Ubuntu 10.10's installer looks rather nice

[Dennis Jacobfeuerborn]

On 10/12/2010 02:57 PM, Jean-Francois Saucier wrote:
> On Tue, Oct 12, 2010 at 8:16 AM, Dennis Jacobfeuerborn
> <dennisml at conversis.de>  wrote:
>> On 10/12/2010 10:28 AM, Gerd Hoffmann wrote:
>>>      Hi,
>>>
>>>> Striving for usability and pleasantness for the untechnical users certainly is
>>>> a good thing. It gets problematic when you choose to make things technically
>>>> inferior just to please those kind of users.
>>>
>>> We don't have to make things inferior to improve usability.  To stick
>>> with the "advanved storage" example:  IMHO the selection screen between
>>> basic and advanced storage is confusing and superfluous.  First it
>>> should probably be named "local storage" and "SAN storage".  Second
>>> anaconda can default to local storage if a local disk is present (option
>>> to add SAN storage needs to be there of course).  If no local disk is
>>> present it can go straight to SAN setup.  One screen and one mouse click
>>> less for most of the users.
>>
>> If you want to appeal to the same audience Ubuntu is going for then you
>> have to remove choice. The whole storage bit needs to be completely removed
>> or at least stripped down. "advanced storage" certainly has to disappear
>> completely.
>> The only way to accomplish this without actually removing the features is
>> to have two anaconda modes one for easy desktop installation and one full
>> featured mode. This mode should be chosen not by the user but by the spin
>> e.g. the desktop spin would use the easy mode and the server or workstation
>> spins would use the full featured one.
>>
>> You cannot make two distinct target audiences happy with one workflow
>> especially if one of those groups requires a limitation of choice.
>>
>> Regards,
>>    Dennis
>> --
>> devel mailing list
>> devel at lists.fedoraproject.org
>> https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/devel
>>
>
> Why this mode could not be selected by the user?
>
> I would say that the default mode be more like the Ubuntu installer
> and give the choice of an advanced mode like the current one. When you
> boot the CD/DVD, you could easily add the new choice in the list
> (Install, Install (advanced features), Boot from hard drive, etc).
>

That would certainly be an option. The key point here is that you need a 
way to provide a distinct experience for regular users that is not hampered 
by considerations for more advanced ones. That's one of the things that 
Ubuntu does differently than Fedora in my opinion although with the latest 
ideas for a simplified package manager Fedora is certainly heading in the 
right direction.

Let me clarify my position: I have no problem with with providing advanced 
features but in order to create a truly polished experience for regular 
users you need to be able to truly focus on them. If every time you think 
"If we did X, Y and Z we could make the lives of users a lot easier" you 
have to immediately go to "but because of the advanced audience we can't do 
X and Y and we can only do an awkward implementation of Z" than you will 
not be able to create a truly exceptional experience.

Regards,
   Dennis