[Mageia-dev] What do you think about create a Mageia Welcome Center?

[andré]

atilla ontas a écrit :
> 2010/9/30 Robert Xu<robxu9 at gmail.com>:
>    
>> On Sep 30, 2010, at 5:23, Michael Scherer<misc at zarb.org>  wrote:
>>
>>      
>>> Le mercredi 29 septembre 2010 à 20:53 -0400, Ireneusz Gierlach a écrit :
>>>        
>>>> I just hope there won't be a survey when you first install, because if
>>>> you have no internet it doesn't let you do anything. You have to like go
>>>> to console and do not cool stuff. I guess as long as it is not invasive
>>>> it will be fine.
>>>>          
>>> Then we need to fix it so it cope with no internet access, not disable
>>> it.
>>>        
>> Maybe the first time connected to the internet the survey should appear?
>>
>> -- later, Robert Xu
>>      
> Why we' re talking about a survey? Do we need this? We are not a
> company and think about customer happiness. I thought this thread is
> about a informational and/or assistance application for newbies.
>
> If we' re talking about a Welcome Center, we should decide if it is
> only an informative html page or an assistance to configure basic
> things or both.
> ____
>    
Don't forget that (under Mandriva) there already is a routine to 
configure the system when one installs or upgrades.  I see it every 6 
months, with a new version of Mandriva.
However, it is not very user-friendly for a novice, and doesn't have 
very complete help for advanced users.
My initial reaction to this idea was that the existing functions would 
be improved by a welcome centre.
But the more I think about it, I'm reminded of the "Bob" routine and the 
"What do you want to do today" slogan of Microsoft.  Neither lasted very 
long.
The last think we want to do is "dumb down" Mageia.  That will turn off 
a lot more people than it will attract, in my view.
What will help is a more complete help system on install, much like 
Ubuntu already has.  Mandriva has many assets, this is just one of the 
weaker points.
The way Mandriva works now, all the applications listed in the suggested 
"welcome centre" can be readily installed (at least an equivalent by 
default in most cases), and the default menu system lists every gui 
application installed.
Maybe a guided tour is a good idea, but with the large variety of 
applications available and the various desktops, it is a lot more 
complicated than the one-size-fits-all environnement of Microsoft.

An idea just came to mind -- instead of a "welcome centre",
having an option to show the descriptions with the name of each item in 
a menu page.
Currently the description (or comment) only appears on hovering over the 
item name, which is fine for those already familiar with their Mageia 
installation.
However being able to see all the descriptions at once in the menu page 
would be really useful for novices.
And it wouldn't be "dumbing down" Mageia.
As well as being very easy to implement, as the descriptions are 
normally already there and localised.  (That is part of the XDG menu 
specs, the norm used by Mandriva, and many other distros.)
Just an idea ...

- André (andre999)