Free software usability

Matthew Paul Thomas has a piece which tries to get to grips with the causes of poor usability in Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). He doesn’t dodge the problems and their origin in FOSS development methods and the rewards for participating in FOSS. He also has proposals for tackling the problems.

Free software usability

Back in 2004 John Gruber wrote an influential piece called Ronco spray-on usability. Here’s an extract:

“UI development is the hard part. And it’s not the last step, it’s the first step. In my estimation, the difference between:

• software that performs function X; and
• software that performs function X, with an intuitive well-designed user interface

isn’t just a little bit of extra work. It’s not even twice the work. It’s an entire order of magnitude more work. Developing software with a good UI requires both aptitude and a lot of hard work.”

Public data, £20k competition

“What would you create with public information?

Ever been frustrated that you can’t find out something that ought to be easy to find?  Ever been baffled by league tables or ‘performance indicators’?  Do you think that better use of public information could improve health, education, justice or society at large?

The UK Government wants to hear your ideas for new products that could improve the way public information is communicated. The Power of Information Taskforce is running a competition on the Government’s behalf, and we have a £20,000 prize fund to develop the best ideas to the next level.”

Show Us A Better Way

Something to focus your research effort. Go team!

Some neat examples and a handy set of links for mashups, Google maps, Yahoo pipes and so on.

I don’t want to suspend critical judgement about the potential of Web 2.0 to transform institutions, but I have never seen a statement like this on a government website. It says

“Disclaimer: I found these sites useful, but they are not an Official endorsement by the British Government. Have a look at them, make your own mind up and give us feedback in the comments”

This from the Cabinet Office. Encouraging.

5 reasons to avoid iPhone 3G

From the Free Software Foundation

The 5 real reasons to avoid iPhone 3G:

• iPhone completely blocks free software. Developers must pay a tax to Apple, who becomes the sole authority over what can and can’t be on everyone’s phones.
• iPhone endorses and supports Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) technology.
• iPhone exposes your whereabouts and provides ways for others to track you without your knowledge.
• iPhone won’t play patent- and DRM-free formats like Ogg Vorbis and Theora.
• iPhone is not the only option. There are better alternatives on the horizon that respect your freedom, don’t spy on you, play free media formats, and let you use free software — like the FreeRunner.

Full article

‘usability trainwreck’

Video comparing usability of the Open Moko mobile phone operating system with the iPhone. Unfavourably.

Comments point out that it will get better. True, and Open Source success stories like Firefox took a long time before achieving stability and widespread adoption.

Question is, how long are you prepared to wait?

Open Moko usability trainwreck

More like this

“So, we installed another possible frontend for the FreeRunner, the Qtopia phone frontend. In general it’s better, but really doesn’t solve any of the deeper problems with this phone. It’s still sluggish, still has horrible input methods, and still is not a valid substitute for an iPhone. Anyone who recommends you the FreeRunner as a substitute for the iPhone is attempting to play a cruel joke on you and should be treated as such.”

Qtopia video