-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Kevin Perros wrote: > This message is the result of conversations whith newbies that tried to > use Mandrake 9.1/9.2 and after having been conviced and happy with the > distribution are re-using Windows more and more for a couple of annoying > and easily solvable problems. > > My point of view about newbie difficulties (which I heard FROM NEWBIES > themselves) with Mandrake is that there are roughly four issues: > 1. The package > 2. The menues > 3. The language > 4. The license > > 1. The packages are a good thing but there should be a frontend to the > package systems where we talk about apps and plugins. The apps should be > organized in a tree that should be understood by the end-user. A typical > end-user doesn't know what the "graphical environment" category could > contain, as an exemple. Even "desktop" or "Bureautique" or "Network" > should not be seen. More over, only major apps should be shown, with a > comment that only says something like "Open Office is the leading text > writer, spreadsheet tool under Linux", or "Abiword is a text writer that > is lighter than Open Office"...
I think it might be better if: - -RPM groups matched the menus - -rpmdrake showed packages sorted by RPM group by default For the rest (ie comment etc), you need to have this fixed by the package maintainer in the spec file, it is not an rpmdrake issue, so file bugs on the packages. > > 2. The menues should be nearly empty, with only newbie oriented apps in > it. A First level should only contain the labels "Internet" (netwok > doesn't mean much for a user, and less correctness on language is > sometime a good thing), "Programs", "Multimedia, Sound" (A newbie > doesn't think about sound being multimedia), "Close The System" (session > is har to understand too). Typically a user only needs a multimedia > player, a sound player, a desktop suite, a web browser, a mail reader, > tools for burning CDs and rip CDs. So you haven't shown them the "What to do" menu? What about advanced users who *do* want to see *everything* including non-newbie apps? Why must I not be able to access gdb from the menu just because some newbie wouldn't know what it is (but probably not have it installed either)? > 3. I focused hear on the french translation but it also applies to > others. Every term like "r�seau" "environnent graphique" "bureautique" > is technical for a newbie and shouldn't be used. Maybe whe should have a > "franglais" mode where we read "plugin" and not "greffon" and so on. I > understand that it is not such an important thing. Such a mode would > only be usefull for "mid-newbies" that know what is a plugin, but not a > greffon. Total newbies doesn't know what is a plugin. Could you give a specific example? > 4. A newbie doesn't know PLF, and as a consequence can't make as many > things as with windows with is Mandrake. Lincensing and Patent issues > are a mess for newbies that aren't aware of that problem. Here there is > no technical solutions, only poltical ones... In other words, there is nothing that we can do about this, it doesn't only affect Mandrake, nor even only Linux, you need to take this up somewhere else ... - -- |--------------Another happy Mandrake Club member--------------| Buchan Milne Mechanical Engineer, Network Manager Cellphone * Work +27 82 472 2231 * +27 21 8828820x202 Stellenbosch Automotive Engineering http://www.cae.co.za GPG Key http://ranger.dnsalias.com/bgmilne.asc 1024D/60D204A7 2919 E232 5610 A038 87B1 72D6 AC92 BA50 60D2 04A7 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.2 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iD8DBQE/ioYBrJK6UGDSBKcRAqSlAJ4q5qxQpXFn44MfBr0QUxS1k/WiUgCePSZw 301IOH8ICsTnaAYgRdu4soI= =3J4W -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ***************************************************************** Please click on http://www.cae.co.za/disclaimer.htm to read our e-mail disclaimer or send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a copy. *****************************************************************
