[228] in Athena User Interface
Re: Session mgmt, MOTDs, HOTDs
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Bill Cattey)
Fri Jun 23 03:06:18 2000
Message-ID: <UtIklbIGgE6e0_8qg0@mit.edu>
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2000 03:06:15 -0400 (EDT)
From: Bill Cattey <wdc@MIT.EDU>
To: tb@MIT.EDU (Thomas Bushnell, BSG)
CC: aui@MIT.EDU, "Christopher D. Beland" <beland@MIT.EDU>
In-Reply-To: <u1hitv3c8yg.fsf@pusey.mit.edu>
Excerpts from mail: 21-Jun-100 Re: Session mgmt, MOTDs, HOTDsThomas
Bushnell, BSG@MIT (1212)
> So I spent time to think about it and give more than a one line answer;
Excerpts from mail: 21-Jun-100 Re: Session mgmt, MOTDs, HOTDsThomas
Bushnell, BSG@MIT (1212)
> If you could give a way you think it's useful, that would be great, but
> all you seem to say here is "We should take note of them".
Excerpts from mail: 21-Jun-100 Re: Session mgmt, MOTDs, HOTDsRichard
Tibbetts@MIT.EDU (1582)
> Since you don't offer any reasoning behind your comments, I don't really
> know how to respond.
Sorry about being so terse in my replies that I confused rather than helped.
I was trying to be helpful while at the same time rush out the door for
the lecture on Linux Athena I gave before boarding an airplane for
Oregon but I failed. At the risk of being too verbose, I'll try and be
clearer and more sensible.
Re: Statistics:
I thought I was hearing Thomas say that because you can say anything
with statistics, the numbers that Beland was quoting should be ignored.
I feel that we're all on the right same page now. I liked Beland's
subsequent longer message about putting statistics, and user input in
perspective. Specifically I agree, and suspect we all agree:
1. Statistics need to be validated through careful review of
non-statistical data and experience.
2. I generally prefer Doing the Right Thing over Doing What Windows
Does*, but that where the Right Thing is not endangered, we like to
provide backwards compatibility for people transitioning from other
platforms, taking into account their relative abundances.
I'll strengthen my comment on #2: I've seen lots of very good products
fail because the developers were too caught up in trying to make the
user do something different because it was good for them. Users will do
what they will, and I strongly advocate that we work hard to offer
interfaces that meet as many users as possible where they are, and then
guides them to the most correct behavior.
Excerpts from mail: 21-Jun-100 Re: Session mgmt, MOTDs, HO.. Christopher
Beland@MIT.E (2164)
> As long as no one actually disagrees about these fundamentals, then I
> guess I have no need to depend on the numbers to justify myself.
I confess to falling into the trap of helping build support for the
Office Suite effort by spouting the following sound bite, "3 out of 5
Athena users surveyed said the thing they liked least about Athena was
that it didn't run Microsoft Office." But I quickly follow up with,
"But we've got to figure out exactly what that means, and what the right
thing is to do about it."
----
Re: Hints:
In retrospect, maybe I was too hasty in just agreeing with Beland's idea
of "Hints suck, we should display real documentation." I think we've
converged on a different position, nicely put by Thomas, which I'm
comfortable with:
Excerpts from pm.aui: 21-Jun-100 Re: Session mgmt, MOTDs, HOTDsThomas
Bushnell, BSG@MIT (748)
> Tips should never be the sole form of documentation; the documentation
> should be complete even if the tips are thrown out. But tips are still
> quite useful (especially to naive users) and we should have them if the
> doc writers are willing to come up with them.
> (Of course, the tips should have the little "don't show me any more
> tips" flag.)
Excerpts from pm.aui: 21-Jun-100 Re: Session mgmt, MOTDs, HOTDsRichard
Tibbetts@MIT.EDU (1582)
> If HOTDs had zero cost in developer/tech writer time then I would be
> all for them. Are you concerned about the cost, or about some other
> issue?
I just did't like them, and allowed that to cloud my judgement.
> I acknowledge that they don't look good, but I think that they help
> enough users that the cost in terms of aestetic appeal is worth it.
Ok. See above.
-wdc
