[Ambassadors] Raleigh, we have a problem ...

[Dimitrios 'sehh' Michelinakis]

I'd like to add a few things to the discussion.

Here in Greece, Fedora is a minor distribution. We've tried to give it more popularity by doing a complete translation (still in progress but most of it is done).

Unfortunately, there are some basic limitations in the Fedora "core thinking".

1) audio and video playback (mp3, divx, mpeg, wma, wmv, etc). I know whoever is controlling Fedora is forcing a no-restricted/patented policy. Which is fine by me, maybe i'm one of those anal people who want everything to be free. Unfortunately thats not how the world works and this issue has really made Fedora a no-go for almost everyone here ("What? it doesn't play mp3's? Go to xyz place and download a plugin? Thats ok, i'll install another linux that plays mp3s")

2) i don't know about other linux distros, but when my users compare Fedora with M$ Windows, all they see is a half-done operating system. For the following reasons:

a: The boot process is half-text half-graphics. GRUB loads and has a half-assed low quality graphic and when you select your operating system is prints some text about the boot loader (completely nonsense to non-technical users).

b: Moving on, they see a bunch of text (kernel and the INIT process) before going to graphical boot. Again they see it as incomplete software or that something is going wrong.

c: Once they boot, there are no "guides". People would like to see a document or wizard (maybe bad choice of words here) that explains how to do the basic operations like "Play music/video", "Share your documents", "Create new documents", "Connect to the internet", etc etc.


Suggestions:


Since there is no chance of adding support for the audio/video formats we need, then at least have a button on the desktop that opens a page that contains a single "ADD EVERYTHING" option that just downloads all the required RPMs (gstreamer, mplayer, etc).

Cleaner boot process from GRUB to shutdown. Have a no-text policy. We either have a TEXT boot or a GRAPHICAL boot, not something in between. Ether use a smaller image in GRUB or don't use one at all. The current low quality images make us look bad.

When the user first logs into his desktop, display a help page/guide that explains how to do the basic operations. Give a few hinds of the names of the applications. Should i point you to the "Welcome Center" that comes with M$ Vista? or are you going to say that because M$ is doing it then we should shoot our selfs in the foot?


PS:
now that i took the time to write, one question has been in my mind for some time now: WHY was Helix player added in the core distro? What exactly is the reason for this junk? :)


-- 
Dimitrios Michelinakis