[Cialug] Ubuntu 11.04

[Matthew Nuzum]

On Thu, May 19, 2011 at 7:10 PM, Nicolai <nicolai-cialug at chocolatine.org>wrote:

> > Is it's goal to be installed on a laptop you could buy from dell or best
> > buy for your grandma?  That's the level of user ubuntu is trying to make
> > an experience for.
>
> The OpenBSD community doesn't want grandmas using their system, and for
> that I am thankful.  That OS already exists and it's called Windows, and
> it's not very good.  If Linux tries to "beat" Microsoft at its own game,
> maybe it'll win, but in the process Linux will be ruined.
>
>
As someone who has invested a lot of time into usability, I have to say that
this is a very flawed, yet common misconception. While it is possible to
make something easy to use for beginners and forget about power users,
generally speaking, a team that does user testing on a variety of users and
takes the feedback to heart will usually create a system that is more usable
for all skill levels.

Everyone benefits from better usability, not just novices.

I've also seen the development of Unity from a behind-the-scenes
perspective, and I can tell you that, even though it's not perfect, it has
been through a very rigorous user testing period. Our design team has done
extensive user testing all across the world with a variety of users to try
and create a very solid system. Even before Unity worked natively, designers
created Flash based movies that functioned like the real thing so that
testers could interact with it and the designers could rapidly make changes.
It's amazing to see it work.

Alas, some of the best testing was done late in the cycle due to some
software glitches that prevented the test machines from being able to run
Unity until late in the game. This is why I have high hopes for the next
release. Some of the stuff that should have happened in January just didn't
get the usual amount of attention until later on.

Here's an example of one of the user reports:
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2011-April/032988.html

-- 
Matthew Nuzum
newz2000 on freenode, skype, linkedin and twitter

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
looks like work." -Thomas Edison
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