Posted on 10/11/2005 12:56:54 PM PDT by N3WBI3
Welcome!
Better Desktop is a project dedicated to sharing usability data with Linux developers. Over the past year, we have conducted many usability tests on different parts of the KDE and GNOME desktops. We created this site to serve as a place where developers can watch videos of these tests. Here you will find over 200 videos of people using Mozilla Firefox, Evolution, Open Office, Banshee, F-Spot and other applications. All of these can be found in the data section of this site.
The video repository on this site is growing. We will continue to add video as we produce it. Please visit us again soon to see what is new.
Better Desktop is sponsored by Novell. It is part of the OpenSUSE project. Why We Do Usability Testing
We do usability testing at Novell because we want Linux to be easy-to-use and easy-to-learn. Usability testing provides us with a reliable way to measure how well different software designs meet these goals. We do usability tests for three main reasons:
1. To find out which parts of a given design work well for our target audience and which parts don't. For example, we ran general tests on the F-Spot photo organizer because we wanted to gain an overall understanding of what its interface did well, and what it did poorly.
2. To compare the effectiveness of various designs. For example, we ran comparison tests on KDM and GDM to figure out which program was more usable for members of our target audience.
3. To verify that our specific usability goals have been satisfied. For example, after running several iterations of tests on the Gnome sound capplet, we proposed a set of changes to its user interface. After these changes were made, we ran a round of usability tests on the capplet to ensure that our changes did in fact help us to meet our goals for that tool. Data
Our testing methodology allows us to collect many kinds of data, including behavioral data, qualititative data, and quantitative data. Each of these types of data helps us to build better software in a different way:
1. We collect behavioral data simply by watching our test subjects use our software. By paying close attention to what they are doing and saying as they go through our tests, we learn about their habits, their workflows and their expectations. This data helps us to gain a more complete understanding of how people in the real world relate to computers.
2. We collect qualitiative data by videotaping our subjects as they think outloud about our software. This data helps us to make educated guesses about how to improve our designs. It helps us to understand how our test subjects feel about the software they are using. By paying attention to our test subjects' expressions, tones of voice, gestures and pauses, we can learn to improve the quality of their experience. We use qualititative data to help us make using our software pleasant.
3. We collect quantitative data by keeping track of statistics like how many test subjects completed a given task correctly, the average time it took to complete a given task, the percentage of test subjects who gave up on a given task, etc. Over time, we will add more statistical data to this site.
A modern Linux system is not hard to use, and I'd rate it on par with Windows in the user friendliness dept...for example...I have a small bank of Linux computers at work that I maintain myself. When I installed the OS's (Debian and Mepis) on these systems, upon first boot, they configured themselves for the network printer (I didn't even realize this...only when I looked at the Printers menu in KDE and saw the same default printer for all of them, with no input from me. Windows has NEVER done that in my experience.
BTW, I'm posting from one of those computers right now, an antique 200 mhz Compaq, with Debian/KDE/OpenOffice/Firefox all installed in under 2 gigs, all done over the Internet with three Debian boot floppies (and yes, it works way better than you'd think). How cool is that?
Installation is Linux hands-down, but only if you choose the right system. Debian would be a nightmare for a newbie, but Mepis is far better than any Windows install I've seen...just choose the defaults and go. If you want to dual boot with an existing Windows system, just avoid HDA1 in choice of partitions, and Mepis takes care of the rest...when you boot up, there's Windows in your OS menu.
Installing programs/packages, again, I would have to give the nod to Linux, but only if you have a good gui package manager. Mepis now ships with Synaptic. If you can remember your root password, the rest is point and click. You don't have to browse the web, find the program, download it, figure out where you saved it, navigate to it, and then start it. You click what you want, and it installs. That's it.
Granted, Windows is an easy system to use, but only if nothing goes wrong. If it gets broken, then it's a nightmare...
Case in point - recently while trying to reinstall a hosed XP installation, I tried to completely format the hard drive and start over. The "system recovery disks" that came with this computer refused to let me do that, instead preferring to recover the old system files and restore the system to its previous state, complete with sasser worm intact. This happened even when I chose the option to reformat the system from the recovery menu. I even fdisked the old partition, created a new one, and formatted the hard drive. Another time, I actually installed Linux over top of the old XP installation. Each time, after running system recovery, it once again restored the old, corrupted XP install yet again.
P.S. - after four years of using Linux, I have never once had a system spontaneously refuse to boot, unless I'd been doing stupid things to it (as root) beforehand.
I think we're there, you just have to understand that in general when people start testing for ease of use they're really testing for ease of learning. It's kind of assumed that unless a product is really buggy or lacks power user features like keyboard controls once a user learns it they will find it easy to use, the question you're looking to answer with these types of videos is how easy is it to get something done when you sit down knowing nothing about the product.
I know. That's why I mentioned the learning curve in my Post #5 when I started this. I was trying to differentiate between using and learning.
Waiting for it to boot ;)
No really I was thinking more about configuring for dial-up, high speed connections and the semi to fully functioning networks they imply are still primarily the domain of power users (though it's getting less and less so). You actually have to jump through a lot more hoops to setup dial-up in Windows than anything going through your network plug which most OSes now pretty solidly detect and figure out on their own.
We're ziggy.
Crud. This image is supposed to be an animated gif of the AYBABTU game.
Ahh now I get it.
I'm not sure what you are talking about. I've built or installed several dozen XP machines this year, and IE works first time with no configuration.
IE will sure, and the OS will grab everything fine if you're plugged into an always on network. If you're doing dial-up, which most newbies are, you've got to configure dial-up networking in the OS which might also include configuring the modem (depending on how plug-and-play the modem is, less often lately), then IE should be fine though you might get the which network to use dialog if XP thinks there should be a real network as well as the dial-up you configured. As DSL and cable internet become more prevalent the additional configuration steps become less necessary, but it's still a definite possibility for first time owners/ users.
Dial-up is always more difficult than an always-on connection, particularly if it's already working.
The internet connection wizard takes about two minutes, and there isn't any faster way to do it. There are certain questions that have to be answered.
If your modem is at all current it will be installed automatically.
Takes about 2 minutes if you know what you're doing, we're talking about people who don't know what they're doing, it'll take them longer.
I can think of only one activity where people who don't know what they are doing are quicker.
iMacs are a tad quicker to setup for dial-up than XP though, they knocked it down to pretty much just putting in the phone number, they're also easier to get all plugged in. As ugly as they are iMacs really are the perfect complete doofus computer.
I agree 100%. The average user is going to learn and use whatever is on the box he buys. I am just saying that I don't think Linux is "hard" anymore for the technologically challenged. My wife could no more "install" Mepis linux than she could "install" windows....., which means she could install either of them without much hassle. How much computing ability does it take to hit "enter" and select a name/password?
In my opinion, it is the easiest distro of Linux there is...., running neck and neck with Xandros..., not that I am an expert on all the distros. I have an asus a7n8x mobo with an amd barton xp 2600 chip and a gig of ram here. No funky video cards, and using the sound drivers on the board. The install was literally --- insert the cd and click thru the prompts. If you know what you are doing, you can customize, or it will just hold your hand and walk u thru it. A VERY nice install, and you can run the OS off cd only (indeed, you have to boot from the cd INTO mepis to do the install). The cd lets you log on as root or guest, with the pw being either root or guest, and that is about the toughest part of figuring out the install.
Mepis was also a clean install on my IBM 600 Thinkpad (P2 450 with just under 200 meg of ram). It did not "automatically" install drivers for my linksys wireless card, but I went to the mepis site (built into the firefox browser as a bookmark- I obviously had to find it from my desktop) and found instructions on how to set it up in 5 mins. A heck of alot easier than some other projects I have had!!!! My family has been extremely pleased with it.
Another quick anecdotal story: My oldest daughter (not the one I mentioned earlier) was living with another girl as a roomate who had some colorful characters as friends. She would come in and find loads of porn downloaded on her machine and consequently, loads of viruses, popups, etc. We wiped her drive (I actually had to use a scrubber to wipe it clean, as I think something was "hiding" in the 0 sector), installed Mepis as an OS and she was very happy with it. Not only did she now have a machine with a locked account, if she DID walk off and leave opera or firefox open, there are of course no applicable malware apps out there (at least none that I know of) to booger up her machine. She moved, and that is no longer a problem, but it was a nice little feature of linux for a box that wasn't always secured. If Win4lin had usb support, and Firefox's/Mozilla's activeX extension worked well, I would have simply removed all windows OS on any of my machines, here at home or at work. If you like just futzing around with an OS, you should at least try Mepis. It's users are pretty devoted, though not on the intensity level of Mac-o-philes.
Always a pleasure chatting with you.
Try photobucket.com.
I can second that. Mepis is just amazing for it's ease of use and the sheer volume of cool applications that are already installed and configured from the get-go.
RealPlayer 10 is already there, configured and ready to go, complete with browser plug-in. MPlayer handles Windows media and Quicktime, both standalone and with browser plug-ins, if you download the Essential Codec Pack. Also, Flash and Java are pre-installed in all the browsers. Not to mention you get Open Office, Gimp, Gaim, Skype, Synaptic, and about anything else you could need for everyday use. No configuring necessary, most of the time.
Mepis also figured out my laptop has a Lucent winmodem and had that ready to go, too...I just put my pertinent info into KPPP and away I went.
I use it on several different computers, both at home and work. It is nice to have a computer that is both easy to use and maintenance free.
I've got people asking me about my Live CD--I run it at school in the library. It is instances like these that the Joe Sixpacks can get some exposure to Linux--like I've been saying, we need to get the word out to people. And one of the easiest ways IMHO is to let them experience Linux firsthand.
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