[ubuntu-uk] Unity testing

[alan c]

On 09/04/12 12:22, Barry Drake wrote:
> On 08/04/12 20:41, Alan Pope wrote:
>> Interesting feedback Barry. I certainly didn't expect this, but then I 
>> naïvely expected people on this list to have taken a look at 12.04 
>> previously, and be familiar with the basics. Thanks for highlighting this.
> 
> Maybe a bit of over-reaction on my part.  But I've spent the last couple 
> of years moving ordinary non-computer literate Windows folk over to 
> Ubuntu.  My wife, my sister various friends etc.  My sister's 
> stepdaughter was horrified - 'Linux is for geeks ...'  Then she took a 
> look at it and realised that Ubuntu is very user-friendly.  For her many 
> sins, she now works for Spec-Savers ....  need I say more ....
> 
> The thing is, I've trained myself to think like a non-geek who is 
> familiar with Microsoft Windows, and is now using Ubuntu.  Thinking in 
> that way rules out words like 'panel', 'dash', 'launcher' and many many 
> more as well as program names such as nautilus.  If my friend Heidi 
> phones, I'm not going to say 'Open the dash ...  ' but rather, left 
> click on the top icon on the column on the left of your screen, then 
> left click the icon at the bottom that looks a bit like a ruler and two 
> candles'  (what on earth the apps icon is supposed to be is quite beyond 
> me ....  ).  And by the way, isn't a 'window' something for looking out 
> of?  Get the drift?  If we keep checking ourselves, we'll be amazed how 
> much geek-speak we use.
> 
> Having said all that, just as soon as my Raspberry Pi arrives, I'm going 
> to be in the local school trying to make sure that the next generation 
> gets kick-started in real computer literacy just as my son and I were 
> with the Sinclair ZX81  .....  ah, those were the days.

My experience and approach is very close indeed to Barry's
-- 
alan cocks