Summary

We will get maximum traction with 'momentum users/opinion leaders'. We should actively seek what features they are interested in and implement these features. The feature set is not just normal use of computers, but what would their innovative uses be ? The activities need to happen are :

  1. Form a plan to reach out (user groups, adult classes in community colleges, teachers, ...)
  2. We are missing success stories - ie what are the ways Ubuntu makes life easier
  3. Usability team ? Marketing team ?

This article is a must-read!

This wiki was built solely for the purpose of "WhatDoNonGeeksWant" (the creator had no knowledge of this but wanted the same thing anyway) Check it out and add stuff!

Maybe you should also take a look in the very interesting discussion about this issue here: http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=199744

Rationale

Make an OS that is truly part of practical, global life. Most of the features we add are for geeks ! To truly transcend beyond the current OSs, we need to poll users and find out what they would use the OS. We do not have to talk to all the billion people ;o) but still need to touch the representative groups.

We need to understand that people are social beings. They need to communicate. No hassle video conferencing should be a top priority. If Skype beats us to it, then a non-free software will be the most popular video conferencing software on Linux.

Use cases

To come from talking with users from various walks of life and interpolating their aspirations ...

Scope

Like my son says "Infinity and beyond ..."! Actually the scope is bounded, but would require working across different packages and possibly developing couple of protocols and definitely a few skins ...

Design

Ask the non-geeks some /StandardQuestions

Implementation

Code

Data preservation and migration

Outstanding issues

BoF agenda and discussion

Users and developers have all sorts of interesting and intriguing reasons and stories to tell about why they chose to use F/OSS. We should encourage each of them to write a short essay on their reasons for doing so. There won't be any prize to win, just a chance to wax lyrical on what they enjoy about F/OSS and how it has worked for them. Put these in a shared place and take the best of them to use for marketing purposes. As a source of inspiration compare the short stories football fans write to explain how they came to support their favourite club.

Discussion Notes (KS) (June 19,2006 14:00-15:00)

If anybody can find a certain number of developers supporting the idea that they would implement anything somebody could prove to them to be of general public interest, I am happy to find ways to identify these tasks for them. I can think of a number of concepts to get to those results - surveys are not amongst them. I was thinking about setting something up to serve this purpose for some time now, I just have not been convinced yet that developers are actually after that kind of information.

KrishnaSankar are you such a developer?

Discussion Notes & Brainstorming (BaL) (June 21,2006)

Session - What do non-Geeks want from Ubuntu Discussion of various user groups, marketing strategies, ways to gather user data and how to translate that into usable information for developers.

  1. How do you gather user information?
  2. How do you define the various user groups, realizing that there is overlap?
  3. How do you translate that data into useful information for developers?

User Groups: New Users - no computer background New to Ubunutu -

  1. Migrating from other Linux Distros
  2. " " Windows
  3. " " Mac OS

IT Professionals IT Decisions Makers General Decisions Makers Trend Setters Developers (new, intermediate, advanced)

We recognize that these groups overlap particularly in the IT areas, and that Developers are also uses but the focus here is on standard end users who just want things to work. "Trend setters" are an good first target area in that, if they have a good experience with Ubuntu, they will tell help promote it to others.

Possible Overlap with existing Ubuntu & F/OSS Teams

  1. Marketing - is there a Canonical plan/process in place for reaching each of these user groups? The Community Marketing Team is still in the early stages of formation and needs guidance. The team also overlaps with the Artwork team and other user groups. There needs to be more cross Team communication to help eliminate any duplication of effort; i.e. artwork for the next release can also be used in marketing materials, artwork needs to meet certain technical requirements for developers etc.. Current newsletters are a good first step in this direction.
  2. Edubuntu - a very concentrated user group, aimed at K12 educational markets and "small human beings." This is how you grow users over times. Convince teachers and other not-so-small technology decision makers to use Edubuntu which sets the seed for a lifetime. Again, a cross team communication strategy might help both groups make the best use of resources (marketing/artwork/documentation/other common things/) and eliminate any duplication of work effort.
  3. F/OSS - common evangelism with existing groups, KDE, FSFE, etc.
  4. Training - If there are plans to create end user training, there is an obvious overlap. Any materials that might be developed to help market and document can also be used to help train (and vice versa).

Next Steps - Clarify User Groups, Marketing Strategy, ways to integrate with Developers - new Ubuntu Community Mgr. I wish I could remember Chris Kenyon's questions/matrix he used to help frame this discussion in terms of users/usability/other so that the informaton could be communicated over to specs and useful information for future releases.

Usability Team - Can we look at creating a Usability Team that is focused on gathering this information? The KDE Team has Usability specialists who help gather data and turn it into useful information.

Ubuntu Release Survey - We can make a Survey within the Ubuntu Forums every Ubuntu Release, I think that after a week (or two) of every Ubuntu release we can make that when a user log in into his/her account in the Ubuntu Forum a pop-up windows appear telling him/her to contribute to the community by answering the survey, if s/he say no then no more pop-ups and if s/he answers then there's no reason to ask again, the Survey would be something like https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+spec/ubuntu-census-survey but it will be directed to users no developers, some of the question in there would be taken for the new survey, and adding some more, in order to see the worries of the users in the community, the technologies they would like to see in Ubuntu for short, mid and long terms.

BoF @Ubucon Aug 18,2006

<AUg 17,06 KS> Panel at Linux world and associated slashdot comments (need to summarize the main points) Linux's iPOD generation Gap http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=18023&hed=Linux%E2%80%99s+iPod+Generation+Gap

Follow-up Notes

<Nov 3, 2006> This topic is much hotter now - The world just isn’t ready for Linux !

Non-Geek Volunteer

I categorize myself as an early trier, i.e. one of your momentum users/ opinion leaders. I'm a newbie to Ubuntu having migrated from MS Windows XP. Although I've had Ubuntu installed since May06, I've learnt very little because nothing went wrong until a power failure wiped my hard disc, and the small bits that annoyed me I was prepared to live with until after my exams. I decided that I would get involved with the documentation project because finding stuff I can understand is so very difficult. I would probably be able to give you lots of relevant information and feedback, but don't know how to do it most easily. This wiki, unlike Wikipaedia does not have the backpages for discussion etc. Shame that. Tzumli_D

Make Ubuntu work flawlessly

I have no idea if this is the right place to add suggestions, but I didn't find a better one, so here it comes...

In my opinion this blueprint goes into the wrong direction, twice:

Two more points that I find interesting for this blueprint:

Highlight the Differences

One of the biggest problems I've seen people face when they start using Ubuntu is that they're still thinking in Windows terms. It would be nice to have an "Introduction to Ubuntu" that is more technical than philosophical. This is something that can tell new users about software packages, and how they can search for and install them automatically, and for free. This whole concept is so foreign to Windows users that our "killer app" goes completely unnoticed. If they only try to do things the way they did them on Windows, they're missing out on the benefits that Ubuntu offers, and will likely be disappointed too.

CategorySpec

WhatDoNonGeeksWant (last edited 2008-08-06 16:20:50 by localhost)