I "like" Mandriva's attitude (Fwd: Re: well-known user folders, a proposal)

[Guillaume Laurent]

On Friday 23 February 2007 19:42, Aaron J. Seigo wrote:
> On February 23, 2007, Guillaume Laurent wrote:
> > On Friday 23 February 2007 02:41, Aaron J. Seigo wrote:
> > > On February 22, 2007, Guillaume Laurent wrote:
> > > > This is free software, so no
> > >
> > > that is an excuse of a reason. it's not like all non-free software
> > > houses are great in this regard, and a free software group can be good
> > > at it too.
> >
> > Free or non-free isn't the problem,
>
> you were the one who said "this is free software, so...". i didn't make it
> a free or non-free issue, you did. i figured i'd address that.

I said that given this is free software, there's no guarantee to get a reply 
from a mailing-list (or shall we say, even less than from a commercial tech 
support). Where free/non-free doesn't make a difference is in the fact that 
how you organize and display tech documentation make a world of difference.

> > it amounts to how easy it is to get the info you need. Call it
> > user-friendliness at the documentation level :-).
> > That's a pretty tough problem and I won't claim to have all the solutions
> > here. Trolltech is a very good example to follow, though.
>
> Trolltech also has an infinitely simpler job: support one library set to
> one type of audience.

Quite true, I don't dispute this. Documenting KDE is much harde.

> in this example, Mandriva aren't even using the Qt 
> file dialog; so tell me, how would you go about fixing the Qt dialog in a
> similar fashion given Trolltech's good example?

I don't know, my only point is that Trolltech's doc generally lets me find 
whatever I need in a matter of minutes. Except for rare cases, it's been my 
single entry point for Qt-related questions for 7 years now. Basically, 
whenever I have an interrogation about a Qt widget, I don't even have to 
think about where could the answer be, or how could I find it. I wish I could 
say the same for KDE.

> > docs would be great. Then advertise it as a single entry-point for all
> > KDE help.
>
> and Mandriva would actually use that? this is a serious question.

I can't answer for them, but logically, if the thing lets them work faster, 
why wouldn't they ?

> i'm 
> looking for some hint of commitment because if we put energy into that kind
> of solution and Mandriva (and others) continue to ignore ways of working
> with upstream then we (upstream) have just wasted our energy, which is
> constantly in short supply. it would screw us and it would screw you as a
> downstream that relies on us using our time wisely to improve the software
> you are trying to monetize.

Er, seems to me you're confusing me with someone else (Laurent Montel 
perhaps). I don't work for Mandriva, I was merely offering a suggestion based 
on my own experience with tech docs. :-)

-- 
Guillaume.
http://telegraph-road.org