On 13/02/13 20:57, Jonathan Martens wrote: > > I agree things can be improved, but spoon-feeding like you suggest now > IMHO is something else. >
I think the point is that sometimes it is easy to forget just how tricky some procedures can be to the uninitiated. >From comments I have seen over the last few weeks (and indeed my own personal experiences), the apparent 'complexity' of things has been a major hurdle for many, and has positively put people off. We all walk, but have you don't think about how difficult it really is until you watch a baby trying to take its first few steps. It's difficult, and yet we all do it with ease. We forget how hard the learning was. We can't just ignore that. We have to take it on board and try to do as much as we can to make it as easy as possible for people. Remember too, as I said a while back, one of the biggest downfalls of SME is that it IS easy to setup. You don't HAVE to be a rocket scientist to install it and run it, and as a result it probably attracts a less technically aware audience. Smart enough to realise the value of linux and a simple, safe, and secure system, but not necessarily expert in Linux. Add to that the fact that making something so simple is actually very difficult, and the people who develop it are VERY good. You have users and developers at the opposite ends of the technical spectrum. And just for good measure, we now live in a world which tries to make everything simple for people, and makes no effort to encourage them to be more technically literate. The system tries to dumb people down to the lowest common denominator. I agree that this is a very bad thing, but we can only play with the that hand we are dealt. It is not a good recipe, and I believe a large part of reason why SME found itself in the place it did. We have to take these simple facts on board and work at educating the users. They generally ARE interested. They just need a bit more of a guiding hand than we think. Maybe we should look at the market place and perception of SME as well - easy to install, but also a great place to start learning..... Lets not think just in terms of fixing and perfecting, but of educating a new generation of developers as well. Don't just gift the future a fantastic system, but the knowledge and experience to maintain and continue it whilst we suck on our pipes and enjoy out beer. How about : The School of SME and Linux :-) _______________________________________________ Discussion about project organisation and overall direction To unsubscribe, e-mail [email protected] Searchable archive at http://lists.contribs.org/mailman/public/discussion/
