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Date: Thu, 22 May 2003 15:23:28 -0400
From: Christopher Faylor <cgf-rcm AT cygwin DOT com>
To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Subject: Re: Setup.exe sugestion/annoyance
Message-ID: <20030522192328.GE4621@redhat.com>
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References: <Pine DOT GSO DOT 4 DOT 44 DOT 0305211106120 DOT 26639-100000 AT slinky DOT cs DOT nyu DOT edu> <3ECC2C39 DOT 8000707 AT rfk DOT com>
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On Wed, May 21, 2003 at 09:47:37PM -0400, Larry Hall (RFK Partners, Inc.) wrote:
>Igor Pechtchanski wrote:
>>On Wed, 21 May 2003, Steve Fairbairn wrote:
>>
>>
>>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>>From: Christopher Faylor [mailto:cgf-rcm AT cygwin DOT com]
>>>>Sent: 21 May 2003 15:33
>>>>To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
>>>>Subject: Re: Setup.exe sugestion/annoyance
>>>>
>>>>Primer on how not to get free software problems fixed:
>>>>
>>>>1) Download free software.
>>>>
>>>>2) Notice that the free software doesn't work exactly the way you want.
>>>>
>>>>3) Assume that the reason the free software doesn't work the way you
>>>>  want it to is because someone is missing something very obvious.
>>>>  Do no research to prove that theory.  Assume that you are the
>>>>  very first person to notice the problem and decide to scold
>>>>  the free software developers.
>>>>
>>>>4) Send offended email.
>>>>
>>>>5) Receive email from developer telling you why things work the way
>>>>  they do.
>>>>
>>>>5) Respond in insulting fashion to the developer who volunteers time to
>>>>  work on free software.
>>>>
>>>>6) Speculate, while doing no research, that the bug in the free software
>>>>  program is probably fixable by using a proprietary software product
>>>>  available for purchase for many $$$.
>>>>
>>>>6) Suggest that bug in free software was purposely introduced.
>>>>
>>>>7) Wait for problem to be fixed, basking in the warm knowledge that 
>>>>you've
>>>>  done everything possible to help the volunteer developers of the free
>>>>  software.
>>>
>>>Why isn't this is the FAQ?  I've found usability bug in the FAQ that'd 
>>>only
>>>take the FAQ maintainer seconds to change, by loading it up in Microsoft
>>>Word XP, copy and pasting this into it, making it produce new HTML, and
>>>saving.
>>>
>>>What a crime against humanity this is.
>>>
>>>Steve Fairbairn.
>>
>>
>>Ah, yes, perhaps we should have an "Answers For Dummies" section of the
>>FAQ (external, I bet) that repeats all the answers to dummy questions and
>>statements, like CGF's answer above, and the sample question/statement
>>kindly supplied by Steve.  We might have to distribute it compressed,
>>though, as it's likely to fill up with junk pretty quickly.  In fact, we
>>should probably have a paid subscription to it. ;-)
>
>How about a ticker line at the top and bottom of the Cygwin home page
>that continuously scrolls a series of questions and answers ad nauseam?
>Or maybe we need a Flash pane that would pummel folks with frenetic,
>cascading questions and answers in multi-colored text in varying fonts
>and point sizes?  That should be an attention grabber, no?  I'm sure it
>will distract folks actually trying to *read* the web page but there
>can't be more than 2 or 3 of those so it wouldn't be a big deal, right?
>
>Oh and I don't think there should be more than 4 questions that
>comprise this barrage.  I know it seems like a small number but if you
>review the archives, I think you'll find that this will actually fill
>the need quite well.  Of course, if that's overwhelming for some, we
>can have a "premium" service that trims out the fat for a fee.
>
>Wha'd ya think?

I think this will definitely enhance the end user experience.  There's
nothing users like more than flashy, scrolly things.

I'll go you one better, though.  I think that the cygwin DLL should be
enhanced to provide similar functionality by default. It could open dialog
boxes with a "Did you know?" type question every time it was invoked.

This functionality would, of course, be under the control of the CYGWIN
environment variable setting "noreceivehelpful_hints" if someone wanted
to turn it off.

Here's the first hint:

Did you know?

receive is not spelled recieve?

cgf

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