Installation overwrote windows installation too easily

[Vinson Carrethers]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Bart Silverstrim wrote:
> James Takac wrote:
>> Hi Ken
>>
>> On Monday 08 September 2008 13:36:57 Ken McLennan wrote:
>>> G'day there One & All,
>>>
>>>>     Alas there is no software I am aware of that can tell the difference
>>>> between Windows and any other data on a Hard Drive.
>>>     It doesn't have to determine any differences, nor to find what OSes
>>> are installed anywhere. It needs to halt the process, offer a dialog
>>> with an explicit warning to the user about what will happen and giving
>>> them an opportunity to back out just in case they DO have windows (or
>>> Solaris, or Fedora, or Mandriva, any other OS) installed. It doesn't
>>> matter whether they do or not, but should provide the warning for a
>>> worst case scenario.
>>>
>>>     I doubt it would be difficult, just a dialog with a "Cancel &
>>> Return" option and a "Go Ahead and Nuke" option.
>>>
>>> See ya,
>>> Ken
>>
>> Agreed. What's really needed is a reminder that before anything happens just 
>> what is going to happen and the chance to turn back. So if it happens that 
>> your choice means you will delete the entire disk and hence lose everything 
>> on  it that warning could make all the difference for a newbie. Hell, even 
>> someone who knows what they're doing can still stuff up big time and so the 
>> warning would be something that might make the difference regardless of 
>> newbie or veteran status
> 
> I thought it did give these warnings?
> 
> Maybe not something as obvious as WARNING YOU WILL LOSE WINDOWS IF YOU 
> HAVE IT INSTALLED but I thought there were warnings about losing your data.
> 
> And it's good practice no matter what to back up your data if you have 
> important information. I can't count how many people I've known over the 
> years that hadn't thought of this until their disk went belly up then 
> react as if it's a novel idea afterwards. People who should know better 
> don't do it enough either.
> 
> Why would someone be playing with a new OS without a backup if their 
> data were critical to them?
> 
> Last, while you might want these warnings in place...most people will 
> still ignore them. I get support calls and requests from people all the 
> time who had the instructions or information *on the display in front of 
> them* and they still didn't know what to do, when the message was 
> surprisingly non-cryptic.
> 
> People will click through or hit enter on whatever pops up simply 
> because they don't want to deal with it and assume the defaults are 
> safe. When you're playing with partitions, there is *NO* safe option. 
> You have to resign yourself to the idea that you are risking data and 
> need a backup.
> 
So true!  Pain seems to be the ultimate educator.

- --
Linux User# 371000
Sincerity, Fidelity, Integrity
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org

iD8DBQFIxT+CflXwRacM1dwRAiZTAKCqnfFuBTEpUvFmrG+RLBu/fKTW+ACfRpt1
SkyrFkvfb2+uWOOaYvOi1lc=
=B+eS
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----