Translated KDE/Linux Usability Report Available

WHudson writes "Relevantive AG, a German consulting firm who recently completed a study on Linux usability, posted their results in English translation today. Bottom line: Linux nearly as easy to use as Windows XP, but the wording of system and program messages could use some more clarity."

usable but not the same

[gfody]

Most people that use windows have been using it for a very long time. They have a false sense of intuitiveness that won't transfer to KDE. Things like button placement conventions, widget consistencies, and terminology are different (as in whole other universe different). People that were spoon fed windows are never going to try out KDE and think its actually MORE usable.

Usability

[LamerX]

I think that the whole myth surrounding the difficulty with Linux, is that they already know Windows. They get used to one system, and when they go to use another system, they expect it to work exactly the same. I taught my step-mother how to burn CDs using Nero in Windows, then I got sick of maintaining the spyware-infested OS, and forced Linux upon her. She commented that "How would I have known to click 'k3b' to burn CDs?" I replied, "How would you have known to use Nero?"

It's all about teaching someone, and once they learn to use something one way, it's hard to get them to learn a new method. You can't teach an old dog new tricks, as they say.

My step-mom now says how much she loves Linux. She loves no spyware, no pop-ups and spam thanks to Mozzie, and uses OpenOffice without a hitch. (Also uses k3b to burn CDs)

I don't find Linux easy to use (yet)

[tomas.bjornerback]

I don't want a flame war, just say that I've been trying to install Linux on a Compaq Evo 1015v since last week and I simply can't get X up and running in any orderly fashion.

I've tried Debian and even tried to recompile the kernel a few times, to no avail. I have downloaded a couple of GB via dselect without any success.

The Red Hat 9 CD would only boot, but not install any files. It didn't recognize the network adapter nor the DVD-rom (that it booted from).

How do I install Linux (with X) on that laptop?
Must it be that hard to do it?

Does the Linux community understand that the threshold is too high for the big mass of users?

I really want to run Linux (distro unimportant) on the laptop, so don't blame me!

Re:Error Message

[Anonymous Coward]

I also think we should be able to edit our posts.
*sigh*

Software installation still a stumbling block

[AvantLegion]

Windows: Install new software. Shortcut to program is made in the Start Menu (virtually guaranteed, unless you tell the installer not to).

KDE: Install new software. Shortcut to program is... well, depends. Is it a KDE app, or a GNOME or X app? What distribution are you using? Even if it's a KDE app, uhm, well, maybe it'll be there.

I said that before

[rzbx]

"...but the wording of the system and program messages could use some more clarity."

I used to say the same thing about Windows back in the day. Especially all those errors that simply gave you some akward number (or error code). I remember not even knowing which program had the error or if it was the OS. I agree though, system messages almost always need more clarity.

Re:Usability

[SweetAndSourJesus]

Until we can get installers where you can do the standard "click next" routine, Linux will not be usable for the average user.

Becoming familiar with Windows never involves resolving dependency issues.

But what about...

[Mostly Harmless]

While I agree that Linux may not be far behind on the usability scale, there are two important points that need to be made. First, Linux is way more difficult to install than Windows XP. The point is moot on a preinstalled system, granted, but it's still valid. Second, it's easier for the average user to obtain help with a problem. Chances are, the kid next door can fix XP, but not Linux. Address these two issues, however, and we might be on to something.

Re:Usability

[The Revolutionary]

"She commented that "How would I have known to click 'k3b' to burn CDs?" I replied, "How would you have known to use Nero?""

Which raises an interesting question: Why, when your step-mother wants to "burn a cd" does she need to look for not just "Nero" or "k3b", but anything other than noun: "CD creator", or as a task: "Burn a CD", or "Create a CD"?

If, as seems to be the case, your step-mother knows what it means to "burn a CD", then a successful user interface will indicate to her how to "burn a CD".

We are not dealing with proprietary software; name recognition is nice, but we do not need to sacrifice usability to preserve it if that is the tradeoff. There is nothing wrong with referring to "Epiphany" as "Web Browser", which seems to be the default for Debian GNOME 2.2 (is this for GNOME in general?).

GNOME menu->Accessories gives me "Text Editor", "Hex Editor", "Dictionary", "Find Files". This is wonderful. Should "Accessories" be something more to the point? Perhaps, but what is there shows promise.

If we must refer to applications by name, and perhaps this is useful for multiple applications which accomplish the same task (another problem!), then "Web Browser (Mozilla Firebird)", "Web Browser (Konqueror)", or "Mozilla Firebird Web Browser" and "Konqueror Web Browser" seem much more approrpriate.

These all seem to be much better situations than finding names in menus such as "OpenOffice.org", "Ximian Evolution", "The GIMP", and "Mozilla".

When I think "I should check my email", I don't think "Ximian Evolution", I think "email" (well, actually I think "mutt", but that's beside the point). Sure, when I think "email", I know to look through my menu structure until I see "Ximian Evolution", but that is secondary to what I actually want.

As I'm fairly new to using full desktop environments with X ("Multiple XTerm Environment"), I don't have experience with the desktops of other distributions. How do these matters fare elsewhere?

Re:Software installation still a stumbling block

[Anonymous Coward]

KDE: Install new software. Shortcut to program is... well, depends

I think even this is too generous, when you say "install" I think you mean: "download .tar.gz file, go to command line, uncompress it, configure it, build it (hope it builds), THEN install it (using command line of course), THEN figure out how to run it"

Bollocks.

[BiggerIsBetter]

Try RedHat 9 some time. Installing apps is as simple as double-clicking the RPM in Nautilus ("windows" to the uninformed). The package manager apps take it from there - 2 clicks of "Continue" and it is ready to use. The only thing I didn't like was no "It's Done!" message at the end...

Becoming "familiar" with Windows (read futzing around with non-std apps and tools) *does* involve resolving dependency issues - I'm on lists where it's common to see people say "Why does it want x.dll?", and for a while there, developers shipping dlls and libs crapped up Windows boxes due to being old versions or for the wrong OS (eg 3.1 vs NT vs 95 vs 98 vs 2K vs XP). The problem's not limited to Linux, and what's more, it's no longer an issue on Linux if you use a current distro and the tools it comes with.

Linux has its problems, but this isn't one of them.

Studying is partially flawed

[SerpentMage]

I like LINUX, I use Redhat 9 because most things are automatically recognized.

BUT, the study is based on two BIG flaws... In the usage scenarios the following is said.

1)The computer is largely preconfigured
2)Use of the computer is mostly restricted to specific applications in a practically homogenous surronding.

Well, DUH! If I give them a black box with only only black box applications Linux and Windows are largely the same. In fact most OS's in this context are largely the same...

The PROBLEM of the OS's is when you need to add applications, remove applications or do those silly extra steps. Then Linux becomes hell. The only company that I think has clued into this problem is RedHat. Bluecurve in Redhat 8 was a godsend. No more twiddling with text files. I can pop in my Redhat 9 CD's and it will recognize everything on my notebook, including wireless card. That is how it should be...

Sorry, but that study is partially flawed as many Microsoft studies.

Re:Studying is partially flawed

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, it is not flawed. The study was not supposed to test whether a home user could use linux as effectively as the windows machine that they have used for years but how they could perform tasks in a work environment. Any large office will preconfigure the machines(even Windows) and try to keep general users from fiddling with them and installing spyware , trojans, virii, etc. In a work environment the idea of installing software and device drivers is not the users job but the system admins.

I believe that more companies and government organization are going to wake up to the fact they are just creating additional problems by putting too much into desktops(outfitting them with Office Pro, etc.). A large percentage of office workers only need email access, simple word processing, spreadsheets and access to the custom corporate app they spend their entire day working in. Linux is perfectly fine and cost effective in those scenarios.

Tests of familiarity and similarity, not usability

[The Revolutionary]

Many of these tests are tests of familiarity and similarity, not strictly of usability. At least this is my impression, browsing the report.

Remember, these are users who, while they have "No experience with Windows XP" , are also not beginning computer users (but not expert computer users).

It is quite possible that even if a Mac OS X system were also tested, that the Windows system would score higher, despite Mac OS X having better usability, strictly speaking. This would be the case unless the usability of the Mac OS X system were sufficiently superior in usability, that it could overcome the advantage of the Windows system due to its familiarity.

Given this, that the Linux-based system did as well as it did is truly a testament to the quality of these open source environments.

On page eight (8) we see that task two (2) is to:
- use a text editor to enter some specified text
- "Format the first line as a centered heading"
- "Add page numbers on right hand upper margin of the page"
- "Print the document"
- "Save document as 'Potter.doc' in WORD format in your personal folder"
- "Close the program"

The user's success with the Linux-based system, for this task, will depend largely upon how closely the Linux-based system's word processors resemble word processors in the Windows environment. This test does evaluate usability, but strict usability here, is secondary to familiarity.

Surely these users will have some -- if not extensive -- experience with Microsoft Word, or even Wordpad. No doubt these workers also have experience performing these very tasks in this Windows environment.

On page nine (9) we see task six (6):
- "Open the email application"
- "You have received a new mail which mentions the date of an appointment"
- "Have a look at the organizer and see whether you are still free on that date"
- "If that date is still availab le, please enter the appointment".

It seems certain here that the user's success with the Linux-based system, for this task, will depend largely upon how similar the Linux-based system's email/groupware client is to Mircosoft Outlook Express, or Microsoft Outlook.

One last question: why does the KDE system as pictured in the report not have text below the "quicklaunch" icons? Wouldn't this significantly improve a new user's ability to quickly identify and launch the tool needed?

I do not know what a "blue dog house" means, what a "red lifesaver" means, or what a "K overlayed upon a sproket" means. I can probably make an educated guess given some previous experience with KDE, but that is hardly accessible.

Am I missing something?

Re:English Summary

[Stevyn]

The linux apps are supposed to be just as easy to use and capable as windows apps. But the problem i think most people face is getting to the point where they can double click the icon and it will load and work properly. In a business setting where you have an IT department doing the work of configuring it, I'm sure most people will have no problem adjusting. However, this takes a decent amount of work and knowhow to set these fuckers up. While windows may be buggy, faulty, unstable, and watched over by big brother, at least it's a cinch to install applications on it.

That is not meant to be a slam on linux and a praise on windows, but it's a major roadblock that prevents a lot of windows users from having the balls to make an attempt to switch.

I'm already thinking about the flames that will surely ensure from this post. But seriously, get a windows box and install a program and do the same for linux while keeping in mind that most people don't want to learn, because they shouldn't have to, how to simply put the icon on their desktop or menu. It may sound trivial to experience computer users, but it's not to regular windows users who just want to get something done.

Re:Bollocks.

[holloway]

I use Redhat 9 (and Windows 2K) and it doesn't deal with dependencies, let alone add a launching menu item to all the Linux desktop's menus. The makers of Linux RPMs don't include everything, it seems they regard statically compiled binaries to be rude. In practice it's a balance of static and dynamic, and in my opinion Linux gets the balance wrong (in that it's rare for software to just require one installation).

Redhat 9 also comes with an Apache GUI configuration tool that breaks the config file when you have multiple hosts (though I've had no problems with the Network tool, and it's much better than Mandrake's).

Software such as APT-GET (and freshrpm.net's aptget for rpm) are good, but see the list of software on FreshRpms and you'll see that it only has a few hundred packages (which is what -- 5% of Linux software having an easy installation?).

The main argument for shared libraries, and only proving a piece of the puzzle, is that the pieces can be upgraded at their own rate. But if dependencies can't be resolved transparently as is the current case then it's safe to assume that most users won't be able to use your software (Kismet Wireless, GStreamer - for example).

These days I hit into Linux dependancy problems much more than DLLs.

Compare this to Windows '98 -- where it generally works.

Re:Software installation still a stumbling block

[Penguin Follower]

You do know that the newest redhat & mandrake distros have an "add/remove programs" now right? Now, I think you still have to have all the rpms to satisfy dependencies, but at least you have a GUI to work with for newbs. I still use the command line for such tasks so I haven't had any experience with the add/remove apps other than I noticed it was there ;)

Re:Usability

[Brian Quinlan]

To be fair to Nero, the complete name listed in the Start menu is "Nero - Burning Rom".

Of course you could argue that the name should be something like "Create CD". Unfortunately for Nero, that is exactly what the Start menu extry for Adaptec Easy CD Creator is.

In any case I think that it is a huge mistake to not include the word "CD" in the menu entry.

other factors of usability

[Doppler00]

One thing I noticed when skimming through the report was that they didn't really mention the responsiveness of the applications themselves. I mean, once a user learns these applications is the performance of them fast enough for a person to be productive? I've noticed on my linux system that applications tend to take much, much longer to load, the swap file thrashes more often, and just interacting with windows and the system is slightly more sluggish. Sure, the difference is in the few 100's of milliseconds, but it is noticable.

It's called..

[toupsie]

Mac OS X. Most Apple applications have fairly generic names, "Mail", "iTunes", "iPhoto", "iMovie", "iDVD", "Preview", "Disk Utility", "Image Capture", "CPU Monitor" and "Safari" (You know that's a web browser, right?). As for burning CDs, you stick a blank CD in the drive and the Mac will ask you what you want to do with it, copy files, burn songs, copy pictures, etc. Real ease of use that neither Windows XP or Linux have. That's why I bought my mother and mother-in-law an iBook. It's cheaper to buy them a Mac than listen to them bitch about their PC. They can do everything they need, it doesn't crash, no scary viruses and the only downside is they have learned attachments. I'm still not giving up my dual boot p4, but I find myself spending more time on the g4.

Re:usable but not the same

[anagama]

It works both ways. I've been using KDE for so long now, that on the two occaisions I had the chance to use XP, I was confused and found XP to be difficult because things didn't work exactly like I expected. Truth be told, on the three occaisions I've had to use OSX - I was also confused by it as well for the same reasons.

I think for the most part, "useability" is 90% familiarity. If you make a person use any system for 6 months, they will get used to it and it will, at least to an extent, "make sense".

Re:umm...

[DavidinAla]

I still know PLENTY of people who don't use computers at home or work. I know it's hard for people like us to believe, but it's very true. :-)

Re:I use both

[Penguin Follower]

Between Windows and Redhat I find myself rebooting Redhat way more than my Windows 2K box due to it hard locking when I try to run too many Gnome apps. GUIs are still pretty buggy in *nix and ease of installation and running programs needs to be integrated. Once they get that right maybe more apps will be written for it.

Fortunately, I don't have to reboot my RedHat server except for a kernel upgrade ;) I really don't have to reboot my Win2k server that often except after a windows update session (and that happens more often than I have to reboot linux for an update :P ).

(Disclaimer: This is not a troll, this is my actual experiences with Gnome).

Well, I stopped using Gnome a long time ago. As in the last time I used Gnome Red Hat 5.2 was still considered relatively new. It was my first distro and seeing apps on Gnome crash I had wondered what in the hell my friend had been smoking when he told me "linux is more stable." What I did was switch to KDE. At that point in time KDE was absolutely UGLY but very functional for me (i.e. didn't crash every 20 minutes). I have "taken a peek" at Gnome every so often and I still see apps crashing on Gnome even when I'm just evaluating it and haven't pushed it very hard. I just don't see that many crashes on KDE. When something does crash on KDE, it is usually a "Gnome app" (such as Gaim). No, it was not my hardware. I've tried Gnome on more systems then I care to count and despite liking the looks of GNome, I've always stuck with KDE as it has always been more functional for me.

Anyway, as I stated at the beginning, this is not a troll against Gnome. I've just had rotten luck with Gnome and KDE has been a good friend to me. Consider this a KDE advertisement if you will. ;)

There are just too many bugs. Using Redhat9 to connect to an NT4 share via Samba is buggy as hell. The first connection works great. After that I practically have to reboot to get back into the share again. I find that very user unfriendly.

I cannot comment on samba with RH9 in that RH9 is the client and NT4 serving the share. I can say, however, that I have a RH9 samba server in production at work that serves large files and images to windows clients all day long, with great uptimes. Takes a beating sometimes... never stops :) Now, I have connected to windows shares from a linux box in the past without problems. It could be a bug in samba shipped with RH9. Try using up2date and get a newer version of samba if available.

New users are mainly turned away when they can't even figure out how to install an app. I was really confused when I first started. I could download to my home directory & make a new folder to put it in, had to spend 15 minutes looking up how to unzip it with tar (man tar made it sound like it was only used for tape backups), went to the folder and stared blankly and the directory listing. It turned out I was supposed to know you have to type:
make
make depend
make install
OK did that....where the hell is it?

This is the first area that I will agree with you. Installation from source is not hard for the initiated, but for the new user (who has had zero computer programming experience) it is hell. I took a few C++ classes in college but didn't persue the computer science degree because I don't make a very good programmer :( I was very shaky about compiling programs on linux even though I had taken C++ classes because it's just not the way you do it on Windows with Visual Studio, which is what I was taught at Wright State. :( However, today you will find me compiling test kernels on "test machines" just to play around and I'm pretty good at it now... but I should be considering I've used Linux since '96 or so.

It's a long and rocky road to learn *nix and unfortunately /. shows how snobby and childish 99% of them ar

Re:usable but not the same

[alekd]

If free software really had been about everyone working for the common good, it would not have enjoyed the success it has. Free software is more about people working for their own good, adding functionality they need getting rid of defects that hinder their work. By sharing their work with others they gain by not having to maintain a separate source tree. By using apropriate licenses they can also ensure that they gain from any later changes by other people. Of course, there are people who do not code for profit, but they mostly do it for the joy of it.

Sometimes your own selfish interests coincide with what could be described as the common good. That is "the invisible hand" at work. Communism is a totalitarian system that is totally opposed to freedom, including free software. In a communist society the state will seek to gain a monopoly of information. In the Soviet Union you had to have a licence in order to get a typewriter. Photocopiers were kept in locked rooms. I cannot see how free software could exist under such a system.

Re:But what about...

[10Ghz]

First, Linux is way more difficult to install than Windows XP.

I call BS on that one. Sure there are distros that are more difficulkt to install (like Debian and Gentoo), but there are other that are dead easy to install (SuSE for example).

Typical SuSE-installation:

-Insert DVD
-Go through the Wizard, set up your system
-Select software to install
-Wait for the software to be installed
-Done

It takes about 20 minutes, and I have fully functional OS ready to be used.

Now, the average W2K-install:
-Insert CD
-Go through the menus, set up your system
-Select MS-software to install
-Wait for the MS-software to be installed
-Boot in to VGA-windows
-Install drivers for your devices (reboot, reboot, reboot)
-Install all the non-MS software you will be using
-Done

Depending on the number of apps, the installation can take something like 1-2 hours.

Nice study, but rather pointless

[ozric99]

If I installed something like Mandrake or Suse on my mum's PC, configured a web browser, an email application, and some general office tools, there's no question that it'd take her about a day to figure out where all the buttons are and how to use it to surf the web, write a letter, send emails. I know this because it took her a similar amount of time to figure out 98, XP, and OSX which she uses at work.

There's no question about the usability or linux in that regard IMHO. For simple office, and 90% of home user tasks, linux is perfectly "ready for the desktop" and has been for some time.

Where I feel linux falls down, however, is the intermediate user - the user who wants to transfer their home movies from their DV camera, edit them, and author a DVDR; a user who'd like to use their TV card to timeshift TV shows; the budding composers who want to hook up their keyboards and play with synchronisers and audio manipulators. That's where people (myself, and the majority of people I know who are very competant windows/osx users) who want to migrate to a linux solution run into difficulties which simply aren't present on Windows or OSX.

Then you move past the intermediate user to the full-on geek, who can do pretty much anything with linux with a couple of mega-fast keystrokes - that's when linux shines ;)

So can we stop these usability studies, please. It's already usable for the majority of home users. The next step is winning over the intermediate Windows users.

And as for gaming.... ;)

Re:usable but not the same

[Chatterton]

As a windows user, I am from time to time confused by other windows versions of the control pannel. I use 98, but when I need to go to the control pannel of Win2000, I take time to find my marks. For the WinXP control pannel, I have just stopped to try to understand his organisation... You don't need to change of OS to be confused :)

Re:Usability

[CreatorOfSmallTruths]

First of all, I think this idea is very cool. Having some sort of one stop shop from which to do everything (kind of wizards for the desktop, isn't it) is a great idea.

Now lets examine the idea more closely...
You want some way in which the system :
1. knows everything there is to know about the programs installed on it.
2. each of the programs has to export at least: a name, a function it serves, and what options it provides, according to some predefined XML (standard, can be manipulated, unicode , blah)
3. each of the different implementations should be supported
4. the programs should support the functionality the claim in some XML-RPC, SOAP or other way

So... a this turns out to be a bit complicated, isn't it ?
but hey... maybe there is a way.. who knows?

Don't forget gnome.

[Anonymous Coward]

They really are hypocrytes when it comes to usablity. They claim its so easy, and much better than the evil KDE. It DOES looks easy at first, but when you want to configure something serious, you have to either edit cryptic text files or use a weird tool called gconf-edit (which is basicly regedit for linux). They claim that only "advanced users" want to do it or KDE/AOL users only do it.

Want to change your colour scheme? Either choose form the a bleak grays from the themes dialog or EDIT TEXT FILES! KDE windows lets you click and point the colours from a nice colour picker dialog.

Want to change your window button order to a mac style,GCONF-EDIT! KDE and classic gnome (gnome 1.x) lets you click and point.

Want to enable gtk1 style "tear-off" menus, which are very useful in so many applications., GCONF EDIT. classic gnome had the option in its control centre.

Want to Drag and drop files from your digital camera to your freinds computer via ssh? Nope, nautilus won't let you do that because that would be "too compex". So you would have to do cut&paste your files to a tempory folder, then open a terminal and do a scp *.jpg. So instead of that I open Konqueror window and do it.

Screensavers, yes there are plenty of screensavers, but what is with the password dialog. My mum screamed you ****ing caught the computer on fire when she first seen the BURNING MONITOR logo on it. Please change that.

The gnome desktop seriously need some real configuration options and less "HIG" propoganda. Now that gnome have been frozen I will have to wait until the Autumn to see if they fixed these problems when the 2.5 series comes out.

I might even go back to kde when 3.2 comes out, the CVS version is good, just unstable because of the nature of development versions.

Re:My experience

[dazk]

> I want an OS that works, out of the box, with MY system.

This is a perfectly valid requirement.

>Windows does this for me. Linux (so far as I have tried) does not.

Well, you are lucky. It can be the other way round. It all depends on your specific setup.

I'd suggest Mandrake for you. On the Systems I tried (2x 1600MP on Asus with USB and parallel printer, scanner, DVB Card, SB Live, USB Mouse, and various other things and Laptop) only the winmodem on my laptop wasn't found. You could try Knoppix first to check how much can be supported. You don't need to install, just put in the CD and give it a try. Mind though that Mandrake and certainly others too have highly extended kernels which include many drivers not available in the stock kernel.

KDE or Gnome? Well, I much prefer KDE over Gnome but that's basically a matter of personal choice. Try em and use the one you like. Bluecurve is just RedHat's miserable way of making both desktops suck.

What kind of DSL Modem do you have? USB? Those are critical since they usually are poorly documented pieces of proprietary *****. If it doesn't work for you, just don't. There sure is a lot of hardware that is not supported (completely) for various reasons, either don't buy unsupported hardware, live with it or don't use Linux. Same is true for Software. If there is something you need and that or an acceptable equivalent is not available for Linux, Linux isn't right for you.

Currently only Linux is the tool for me to get my work done. Mainly because my scanner doesn't work with windows and because of all the tools I use on a day to day basis which certainly are available for windows, too (cygwin) but need to be tuned and configured and are just there on linux.

It really depends on what you need. The Mandrake installation was extremely quick (40 Minutes for the operating System and a huge load of software), With XP, in that time only the plain installation was done and I just started installing the first SP. The Mandrake installation configured every piece of hardware except the winmodem (look at the name) and maybe the irda port, I never tried it. All the USB and PC-Card hardware I own works via hotplug except a new WLan card with an yet unsupported chipset. But that's something I knew about and I follow the development process, eventually even that will work.

So in the end, it really depends on various criteria. Just decide on these and you are ok, no matter what's the outcome. Isn't that the same with every tool? Just because you might not have use for a drill that is powered with pressurized air, it is still the perfect tool for others.

Re:usable but not the same

[juhaz]

Regardless of what you claim, no human, and that includes communists, has EVER had, and never will have, an absolute power to impose any system they wanted, we will always be bound by our own defects.

Even the most perfect theoretical system will only be as good as people who run it, Soviet Union tells nothing about communism as an ideal, only about (admittedly huge) shortcomings people who ran it.

Re:Don't forget gnome.

[Anonymous Coward]

And then other Slashdotters will flame them down for not having a HIG like MacOS does. What is it that you people want? Damned if you do, damned if you don't?

Slashdot flamers are just that: slashdot flamers.

People who count for usability studies aren't in Slashdot, chuckling when reading Linux Desktop Wars flames or just making some acid comments on how they would like it to be done.

People important for usability studies are those one too occupied on making part of their work in a computer to waste time learn things such as key shortcuts or menu-tearing.

And I really doubt they go changing things like the color of widgets (a word unknown to them) so often to justify more UI cruft in the config dialogs. Among many other things.

Yes! Further "Insightful" comments...

[lpret]

This is something I"ve been saying all along! When you give Linux to someone who has been using windows their whole life of course they're going to have issues becuase they'll be going "Ok, here's how I _used_ to do it, now how do I _have_ to do it?" And it becomes a chore. On the other hand --

My grandma turned 80 a few months back and the one thing she wanted was a computer and she has never had one much less used one. So a few of us pitched in and built one for her and we put Lycoris on there. We touched nothing but as soon as it booted up we sat her down in front and showed her where the things she'll use are. Like Mozilla, GAIM, OpenOffice.org, and that's about it. Fastforward to the present day and she loves it. She never gets viruses or the porn pop-ups that her friends get. She hasn't turned it off yet. She is IMing me right now seeing when I'll come up to Indiana again.

The most important thing to do when you have a new user or a switching user is a support base. Perhaps family members or a Linux User Group. Because installation or upgrades are still crappy in Linux (for any user!) my cousin has gone over and updated OOo and GAIM and the such, but for the most part it's doing really good. One last word, Lycoris takes a brilliant approach: Don't organize things by their name (KWord, GAIM, GIMP) which don't help the new user -- they organize it by what it does.

And one last final word. What needs to happen is serveral distros for differing levels of nerdiness. We're seeing it emerge but it needs to become a community effort -- this will allow the power Linux user to use the distro that is suited for their needs and for the n00b to use a simple clean interface.