That isn't quite the same a what this software is or what Groupy does, but that is a fascinating article. I loved this part:
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For instance, one study subject took twenty minutes of staring at a Windows 3.1 desktop before being able to open a text editing program. Finally, a programmer spoke up that this was unacceptable, to Oran’s relief. But that relief would be short lived: “Our customers are morons!” exclaimed the programmer.
This was frustrating enough, Oran says. But then they talked to that user, and it turns out that he was actually a propulsion engineer for Boeing.
“He was literally a rocket scientist,” Oran says. “And even he couldn’t figure out Windows.”
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IMO the #1 opportunity for open source software to gain more mainstream acceptance is focusing on making it easier for non-technical users to use. Which is hard when most of your userbase is technical users. Microsoft deserves credit for realizing they had a usability problem, and having made major improvements to that over the years.
> IMO the #1 opportunity for open source software to gain more mainstream acceptance is focusing on making it easier for non-technical users to use. Which is hard when most of your userbase is technical users. Microsoft deserves credit for realizing they had a usability problem, and having made major improvements to that over the years.
... I don't know. On the one hand, I applaud the sentiment. On the other hand, general computing needs of technical users are already becoming a niche too small for the market to serve. If Open Source community gets into their heads that they should optimize for non-technical users, I fear we'll have a dearth of tools...
Funny. I never liked the taskbar at the bottom of the screen on Windows, so I always move it to the top. To this day, it still screws up new window alignment, twenty five-ish years later.
After I moved to Linux and 16:9 monitors became mandatory I moved my gnome/mate taskbar to the left side, where it has stayed for about a decade. It is a bit clumsy in the vertical position, but does the job.
Reminds me of the (apocryphal?) story that the 'OK' button is only labelled that way because in user testing people read the original text - 'Do It' - as 'Dolt'.
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For instance, one study subject took twenty minutes of staring at a Windows 3.1 desktop before being able to open a text editing program. Finally, a programmer spoke up that this was unacceptable, to Oran’s relief. But that relief would be short lived: “Our customers are morons!” exclaimed the programmer.
This was frustrating enough, Oran says. But then they talked to that user, and it turns out that he was actually a propulsion engineer for Boeing.
“He was literally a rocket scientist,” Oran says. “And even he couldn’t figure out Windows.”
---
IMO the #1 opportunity for open source software to gain more mainstream acceptance is focusing on making it easier for non-technical users to use. Which is hard when most of your userbase is technical users. Microsoft deserves credit for realizing they had a usability problem, and having made major improvements to that over the years.