ot-no free lunch and UI issues

[Paul Sutton]

I am not sure if I fully understand what all this means,  I place value 
on data,  as would anyone,  what people want is a reliable way of 
creating and storing that data,  on a system that will not trash this 
data,   Windows does that, only then suffers from problems that causes a 
virus or whatever to trash the data, Linux does not have that problem 
but I hve had to nuke adn reinstall because of a problem I don't 
understand and can't fix.  Most people can fix problems in windows or 
ask a friend to fix it,  because in most cases their friend can be there 
to fix it,  as in on site.  I know lots of people who can use Linux and 
ther are about 6 of us including me living in torbay,  who are on the 
local Linux user group.

It depends on what you want back from the users,  I think a simple 
e-mail to say this works,  goes a long way,  The community needs to find 
a way to make it easier for users to provide feedback to developers,  
even if this is via user groups,  then the developers need to take note 
and act on these recomendations.  The oo.org method seems very over 
complex, I have sent a new poster in for the software and asked if it is 
ok to use the various logos within it,  as I took these from the flyer 
,includng the windows logo,  as the software works with windows,   So 
far I have had very little feed back,  on it's been christmas, but not 
many people have even read the issue.   I think others feel the same 
way,  they don't want to create issues etc they just want to contribute 
something.

some examples of UI problems

In control center  - part of kde there is a Login manager section but 
this does not seem to include a way to add users,  however to do this I 
use kuser which is a separate program,  not included in control panel,

This is the problem.  In windows I would goto control panel,  but in 
Linux I have to go somewhree else,  after I have gone to somewhere where 
I would expect to find this tool. I spend a lot of time searching for 
stuff,

Another example is on kanotix there is a games menu, there is also a 
debian games menu,  try finding something and it's no on one so try the 
other,  there should be ONE games menu yes with submenus, but lets keep 
it simple.  Ok saying that at least I know where games are, try with 
windows and it just sticks stuff anywhere, so in this sense Linux is a 
little better.

Another example is the adsl connection too,  if it can't find a 
connection it says something about an "access concentrator" perhaps 
developers here need lessons in ENGLISH,  ie in dump the techno babble 
and say I am unable to detect a connection to the internet,   it also 
says about perahps another process is using pppoe or something.  I 
understand it kind of but people with no knowledgre don't stand a chance.

Again for people like me I have learnt now I can type dhclient in a 
console window,  and get a connection,  I kind of understand what is 
happening, but toa total newbie this would be really off putting.

Most users who get stuck with the second example can't even get on the 
net to make contributions in the first, place, or even ask for help, so 
they boot into windows (which works) in order to ask for help on 
something that should work better.  what is needed is simplicity, 
without sacraficing the power of the system,  or perhaps Linspire is the 
way to go, easy to use,  where as those of us who want power and the 
toools can use different distros, 

Get the base system working, theh give average person out there, the 
tools they need.



teddy mills wrote:

>There is the idea of No Free Lunch.
>
>That basically means as I understand it, anything that is free, or you
>dont have to work for it, has no or very little value to you.
>
>If you have 10 computers, getting or giving up a computer means very
>little to you. The DATA on the computer may mean a LOT to you because
>YOU HAD TO WORK, perhaps a lot, to get that DATA. 
>
>A video store owner cares nothing about renting movies. He or she is
>sick of movies. He/she would rather read a good book.
>
>Think of anything you have a lot of, or can get for free. Books at the
>library I dont care about. I can get them anytime! I care about them
>when they are on hold for me, because I went to the effort of searching,
>and then waiting, and making the trip to get the book on hold. I had to
>invest some work, even though the book itself was free.
>
>This is what Linux is having a problem with the human reward/value
>system.
>
>Is there a way to make people "invest" some time and effort so they can
>get their "book (ie. linux) for free, but now assign a great deal of
>value to it? *much like getting a free library book thats on hold ?)
>
>We can download and install almost 300 different versions of Linux. For
>the cost of some time, and about $1 in CDs. 
>
>You can give someone a deck of cards, but you cannot force them to be
>the Poker World Champion. They have to want to become the World poker
>champ. Same thing with Linux too, I think. The distros are there, but
>the intrinsic value of Linux must originate from that person. 
>  
>my 2 cents.
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>

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