Re: 3.6 Feature: Initial setup

[Krzysztof Walo <krzysztof walo gmail com>]

On Mon, 2012-04-23 at 14:08 -0400, Matthias Clasen wrote:
> Sure, I agree that the online account and intro tour steps are useful
> for every new user, not just the first. Beyond that, they are also
> useful for an existing user who just upgraded his system from GNOME 2
> and is not familiar with the new features of GNOME 3. I'm confident
> that we can find a way to provide the same UI in these situations. The
> main focus of the feature as it is written now, is certainly the
> single-user machine - since that is a really common case (...not going
> to make up numbers).
Online account setup and system tour are optional steps, not necessary
to get the system running. We don't have the numbers to cover this, but
neither majority of GNOME installs are OEM, nor majority of users
install system for first time. They usually know what GNOME is and how
to use it.
        
I'm not saying these steps are not necessary, only optional. Users could
take a tour before installing system on hard drive, eg. by launching a
separate application. Usually you do test drive, before buying a car ;)
        
As of online account and network setup, wouldn't it be better if
installer copied user configuration made on live CD, including online
accounts, network manager connections, wallpaper and favorite color
scheme in gnome terminal?
        
Currently typical Linux installation looks like this:
1. Launch desktop session
2. Run installer and answer questions
3. Reboot
4. Do system configuration (either manually, or by some initial setup
software)
        
Wouldn't it be better if it looked like this:
1. Ask user necessary questions (language, name, time zone?)
2. Launch desktop session
3. Let user configure it
4. Install system
        
4th step would only require to setup partitions and copy user
configuration to hard drive - as few questions, as possible.
        
Additionally to cover OEM use case, admin could skip step 1. In such
case program asking for user details would run after reboot, when user
powers on the machine for the first time.
        
I think this way both sides would be happy: Individual users, who want
to get system up and running as fast as possible and OEM installs, which
need to provide a way for end user to do some first-time configuration.
        
Regards,
Krzysztof