Benjamin....hmmmm....first off what's this doing in newbie?
Second, are you assuming that an upgrade is going to
partition/format the drive(s) or is there evidence that this
happens?
After all an upgrade skips the partitioning step. You can't,
after all, upgrade a clean set of partitions that have no
system to upgrade. Just because it's called automated
shouldn't make it wipe a system before it does the upgrade.
Thats rather silly.
Alan
Benjamin Sher wrote:
>
> Dear Denis and friends:
>
> Remember my rant about this problem (i.e. of combinging the
> install/upgrade option with automatic/custom/expert on THE SAME DIALOGUE
> BOX?
>
> Well, as luck or rather misfortune (almost!) would have it, it just
> happened to me.
>
> Anxious to try out the new 7.1 anti-aliasing (which is a welcome relief
> from squinting my eyes for the past year and half on the Web), I decided
> to download 7.1 from the Web by FTP using a floppy network. Thanks to
> your excellent troubleshooting, the original problem of downloading the
> two CD has indeed been fixed, and the installation went FLAWLESSLY from
> metalab.unc.edu. I choose to do an Install (Custom, Normal) into hda
> (/). hdb is my /home directory and hdc is my Win98 partition. No
> problem.
>
> After configuring everything and setting up KDE, I went back, as I
> usually do, to metalab.unc.edu to download the Devlopment files (Expert,
> Normal).
>
> [Footnote: I found it very difficult to highlight more than one category
> at a time in order to download the various categories. Fortunately, I
> only needed Development, so that was no problem, but you may wish to
> investigate the matter and see if there is a bug in highlighting and
> selecting more than one category. I had no such problem in my official
> LM 7.0 Power Pack CD.]
>
> NOW THE PLOT THICKENS:
>
> As soon as I got through the first few screens (mouse, keyboard, etc.),
> I suddenly find myself face to face with the Installation Options:
>
> Automated, Custom, Expert arranged vertically on the left and Install or
> Upgrade horizontally on the bottom of the dialogue box. And, to add to
> the confusion, Automated is checked as Default. I cannot imagine, as I
> have already mentioned this earlier, a more disaster-prone situation
> than this. And, lo, just as I thought, before I had a chance to think
> through, I hit the Upgrade button and suddenly I see: "Getting available
> packages."' No way TO TURN BACK AND CORRECT my mistake. NO ERROR MESSAGE
> STOPPING ME DEAD IN MY TRACKS asking: Are you sure you want to select
> "Automate" (since Automate will probably wipe out all of your drives,
> including Windows). After spending several hours downloading and
> installing and configuring LM 7.1 and doing it perfectly, suddenly I
> found myself about TO LOSE EVERYTHING due to human error, an error all
> to commonly made by us mortals, in fact, as likely to be made by the
> more experienced as by the newbie.
>
> Fortunately, I understood what I had to do: I immediately powered off
> the system and removed the floppy network.img install diskette. Then, I
> went back to metalab and very gingerly made sure to select Upgrade and
> Expert, then Development.
>
> Believe me, if I were a newbie or even an expert (even experts are prone
> to human error), I would be mad as hell at Mandrake for ruining my
> installation. Wouldn't you?
>
> Whoever joined those two sets of options was thinking of EFFICIENCY,
> NOT, I assure you, USER-FRIENDLINESS!!!
>
> Here is what I suggest to protect newbies, moderately experienced users
> and even experts:
>
> First dialogue box: INSTALL or UPGRADE (just as in LM 7.0. With option
> to go BACK and change one's selection.
>
> Second dialogue box: Automated, Custom or Expert with Automated checked,
> if you wish (again, as in LM 7.0. With option to go BACK and change
> one's selection.
>
> Third dialgoue box: Normal, Development, Server with option to go BACK
> and change one's selection.
>
> NOW, AN EXTRA SUMMARY DIALOGUE BOX (just as you do for the printer or
> Xconfigurator): a summary of all selections made with an OPTION to EDIT
> these selections or to go BACK and change them.
>
> Then, and only then, should a user be thrown into the irreversible
> process of downloading the packages themselves.
>
> I implore you, heed my example and I am sure that of (tens) of thousands
> of others. The installation process is TERRIFYING enough. Think of the
> user. That's your motto: "a user-friendly OS". Protect the user. Don't
> expose him/her to unbearable stress and anxiety that are TOTALLY
> UNNECESSARY. Combining the two installation options as explained above
> to save a few bytes is EXTREMELY REGRESSIVE and extremely
> anxiety-inducing. You are one of the easiest Linux distro to install so
> far and, in my opinion and that of many others, the finest distro
> available. Don't mess it up with cost-cutting bullshit. Always look at
> it from the point of view of the user, especially the newbie or the
> ordinary user who is installing for the first time (and then upgrading
> for the first time). I know that the combined dialogue box looks
> LOGICAL. But that's the point. Sometimes LOGIC is in direct conflict
> with COMMON SENSE and USER-FRIENDLINESS.
>
> I will close with an example from Windows 3.1. Those of you who used 3.1
> might remember that in the File Manager, Microsoft in its infinite
> wisdom choose to arrange the options under File as follows:
>
> MOVE
> COPY
> DELETE
>
> Now that looks very logical. Doesn't it. Yes, all too logical. It's a
> recipe for disaster, all the more so since Win 3.1 does not have a
> Recycle Bin. You can easily see a newbie who is still struggling with
> the mouse accidently hitting the Delete button instead of the Copy
> button and losing an entire year's work. The question is: Who designed
> this "logical" arrangement? Surely, not someone who actually uses the
> computer. Even an expert, all the more so an expert who is relying on
> habit, might hit the "Delete" button and inadvertly delete instead of
> copy a file. Obviously, "Delete" is too dangerous to place right under
> "copy" and "Move". It should be placed somewhere on the right side of
> the File Manager protected in some special way.
>
> Same for Linux-Mandrake. You must think NOT just of LOGIC but of ACTUAL
> USE, of the user and how to protect him at every critical point, at
> least, wherever possible. You have been doing a great job at this and I
> heartily commend you for your security options, for you graphical
> partitioning, etc, your optimisization, wealth of applications, now
> beautifully organized in 7.1, etc. etc.
>
> All of this is great, but none of this will mean a thing if you ever
> forget the user, if you think "logically" as a programmer only instead
> of as a user who is actually using your OS and applications every day,
> in and out, to do his and her work.
>
> Thank you so much.
>
> Benjamin
>
> --
> Benjamin and Anna Sher
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sher's Russian Web
> http://www.websher.net
