Hello Adrian,
Thank you for engaging me on this issue. While I am a deep believer in
"freedom" as you mention it - I also need to be able to have people (who
understand none of the technospeak and specialized words), able to get to an
installed usable version. Even your answer leaves my head swimming.
In going to the web page "Getting Gnumeric" the new, excited, but
unknowledgeable potential user is confronted with an immediate technospeak
problem. Pushing the "Get Gnumeric Now" produces nothing now. It produces a
confusing explanation of possible sources, but nowhere to just Get Gnumeric.
The difficulty appears to arise when we consider *what* a user should
obtain after clicking the button.
I agree with this.
Clearly this would need to be specific to the desktop of each user doing
the clicking. Ideally, for the two dominant closed desktop environments,
we would have installable artifacts since those users have been trained
to look for such bundles.
Perhaps we could do something for the most common of the desktops. E.g.,
Microsoft Windows.
I do not know what a closed desktop environment is, nor an installable
artifact. In particular, my students are simply desktop and laptop users, who
have not had any training "to look for such bundles." I do not know what a
bundle is nor what it may refer to.
For the open desktop systems, user
expectations are different---most get their software from their
installer systems, which of course differ greatly from system to system,
with no common "install gnumeric" command.
I assume when you say open desktop systems, you are referring to something like
linux.
I do not know what an installer system is. Where can we get these required
installer systems in order to get Gnumeric on the desktop?
Unfortunately, for the closed systems, gnumeric does not have any mac
bundle and the windows bundle is not yet official but does have a link
which is perhaps not prominent enough. (Official support for the windows
port leads to lots of complications, e.g. release specific dependencies
and systematic handling of the gtk stack.)
Portable Gnumeric has worked on all macs except one, which was an older
computer.
What is a "Windows bundle" and where is this link within it. I have no idea
what a dependency is, nor what systematic handling is, nor what a gtk stack is,
nor why an understanding of this will help me help students get Gnumeric on
their desktops.
For the open systems, we start needing system specific responses.
How do we go about getting these?
So yeah, freedom is messy and we may loose the impatient---that's may be
all right in the long run if you believe, as I do, that freedom is
contagious,
all the best,
Adrian
Again, I hope I do not come across as being flippant. I truly believe in the
freedom you speak of. If it is intended that open source be available only to
those who are very very patient, or are willing to learn all the technical
things of which you speak - then we will continue to lose the 98% of the people
we declare "not patient enough."
One final thought. Since nearly all of my students have windows on their
standalone desktops and laptops, perhaps if simple instructions were available
for that computer type . . . .
Thank you for your patience with this numbskull teacher of statistics,
graphics, and economics in real estate applications.
George Dell
----- Original Message -----
From: "Adrian Custer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "George Dell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, November 17, 2008 10:34 PM
Subject: Re: Another try to get a response
> George Dell wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I am instructor who regularly starts people on the Gnumeric path. But there
>> is a recurring problem which strikes at the very growth potential of this
>> wonderful open-source product.
>>
>> I want to thank all those who are so dedicated to this project. It has been
>> a boon to my students, My request here is only my small attempt to make
>> Gnumeric more successful!
>>
>> The problem --
>> In going to the web page "Getting Gnumeric" the new, excited, but
>> unknowledgeable potential user is confronted with an immediate technospeak
>> problem. Pushing the "Get Gnumeric Now" produces nothing now. It produces
>> a confusing explanation of possible sources, but nowhere to just Get
>> Gnumeric.
> The difficulty appears to arise when we consider *what* a user should
> obtain after clicking the button.
>
> Clearly this would need to be specific to the desktop of each user doing
> the clicking. Ideally, for the two dominant closed desktop environments,
> we would have installable artifacts since those users have been trained
> to look for such bundles. For the open desktop systems, user
> expectations are different---most get their software from their
> installer systems, which of course differ greatly from system to system,
> with no common "install gnumeric" command.
>
> Unfortunately, for the closed systems, gnumeric does not have any mac
> bundle and the windows bundle is not yet official but does have a link
> which is perhaps not prominent enough. (Official support for the windows
> port leads to lots of complications, e.g. release specific dependencies
> and systematic handling of the gtk stack.)
>
> For the open systems, we start needing system specific responses.
>
> So yeah, freedom is messy and we may loose the impatient---that's may be
> all right in the long run if you believe, as I do, that freedom is
> contagious,
>
> all the best,
> adrian
>
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