[TAG] Linusability

[Kapil Hari Paranjape]

Dear Partha,

On Thu, 08 Jul 2010, Dr. Parthasarathy S wrote:
> I am launhing a serious study into
> various aspects of the usability aspects of Linux, so as to list
> out the problems and hopefully help some people offer solutions.

"Usability for whom?" is a question whose answer it is important to
establish before going too far.

At the very least you need to address two classes of users:

 1. Those who have used computers before (usually this means Windows
 but it could sometimes mean MacOS as well).

 2. Those who are using computers for the first time.

I think that a lot of effort (GNOME/KDE, openoffice, ...) has gone
into addressing (1); and that is indeed a difficult problem since
those users have expectations/prejudices.

There have been a number of worthwhile attempts at (2), such as the
Sugar interface for school kids. These have been successful on
the usability front.

Just my 2 paise worth.

Kapil.
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