Draft Product Description for Fedora Workstation

[Kevin Kofler]

drago01 wrote:
> Depends on what you mean by "power user" (I hate this meaningless
> term) if it means "software developer" then
> yes. If it means "someone that spends his whole day in config dialogs"
> then no.

A power user is somebody experienced with computers who uses them regularly 
and who wants to customize his/her system to his/her liking, not be forced 
into a straightjacket UI designed for people who have never touched a 
computer before that cannot be configured in any way. Software developers 
definitely fit into that category.

Nobody will spend their whole day in configuration dialogs. Even if they are 
many options, those dialogs are something you set your preferences in once 
and then (hopefully) never have to touch again. (Of course, if you change 
your defaults every day due to some "usability" study on complete newbies 
which totally ignores the habit factor, then yes, they would have to reenter 
the dialogs. But not offering the option does not help, it will just make 
the user curse at you for making him suffer an unwanted change to his/her 
habitual workflow or move to a software that gives him/her the option.) And 
offering the option does not preclude having sane defaults, which means only 
those people who WANT to change something even SEE the dialog at all. So the 
option does not hurt the people who are not looking for it, that claim is 
just not true.

In short: Make the defaults as sane as possible, but still allow the user to 
change them if they disagree with you on what is "sane". The more options, 
the better.

        Kevin Kofler