abovetranslations.com
> > 
> >
> >  
> >