new-since-6.10.xml
Matthew Paul Thomas
mpt at myrealbox.com
Fri Feb 16 11:11:34 UTC 2007
Hi Will
On Feb 15, 2007, at 2:24 PM, Will Simpson wrote:
> ...
> Attached is a new file that expands a place holder link on the
> newtoubuntu.xml page. Open with yelp to preview.
>
> It was created by plagiarizing (and massaging)
> http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/herd1
> http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/herd2
> http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/herd3
> and can be added to next week when we see herd4.
>
> What do you think? I've not committed this yet.
> ...
Thanks for working on this, it's a good start. I have a few suggestions.
> ...
> <title>New Features Since 6.10</title>
I think the appropriate place for marketing new features in themselves
is on the Web site. In the help, I think the "What's new since Ubuntu
6.10" page should instead concentrate on advising those people who have
just upgraded from 6.10 *what they need to do differently* when using
7.04.
This includes:
* any changes in the menu layout (e.g. "most of the Preferences and
Administration panels are now found in the Control Center window,
rather than in the menus")
* any non-trivial changes to the default application set
* any major changes to individual default applications, if those
changes require relearning (e.g. major UI changes)
* anything substantial that people used to need to do but don't need
to do any more.
New features might be worth mentioning, but only if they are likely to
cause people who were using Ubuntu 6.10 to start using a particular
program in 7.04 when they weren't using it in 6.10.
> ...
> <para>This section describes a number of new features available
> since Edgy Eft 6.10 These features can be found in all parts of the
> system.
> </para>
> <sect1 status="review">
> <title>Kernel</title>
> <para>The latest release candidate of the Linux Kernel is 2.6.20,
> new features include numerous bug fixes, and new drivers. Some of the
> highlights are listed below. Below are some of the highlights.
> </para>
Those two paragraphs can be removed without pain.
> <itemizedlist>
> <listitem>
> <para>The GFS clustered file system.
> </para>
> </listitem>
> <listitem>
> <para>The new ext4 (currently very much an alpha and for
> developers only).
> </para>
> </listitem>
> <listitem>
> <para>eCryptFS, which sits on top of existing file systems.
> </para>
> </listitem>
> </itemizedlist>
Do these filesystems involve any substantial changes to how Ubuntu 6.10
users will use 7.04? Can we say, for example, "You can now encrypt your
home folder to guard against theft, by clicking XYZ checkbox"? If not,
these probably aren't relevant to this help page.
> </sect1>
> <sect1 status="review">
> <title>Gnome</title>
> <para>There are a lot of features in GNOME 2.17.5. Below are some
> of the highlights.
> </para>
Like the kernel version, the GNOME version (or even the fact that much
of Ubuntu's software is from GNOME) isn't really relevant to users.
> <itemizedlist>
> <listitem>
> <para>GNOME Games have gone through another round of bug
> fixing, mainly on the newly added games: Sudoku and Chess.
> </para>
> </listitem>
> <listitem>
> <para>GNOME System Tools has been updated to included more
> translations, better networking support, a number of bug fixes, much
> better gui for time-admin and many many more.
> </para>
> </listitem>
None of these really portend different user behavior, so they're more
appropriate for a marketing page.
> <listitem>
> <para>Epiphany-browser will now have an adblock manager UI.
> </para>
> </listitem>
Will Epiphany be installed by default? If not, then (much as I love
Epiphany) it's probably not appropriate to mention its new features in
a help page that's installed by default.
> <listitem>
> <para>Gedit can now detect external file modifications.
> </para>
> </listitem>
That might be the sort of thing that would belong on a "What's new"
page ("If a document open in the GEdit editor is changed by another
program, GEdit now updates the open version automatically", or
whatever), but hopefully this particular change is pretty trivial
compared to others in the OS!
> <listitem>
> <para>Vino (Gnome Remote Access) now has a notification icon
> when there is someone connected. You can disconnect any remote machine
> from that icon.
> </para>
> </listitem>
Will Vino be installed by default? Same applies as for Epiphany.
> </itemizedlist>
> </sect1>
> <sect1 status="review">
> <title>GNOME Control Center</title>
> <para>GNOME Control Center changes settings including fonts,
> keyboard and mouse properties, sound setup, themes, desktop
> background, accessibility, and screen resolution. The new interface in
> Feisty groups similar tasks, and includes instant search.
> </para>
Good, but see above about wording it in a way that addresses what
people will actually need to know.
> </sect1>
> <sect1 status="review">
> <title>Simpler Multimedia</title>
> <para>Easy Codec Installation has been implemented in Feisty Fawn,
> When trying to play media files, Ubuntu will try to install the
> necessary codecs automatically, and start playing the desired file.
> </para>
> </sect1>
"Easy Codec Installation has been implemented in Feisty Fawn" is all
about our development process, not relevant to non-developers, so drop
that part of the sentence. Bonus points for revising this such that you
don't use the word "codec" at all.
> <sect1 status="review">
> <title>Networking Improvements</title>
> <para>New in Feisty is Network Manager, a simple way to find and
> connect to wireless and wired networks.
> </para>
> </sect1>
The name of the program isn't so interesting as how people's behavior
needs to change. Something like:
* If you use more than one wireless network to access the
Internet, or if you switch between a wireless network and a
cable connection, you can now change networks easily using
the network menu in the top panel.
__More about using multiple Internet connections__
(This is probably the most important point for the whole page, IMO.)
> <sect1 status="review">
> <title>Virtualization</title>
> <para>Users with Intel's VT or AMD-V technology can use KVM, when
> combined with the userspace component, allows for fast virtualization.
> This is still in testing and may not make the final release.
> </para>
> </sect1>
"VT"? "AMD-V"? What does that even mean? :-( (And does Intel really
have something that uses the initials of its biggest competitor?) Try
rewriting it in a way that explains why people might be interested in
"virtualization", and that uses the word "you" (in this case, probably
"If you") instead of "users".
> <sect1 status="review">
> <title>Faster Searching</title>
> <para>Now available from Ubuntu repository is the latest stable
> release of Tracker, a fast small desktop search tool. Version 0.5.4
> features incredible indexing speed, very low resource usage, improved
> mime and text file detection, and FUSE-based filesystem support.
> Frontend improvements include better deskbar integration and bug
> fixes. Also available from the repositories is Beagle, a desktop
> search tool.
> </para>
> </sect1>
Again, as cool as Tracker and Beagle are, if they're not installed by
default, mentioning them here will be more confusing than useful.
> <sect1 status="review">
> <title>Mounting made Easy</title>
> <para>Gnome-Mount provides users with a nice GUI to configure
> mount options and consistently handle encrypted devices.
> </para>
> </sect1>
Mount options? What's that, bisexuality? :-) Again, try to write this
in a way that uses "you" rather than "users". "Configuring mount
options" isn't a goal that real people want to achieve with their
computer, and mentioning a "nice GUI" unhelpfully implies that having a
nice GUI is rare. ;-)
> <sect1 status="review">
> <title>Telepathy</title>
> <para>A unified framework for all forms of real time
> conversations, including instant messaging, IRC, voice calls and video
> calls. It uses the DBus messaging system to provide a simple interface
> for client applications, allowing them to quickly benefit from
> Telepathy's functionality.
> </para>
> </sect1>
That's not a new or different behavior, it's a framework. If it makes
the OS behave differently by default, talk about that.
> <sect1 status="review">
> <title>Zeroconf Networking</title>
> <para>Zeroconf Networking is a collection of protocols which try
> to configure your network automatically, leaving users with minimal
> intervention and trying to give them clear information to take
> decisions when conflicts come up. The main advantage behind this new
> spec is making life easier for users without a local DHCP server for a
> network, having Ubuntu correctly configuring everything necessary for
> the network to work properly. New Zeroconf support makes it easy to
> network desktop computers without needing servers to assign IP
> addresses or names.
> </para>
> </sect1>
Again, that's a framework. What, specifically, did you have to do
before that you don't have to do now? (Mention titles of windows.)
> <sect1 status="review">
> <title>Thunderbird</title>
> <para>A new version of Thunderbird, a popular email client by the
> Mozilla Foundation is available. It was made to sync the latest
> Thunderbird package with the Ubuntu repositories, and includes
> improved stability and several security fixes.
> </para>
> </sect1>
Will Thunderbird be installed by default? If so, has the interface
changed substantially, or does it do anything automatically that the
previous version required you to do manually? If the answer to those
questions is yes, talk about the details. Otherwise I don't think it's
really relevant to this page.
> <sect1 status="review">
> <title>F-spot</title>
> <para>The new F-spot v.3 offers a plethora of improvements over
> v.2.2 such as view mode improvements, fix for new Picasa web
> interface, new icons, query improvements and many more bug fixes.
> </para>
> </sect1>
Is F-Spot installed by default? If so: "With the new version of F-Spot,
you can..." Hopefully this falls under the category of features likely
to cause people who weren't using this program in 6.10 to start using
it in 7.04.
(Incidentally, I wouldn't mention any version number less than 1 unless
it's absolutely necessary to do so. It's embarrassing.)
> <sect1 status="review">
> <title>Improved Evolution</title>
> <para>Evolution 2.94 adds many new features.
> </para>
> </sect1>
Such as? :-) Do they involve changes to how existing users will use it?
Are they likely to cause existing Ubuntu users to start using
Evolution?
> <sect1 status="review">
> <title>New Ekiga</title>
> <para>Ekiga is a VoIP and video conferencing that supports many
> audio and video codecs. Since it uses SIP and H323 it works with other
> SIP compliant software.
> </para>
> </sect1>
Are there substantial changes to the interface? Are there new features
likely to get Ubuntu 6.10 users to start using it in 7.04?
> <sect1 status="review">
> <title>Epiphany</title>
> <para>Epiphany is a web browser that's powerful and simple. It
> uses the same rendering engine as Firefox but integrates more closely
> with the GNOME desktop. New features in this release include new
> theming options, bookmarks, history, and menus.
> </para>
> </sect1>
Again, will it be installed by default? If not, don't mention it.
> <sect1 status="review">
> <title>Updated GEdit</title>
> <para>GEdit is a graphical programmer's editor with tabs, syntax
> highlighting, automatic indentation, spell-check, print preview, and a
> wide variety of plugins. This release includes more intelligent
> behavior.
> </para>
> </sect1>
"The GEdit editor now makes coffee when it detects that you're tired."
Seriously, what does "more intelligent behavior" mean? :-)
> <sect1 status="review">
> <title>Wine</title>
> <para>A new version of Wine (0.9.29), a translation layer (a
> program loader) capable of running Windows applications on Linux.
> Windows programs running in Wine act as native programs would, running
> without the performance or memory usage penalties of an emulator, with
> a similar look and feel to other applications on your desktop.
> </para>
> </sect1>
> </article>
Is this new version likely to get people to use Wine who didn't use it
before? If so, why? For example, are there specific programs that
didn't previously run under Wine that now Just Work?
I realize quite a few of these questions are annoying ones that may
require poring through changelogs, and/or annoying developers on IRC or
by e-mail or phone. But I really think that the usefulness of this page
will be dependent on how well it has been translated into explanations
of changes that upgraders really need to know about.
You may well find that once changes that don't fit this criterion have
been removed, the remainder can be a single <itemizedlist> instead of
lots of <sect1>s.
Thanks again
--
Matthew Paul Thomas
http://mpt.net.nz/
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