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interesting usability test videos for dif. linux desktop programs (gnome,etc.)

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mouser:
Tons of usability test videos of people trying to use different linux desktops (gnome, etc.) to do different things.  Lots of giant video files.
Also find reports and data about linux desktop usability on the site.

note: videos seem down at the moment (or overwhelmed).

...
Below are videos that we have taken of user tests. Please consider when watching the videos, that they may touch on many parts of the desktop. For example, a test that deals with changing the background may involve Nautilus or GNOME Control Center. In other words, there is a lot to learn from these videos!
...

--- End quote ---


http://www.betterdesktop.org/wiki/index.php?title=Data




from digg

Gothi[c]:
This doesn't show much about LINUX usability since it's a bunch of windows people not knowing what they are doing. If anything they are demonstrating how similar/unsimilar GNOME is to windows. Half of the things on that list I would have done through commandline anyway :p
Title of parent should be Windows to Gnome migration or something. Don't forget that there are countless other windowmanagers out there that have a completely different functionality. :)

Because someone who has used windows all his life, gets shoved infront of a box running gnome (which also runs on bsd, and other unixes and possix os'es not just linux.) and doesn't immidiatly find what he's looking for, doesn't mean that linux is more or less usable.

JavaJones:
Considering the fact that Windows has a 95% desktop OS marketing share it may not mean that in concept, but in practice yes it does. :D In practice 95% of users will be migrating from Windows, so that is the single most important and fundamental metric for any desktop Linux solution to worry about if it's trying to gain market share. Not necessarily emulating Windows mind you, but doing things in a way that makes at least as much sense to Windows users as Windows does. This leaves a surprising amount of room for innovation though. MS does it themselves with their own OS. Their attrocious decisions to change the Start menu in XP are a great example. The very first thing I do on a new XP install is turn the "new, enhanced" start menu off and go back to the old, far more usable system. New ideas aren't always great but as long as there's a fallback it's ok. Linux can innovate on these things too, I just hope they do a better job of it than MS did. ;)

- Oshyan

Carol Haynes:
It read an interesting article the other day which included an interview with the CEO of Red Hat. The article was about the problems Linux is facing with the rise of webservices and how this will affect them in the future. Even the RH guy admitted that they are already seeing a reduction in Linux usage because of the growth of webservices - and it hasn't really started yet. Naturally MS's aggressive marketing got the blame because MS is pushing the idea of these services very hard. Sorry I can't give you a link 'cos I deleted the email - but I think it was on either ZDNet or TechRepublic.

Just found it on ZDNet ...

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6078854.html

Gothi[c]:
You can't just say Linux instead of Gnome.
Linux, the operating system is just the kernel. It's not like in Windows where the GUI stuff is all part of the OS. People could be running anything, it doesn't have to be Gnome. And lots of people I know don't run Gnome or KDE (since they are a bit bloaty.)
All MS did with their start button is put a very ugly skin around it. Not much innovation if you ask me. A gnome panel can have something similar to a start button but it's removeable and moveable, so it can be placed anywhere, on any panel. It's optional. Even the entire panel is optional. Many other window managers (like fluxbox/blackbox) launch their 'start menu' by rightclicking on the desktop for example. Then there's many NextStep'ish windowmanagers out there that many people use, which have floating boxes on the edges of the screen which can be buttons to launch applications, or drawers containing a bunch of application launchers, or entire programs running in a tiny box (dockapps). Gnome may be most commonly pre-installed with many distributions but i'd say it's far from being "The Linux windowmanager" that would tick allot of people off. :D Calling video's like this Linux usability tests, is just more misinformation that can add to prejudgmental ideas non experienced linux users can have. (eg: I don't like linux, because I don't like gnome.)

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