new-since-6.10.xml

[Will Simpson]

On Thu, 2007-02-22 at 01:33 +1300, Matthew Paul Thomas wrote:
> On Feb 17, 2007, at 3:08 AM, Jonathan Jesse wrote:
> >
> > [Will Simpson wrote:]
> >> If this page was to include "*what they need to do differently*" is 
> >> would be huge and duplicate many other relevant sections of the help 
> >> system.
> 
> Not really. I've just found the equivalent page for Windows Vista -- 
> "What's changed from Windows XP?" -- which has pretty much the same 
> scope as I'm suggesting for "What's new since Ubuntu 6.10".
> <http://urlx.org/microsoft.com/32deb> It's 1345 words long. The Ubuntu 
> equivalent should be *much* shorter, since the difference between 6.10 
> and 7.04 is much less than between XP and Vista. :-)

I sort of see the other side of this coin. Lots has changed and improved
in Feisty as compared to that other slow moving behemoth of an operating
system. The page referred to only provides high level overview of the
changes in menus, searching, control panel and a few basic programs. We
could limit ourselves to just these things also but why? (Rhetorical
questions.) 

> 
> Ideally, each point would finish with a "__More about X__" link to the 
> help page on that particular topic, thereby avoiding duplication. (The 
> Windows page does this with "For more information, see __X__".)

My thoughts exactly. I hadn't taken the time to fill in all those links
but that was my intention. Using this strategy would make it pretty easy
to build and maintain this page in the help system. All the work and
detailed help about use and configuration would be in the linked pages.
Duplication should be avoided but referencing and linking abundant. I
think this is a good strategy for all the help.

> 
> >> I'll address each suggestion (some great, some confused in my 
> >> opinion) in a separate email once we get past what the premise of 
> >> this page is. I'm confused because Matthew first disagrees with the 
> >> premise of the page then goes on to suggest edits for each section.
> 
> Will, I was trying to nudge each section towards a user-helping focus 
> rather than a marketing focus, without causing you to abandon it 
> completely. :-/ Sorry I failed. I still think your original patch is a 
> good start, though.
> 

If yours was the only comments questioning the premise, I would not have
abandoned it. 

> > ...
> > Isn't what's new supposed to be covered in the release notes?
> > ...
> 
> What should be in Ubuntu's release notes is a bit fuzzy. In other 
> software, release notes typically contain installation instructions, 
> descriptions of major bugs and gotchas with workarounds, and sometimes 
> a changelog. Ubuntu's release notes contain those sections (sans the 
> changelog), but also contain instructions on how to get a copy of the 
> OS in the first place, and screenshots of new features. But at the same 
> time the 7.04 installer apparently will include a button for displaying 
> the release notes, in which case those extra sections won't make sense.
> 
> Cheers
> -- 
> Matthew Paul Thomas
> http://mpt.net.nz/
> 
> 

My intention was not to create release notes as you describe them.
Release notes are valuable and have their place but maybe not in the
help system. 

I think the consensus is still not to include a page outlining what has
changed since 6.10.

Will
---
http://willsimpson.org
Moscow, Idaho
gnupg public key :: 1024D/F0E55A06
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