[Libreoffice-ux-advise] File Format Defaults Multiple FDO's
Hi All, This seems to be one of the most consistent complaints from users as I'm going through the bug list. The issue is three fold (or more). 1. Defaults hijack everything -- vs. defaulting to allow users to select 2. No check to see if Microsoft Office is installed and thus some prompt to see if we want to replace it 3. Changing defaults once installed very difficult (or not possible?). 4. Other file associations outside of Microsoft are also hijacked -- see bug on txt files Here are just a few of the FDO's that I came across: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=39791 https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=44462 https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=43519 https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=38310 https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=47483 Each one deals with the same issue in a different manner -- ie. file associations and defaults. I personally like the mock up done in https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=44462 I have a few questions, I know that one of these bugs is assigned but not sure about current status. I have a couple suggestions and wanted feedback: 1. Most annoying bug? I think it qualifies with at least 5 different people complaining about it with multiple comments on many of them 2. Can I make a bug that takes every complaint into account and then mark these all as dupes of the one I make? Thanks all, Joel ___ Libreoffice-ux-advise mailing list Libreoffice-ux-advise@lists.freedesktop.org http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/libreoffice-ux-advise
Re: [Libreoffice-ux-advise] File Format Defaults Multiple FDO's
Hi Joel, 2012/7/3 Joel Madero jmadero@gmail.com: Hi All, This seems to be one of the most consistent complaints from users as I'm going through the bug list. The issue is three fold (or more). 1. Defaults hijack everything -- vs. defaulting to allow users to select 2. No check to see if Microsoft Office is installed and thus some prompt to see if we want to replace it 3. Changing defaults once installed very difficult (or not possible?). 4. Other file associations outside of Microsoft are also hijacked -- see bug on txt files Here are just a few of the FDO's that I came across: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=39791 https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=44462 https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=43519 https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=38310 https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=47483 Each one deals with the same issue in a different manner -- ie. file associations and defaults. I personally like the mock up done in https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=44462 I have a few questions, I know that one of these bugs is assigned but not sure about current status. I have a couple suggestions and wanted feedback: 1. Most annoying bug? I think it qualifies with at least 5 different people complaining about it with multiple comments on many of them 2. Can I make a bug that takes every complaint into account and then mark these all as dupes of the one I make? Thanks for your bug triage work. File association is a difficult topic and after fixing obvious bugs, I need ux input about how to do things the best. I'm currently debugging the hijack issue. It happens in http://opengrok.libreoffice.org/xref/core/setup_native/source/win32/customactions/reg4allmsdoc/reg4allmsi.cxx. These functions were designed so that they detect Microsoft Office and do not take over their files, the only problem is that these functions do not work correctly under certain circumstances. After install user have several possibilities to change file associations, e.g. repair MS Office install, right click on file and change associations, regedit, etc. I know that none of these are easy for an ordinary user. As for other file types than MS Office, it is hard to define a good default, many file types that LibreOffice can open are not associated. We need to collect them all, this is the pre-requisite of the planned file association application. I have some problems with the mockup in fdo#44462. First is that it lists only a few file types. There are many more. Maybe we need a separate panel for it. Or instead of file extensions, we could use bigger categories (e.g. ODF, MS Office Binary, MS Office OpenXML, etc.) Please note that within LibreOffice we can handle only per user settings, because we cannot elevate the rights of soffice.bin process. Even if it is running from an administrator account, it runs with normal user privileges (at least on Vista and higher). But maybe it is even better. It is possible that one user prefers LibreOffice, other prefers something else on the same computer. Alternatively a standalone application can be developed, that can set file associations for all users. I don't think it makes sense to open a super-bug for file associations. I'm currently working on it, and I regularly monitor Windows Installer bugs. As long as a bug classified as a Windows Installer bug, I'll see it, and fix it some day. Thanks, Andras ___ Libreoffice-ux-advise mailing list Libreoffice-ux-advise@lists.freedesktop.org http://lists.freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/libreoffice-ux-advise
Re: [Libreoffice-ux-advise] File Format Defaults Multiple FDO's
I agree that it was limited for types and your ideas both sound promising. I've included UX mailing list for input because I think ultimately it would be really nice to be able to easily and quickly change file associations for LO. I lean more towards a separate set of options that lists every file type we support with a check box next to it. The only issue I see is that if you uncheck the file type, what software takes over as primary software? Would it default automatically back to MS or just be unassociated? As for super bug, fair enough, I'm going to put a comment in each of the bugs saying that it's an ongonig process to fix this and say these bugs are similar and may be of interest to you and list the other FDO bugs so that those users can keep up with the comments. Hopefully some UX people will get involved soon and put in some input. Thanks, Joel PS. To Gerald, this is even trickier as it's actually MS's bug, not LibreOffice, if in fact it is a bug. From my remembering my last MS Office install (which was quite some time ago), on install it asked if I wanted OpenOffice files to be opened by MS Office, if you have these selected, then it's kind of user error if something goes wrong. Maybe someone with MS Office can do a test install and verify this or verify that it's a bug on their side and we can discuss if there's anything we can do about it -- we all know how receptive MS is to suggestions ;) On Tue, Jul 3, 2012 at 12:12 PM, Andras Timar tima...@gmail.com wrote: Hi Joel, 2012/7/3 Joel Madero jmadero@gmail.com: Hi All, This seems to be one of the most consistent complaints from users as I'm going through the bug list. The issue is three fold (or more). 1. Defaults hijack everything -- vs. defaulting to allow users to select 2. No check to see if Microsoft Office is installed and thus some prompt to see if we want to replace it 3. Changing defaults once installed very difficult (or not possible?). 4. Other file associations outside of Microsoft are also hijacked -- see bug on txt files Here are just a few of the FDO's that I came across: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=39791 https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=44462 https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=43519 https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=38310 https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=47483 Each one deals with the same issue in a different manner -- ie. file associations and defaults. I personally like the mock up done in https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=44462 I have a few questions, I know that one of these bugs is assigned but not sure about current status. I have a couple suggestions and wanted feedback: 1. Most annoying bug? I think it qualifies with at least 5 different people complaining about it with multiple comments on many of them 2. Can I make a bug that takes every complaint into account and then mark these all as dupes of the one I make? Thanks for your bug triage work. File association is a difficult topic and after fixing obvious bugs, I need ux input about how to do things the best. I'm currently debugging the hijack issue. It happens in http://opengrok.libreoffice.org/xref/core/setup_native/source/win32/customactions/reg4allmsdoc/reg4allmsi.cxx . These functions were designed so that they detect Microsoft Office and do not take over their files, the only problem is that these functions do not work correctly under certain circumstances. After install user have several possibilities to change file associations, e.g. repair MS Office install, right click on file and change associations, regedit, etc. I know that none of these are easy for an ordinary user. As for other file types than MS Office, it is hard to define a good default, many file types that LibreOffice can open are not associated. We need to collect them all, this is the pre-requisite of the planned file association application. I have some problems with the mockup in fdo#44462. First is that it lists only a few file types. There are many more. Maybe we need a separate panel for it. Or instead of file extensions, we could use bigger categories (e.g. ODF, MS Office Binary, MS Office OpenXML, etc.) Please note that within LibreOffice we can handle only per user settings, because we cannot elevate the rights of soffice.bin process. Even if it is running from an administrator account, it runs with normal user privileges (at least on Vista and higher). But maybe it is even better. It is possible that one user prefers LibreOffice, other prefers something else on the same computer. Alternatively a standalone application can be developed, that can set file associations for all users. I don't think it makes sense to open a super-bug for file associations. I'm currently working on it, and I regularly monitor Windows Installer bugs. As long as a bug classified as a Windows
