Re: [Usability] Reaching Users

[Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org>]

On Thu, 2009-12-10 at 09:48 +0000, kerberos piestar net wrote:
> Quoting Olav Vitters <olav bkor dhs org>:
> 
> >> but few can contribute code - which seems to be the sole focus.
> >
> > In case you're not aware: Yes, it is a meritocracy. Don't see how this
> > is a sole problem of Free Software though.
> 
> No closed source development project I have ever been involved in  
> could ever be described as a meritocracy, unless you consider the  
> ability to pay me as 'merit'.  If a project manager, tester or anyone  
> else doesn't like something I have to fix it - it's not up to me.   
> Even when I have done independant contracts if the customer doesn't  
> like something they generally just withold payment until it's fixed.   
> I simply don't have the option of saying no or ignoring user  
> complaints - and to be honest the software is better for it.

We're not running a company; we're running a community.  The
methods that work with paid employees don't necessarily work
with volunteers.  I'm not trying to use volunteerism as an
excuse, but there are things that just don't work.

And I've worked on proprietary software.  It's not always a
shining example of good usability.  They mess up as often as
we do.  Very often, market forces push them to check items
off a feature matrix without giving much thought to usable
design.

> > Don't want to be negative, but I guess you have some pet peeve you want
> > fixed asap and nobody looked at it?
> 
> My pet peeve is that despite grand gestures and statements the closest  
> that any Linux distro has come to taking usability seriously is  
> talking about a new theme.

That's not at all fair, and it marginalizes all the work done
by people on this list and throughout Gnome.  Do you really
believe there have been no usability improvements in the last
five years?

You're being very negative and borderline insulting.  I'm sure
you mean well, but your methods aren't accomplishing your goals.

--
Shaun