spin kickstart/minimization cleanups

[Adam Williamson]

On Fri, 2010-04-23 at 16:06 +0100, Bastien Nocera wrote:

> If that software was even integrated into the desktop, you might have a
> point. As it is, it integrates in nothing. At least, if the user did a
> search on the net, they'd get clues, and read documentation about how to
> use it.

It doesn't need to integrate into anything, because that's not how you
use it. I do wish people wouldn't comment on this without actually using
a Harmony remote =) (or at least it seems like that's what you're
doing).

What you do when you get a Harmony is you go to Logitech's website,
where there's a big webapp which lets you tell it what devices you have
and which should be activated when you're doing various things and all
sorts of other details about how the remote should operate. Then you
click on a button to upload the settings to your remote, and the site
sends you a file.

In Windows, the software Logitech ships on the Harmony disc, that you're
supposed to install before going to the website, opens up at this point,
tells you to plug the remote into your computer, and uploads the
contents of the file to the remote.

What happens at this point if you have Concordance installed is that it
does exactly what the Windows software does (only, actually, with a
somewhat nicer interface). It opens up automatically - it's associated
with the MIME types of the files the webapp sends out - and tells you to
plugin the remote, then it programs the remote.

If you DON'T have Concordance installed, what happens is you get a file
download in an odd format which Firefox asks you what it should do with,
and you get confused.

You're never supposed to launch Concordance manually in normal usage,
that's not how the whole system of using a Harmony remote is supposed to
work. That's why it, intentionally, does not have a menu entry.

Again, it was only an example! I wasn't expecting to have to write an
essay on how it works. Sigh.

(Admittedly the proposed
automatic-package-install-on-hardware-connection idea doesn't quite fit
in with the Harmony paradigm, but again, it was only one example I
thought of off the top of my head, because I happen to be familiar with
it).
-- 
Adam Williamson
Fedora QA Community Monkey
IRC: adamw | Fedora Talk: adamwill AT fedoraproject DOT org
http://www.happyassassin.net