Graphical boot isn't so graphical

[Havoc Pennington]

On Wed, Jul 23, 2003 at 03:23:11PM -0700, Jack Bowling wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 23, 2003 at 03:03:42PM -0400, Havoc Pennington wrote:
> > It is not a marketing decision - the boot messages do show up as a
> > real usability problem, and usability is one of the primary objectives
> > of Red Hat Linux. It is one of our main technical goals.
> > 
> > When something is a usability plus for nontechnical users and a
> > usability minus for technical users, we're always going to default 
> > to the nontechnical setting, because technical users have the skills
> > to "opt out" and change the default.
> 
> 
> Sorry, but this is a definite case of "dummying down" and borders on a
> specious argument. What will be the first thing a support person asks a
> newbie stuck on a boot to do? "Hit CTRL-ALT-F1, please, and tell me what
> it says." Despite your argument that it is a usability issue, it really 
> amounts to coders defending the impressiveness of their work. Show me
> how a newbie user "uses" the bootup and I might agree with you.

I know how the decision was made, and marketing wasn't involved.

Users use the bootup because they see it, and they try to figure out
what it means, and usually fail; and that is not harmless.

If I buy a cookbook, and open it up to read some recipes, and the
first few pages are full of gibberish, that is going to seriously
affect how I view that cookbook and cause me concern.

Think of the fax machine that just says "PC Load Letter" all the time
in "Office Space." Computers should never have the equivalent of that
message, because it produces the reaction accurately depicted in the
movie.

Havoc