Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2001 08:30:25 -0400 From: Bill Moran <wmoran@iowna.com> To: Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com> Cc: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD Mall now BSDCentral Message-ID: <3B4C46E1.8E65DB80@iowna.com> References: <20010706144935.A61843@xor.obsecurity.org> <3B4650D0.97F10B83@bellatlantic.net> <20010707002340.B16071@widomaker.com> <20010707004731V.jkh@osd.bsdi.com> <3B49F8D5.2C9BFA73@mindspring.com> <3B4A0124.26025FB5@iowna.com> <3B4A1423.E8E365E@mindspring.com> <86ofqth6p3.fsf@hades.hell.gr> <3B4A7D9C.A64230D9@softweyr.com> <3B4B07DE.4801D208@iowna.com> <3B4B1B66.C011BF2B@softweyr.com> <3B4B32F3.7AC70D66@iowna.com> <3B4C0C3A.64E05112@softweyr.com>
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Wes Peters wrote: > > Hmmm ... well, I was never upset with the "crufty details" ... I rather > > like > > to know what's going on under the hood all the time. Then again, that's > > me. If you're targeting newbies and other less-educated (or less "I sure > > would like to figure this out" inclined) people, then what you're > > suggesting would probably be a good idea. > > Uh, yeah, by definition, we're targeting people who have never seen > FreeBSD before -- that's what an installer is all about. This is a > lesson I had pounded into me the hard way many years ago by Rob Clyde, > who was at that time trying to get people to buy the software I was > writing. The lesson: "If they can't install it, they'll never know > how good it is." <snip good business story> I'll have to say that if I've been arguing against other people on this, I can't honestly argue against that logic. You're absolutely right that a lot of people will abort from trying something new at the first sign troubble. Thus the installer has to be super-simple and reliable and all that other stuff. I guess the thing that I'm worried about, which hasn't been explicitly stated but I've inferred from the conversation, is that a new installer will take on some characteristics of other installers that I despise. These characteristics can be broadly classified as "The software thinks it knows best, even when it doesn't have a clue, and will refuse to allow you to fix its mistakes." Having access to the crufty details gives me a lot of control and keeps me from saying, "I don't know what's wrong and I don't know how to fix it." I can never honestly say that with any open-source software, because I can always dig around in the source until I find what's wrong. So, on this topic, what I really WANT to say is: please don't make the crufty details inaccessable while making the interface easier to use. Along with that, I think I'm finally getting a handle on what really needs done to sysinstall. It's been a painful process, wrought with misunderstandings and confusion, but I think I'm finally getting what the point is. -Bill -- If a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, then what can I get for two hands in the bush? To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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