jonathansizz
April 27th, 2006, 11:30 PM
Here's a list I have compiled of the most important improvements yet to be made to Ubuntu. These are the things that I think need to be done before Ubuntu will be taken seriously by the PC-using masses.
1] Preinstallation on new PCs and Notebooks. OEM's could also preinstall propretary stuff.
2] 'Easy Ubuntu' or similar officially-supported tool for non-OEM installations - a simple & reliable method of downloading (as necessary), installing and setting up all the non-free stuff that cannot come preinstalled for licensing reasons: multimedia codecs, graphic card drivers, proprietary software like Realplayer, Java, Adobe Reader, etc.
3] Easy & reliable upgrade between releases (because people don't want to reinstall every 6-months - thay want to upgrade to the newest version of Ubuntu to get the latest features, but they want their personal files & system settings to remain untouched as far as practicable). Windows and even FreeBSD have had this for years.
4] It is more important to get currently existing features working universally than to introduce new features - professionalism matters. Features that cannot be guaranteed to be working as advertised should be hidden or perhaps moved to an 'experimental' folder.
5] One-click install & uninstall of .deb packages - for stuff that is not included in official synaptic repositories (for example, when a new version of Firefox is released, users could simply download it & click to upgrade to new version, as seen in Windows).
6] Settings that presently need to be adjusted from the command-line, post-install, should be defaulted to how most people (i.e. non-technophiles) would likely want them, eg. DMA should be ON by default.
7] Making choices easier to navigate is good, but removing choices is bad - the gnome screensaver crippleware is an obvious example. Another (that Ubuntu is directly responsible for) is the new GDM with options buried in the corner. Show me someone who was confused by the old layout. The new layout is clumsy and annoying to use.
Ubuntu is a wonderful operating system and the developers deserve huge respect & congratulations for getting it to its' present level in such a short period of time. The above are simply suggestions for making Ubuntu even better. What does everyone else think?
1] Preinstallation on new PCs and Notebooks. OEM's could also preinstall propretary stuff.
2] 'Easy Ubuntu' or similar officially-supported tool for non-OEM installations - a simple & reliable method of downloading (as necessary), installing and setting up all the non-free stuff that cannot come preinstalled for licensing reasons: multimedia codecs, graphic card drivers, proprietary software like Realplayer, Java, Adobe Reader, etc.
3] Easy & reliable upgrade between releases (because people don't want to reinstall every 6-months - thay want to upgrade to the newest version of Ubuntu to get the latest features, but they want their personal files & system settings to remain untouched as far as practicable). Windows and even FreeBSD have had this for years.
4] It is more important to get currently existing features working universally than to introduce new features - professionalism matters. Features that cannot be guaranteed to be working as advertised should be hidden or perhaps moved to an 'experimental' folder.
5] One-click install & uninstall of .deb packages - for stuff that is not included in official synaptic repositories (for example, when a new version of Firefox is released, users could simply download it & click to upgrade to new version, as seen in Windows).
6] Settings that presently need to be adjusted from the command-line, post-install, should be defaulted to how most people (i.e. non-technophiles) would likely want them, eg. DMA should be ON by default.
7] Making choices easier to navigate is good, but removing choices is bad - the gnome screensaver crippleware is an obvious example. Another (that Ubuntu is directly responsible for) is the new GDM with options buried in the corner. Show me someone who was confused by the old layout. The new layout is clumsy and annoying to use.
Ubuntu is a wonderful operating system and the developers deserve huge respect & congratulations for getting it to its' present level in such a short period of time. The above are simply suggestions for making Ubuntu even better. What does everyone else think?