Re: Next steps forward?

Antoine W. Campagna wrote:

>>>>
>> Dude, you write long texts. But it's
True. I think just about everyone who knows me would agree. I do this 
only for those things/in those areas I believe are important. Most 
things that are important and still not "right" aren't going to be 
helped by small bits of ideas. At least I have never been able to 
successfully address big ideas with a few words. Probably a character flaw!

>> good suff, quite inspiring. You almost got me quitting my job and devoting myself to improving and promoting LS, hehe.
>> You should try politics or something.

Thanks. I do want to be inspiring. LiteStep *is* a great idea, filled 
with potential. Yet I read a bunch of "we're dying away" sorts of 
messages. No community will regain life by trying to come up with the 
best way to measure its decline.

LiteStep is great. With wonderful potential. If what we are doing so far 
to introduce LiteStep to folks isn't working, maybe it's time to do 
things another way (or at least, differently).

(politics? nah. I have more faith in LiteStep than in democracy right 
now. . .)

>>
>> I may have skipped a few lines of your message but I think you are quite
>> right. If we want to share our goodness, we must be a bit more proactive.
>>
>> LS has a great history behind it. I takes good ideas that come from Job's
>> NextStep OS plus a few other shells and it has improvedover time to the
>> beatiful design we have today.
>>
>> LS is currently (and IMO has been for a few years) a stable
>> platform that can be used to do many great things. I also believe this has been proven already by LDE(X) and many revolutionary themes.
>>
Exactly.

>> LS no longer impresses the masses
>> because not many people are looking for explorer replacement these days and
>> there is much eye candy stuff available on the net. But no shell or
>> eye candy app is as complete/powerful/polished as LS is. This
>> should be advertised a bit more. We need something that will impress on its own but that let the people know that much more is available.

Perhaps.

I'm not so sure that "impressing the masses" should be our goal. There 
is a lot of debris on the average hard drive that "impressed the masses" 
at one time.

If we think of ourselves as "more impressive than Vista" we will lose. 
"Impressive" is market-based. The way to accomplish "impressed" is to 
manage expectations. There is no way the LiteStep community can compete 
with Microsoft (or even Ubuntu) if the game is "to impress." We'll never 
win against Vista, and should not take this on as our turf. As a wise 
uncle once told me, "Don't pick fights you can't win."

What we *can* do--where we *can* compete, is enhancing your computing 
experience(s).

If we can demonstrate just how effective LiteStep can be at making 
people's on-screen work and play better, we avoid the whole "good as 
Vista" comparison. Wouldn't it be possible, for example, to have 
half-a-dozen themes sitting and ready to go so that you could pick your 
"correspondence/email/IM" theme then hit a button for your "online 
auction and purchasing" theme, perhaps a "Second Life" theme, then 
another for your "creative juice ideas floating and flowing" and perhaps 
still another for your "work at home" theme?

Point is, we can offer a number of themes for different purposes or 
moods or goals. We can allow someone to set up a number of themes so 
that a simple button jumps from one to another. Maybe this is something 
for the VM, maybe it would take too much system memory. You would 
certainly know better than I.

We don't have to compete on Vista's terms. We don't have to be more 
flashy or more configurable or more anything than Vista or Linux or Mac 
or even a Sinclair.

If we focus on "making your entire desktop work for you," if we can show 
that different computing desktops *do* matter, that having the option to 
construct your computer desktop will make a difference, will enhance 
your computer experience (whether for games or budgets or just chatting 
with your mates) LiteStep has a reason that is independent of Vista.

Because of the limits that come from Microsoft's strengths, they will 
never be able to do this with the ease and facility that LiteStep offers.

If you pay careful attention to what Bill Gates and others *said* about 
Vista a couple of years ago and compare that to what they *said* about 
Vista at its launch, the presence of "make your computer help you work 
smarter" is dominant at the beginning and almost absent at the end.

True 3-D computing has some real advantages for a range of work and play 
programs. The problem that Microsoft could not solve, however, is how to 
capture those advantages into a shell and still produce a product that 
is good for everyone.

Unless computers change dramatically, they never will solve this one. 
LiteStep is almost there, already.

>>
>>
>> But LS is not for the masses. Yes, a neophyte can benefit from LS
>> but the thing is that most computer users don't want to learn, they don't like to learn they just use the computer for a few simple things (web
>> and mail) and don't care about anything else.
>>
I am not sure I agree with you, here. While there are some neos don't 
want to learn, I suspect most have already learned the hard way that 
messing around with your computer is dangerous. Just listen carefully 
for a while to any forum designed to help folks get themselves out of 
some computer problem. The overwhelming message:

"Do not do this at home. You can destroy your computer and your entire 
life if you push the wrong key at the wrong time. You cannot hope to 
learn all that we know and only someone who knows what we know will be 
able to stray off the designated pathways while "experimenting" on their 
computer."

There are different groups of people who are neophytes, and I'm not so 
sure we benefit by lumping them all together. For example, the 
13-year-old kid who loves pretending to be a suave and sophisticated 
adult but who still has the attention of a 13-year-old kid will probably 
be attracted to LiteStep by the promise of a cool desktop that will 
impress their friends and pets.

A few metal/alien themes with dramatic effects and perhaps not a lot of 
new functionality will suit this neo--especially if there were a 
"fill-in-the-blanks" form that once filled in would allow them to 
download a new theme each month until they get tired (or grow up a 
little more) and start seeing their computer as something more than a toy.

On the other hand, someone who has used computers for years but has 
never written a bit of code (that they were aware of) and who is quite 
nervous about making any changes to their computer probably would warm 
to a few themes of a gentler sort. Another sort of fill-in-the-blank 
form might help this person get started. Careful attention to tool tips 
and quick access to a troubleshooting LiteStep community (via perhaps a 
"stuck? need help?" button that will quickly deliver them to a "safe" 
site where making fun at stupid noobs is not allowed) could make this 
the step this person needs to gain confidence and experience.

There are other sorts of neos, as well. The "have always had someone set 
it up for me at the office", for example.

Point is, whatever the experience, we can craft a theme/experience to 
fit the need. Once we get someone comfortably into a LiteStep 
experience, they will have no reason whatever to go back to a "one size 
fits all" mass sales desktop.

Having said all of this I agree there are a lot of people who will never 
wrench themselves away from "what everyone else is using." They will 
always use Microsoft, as long as Microsoft stays on top.

>> But the niche market is significant.
>> Most graphic designers (that work on MSW), many developers, most hobbyists/modders, many gamers and others
>> would be happy to have a LS based custom shell.
>>
Absolutely. As are many people who are keenly aware of the impact their 
tools have on their work.

They just don't all need the *same* tool. LiteStep can create whatever 
tool they need. (After all, should a user come up with a novel "this 
would be helpful" suggestion, where better to line up with a great 
programmer to create just the right element?


>> What I'll try to do is to contact my graphic designer friends and see if
>> they can design a shell interface that I would then use as the basis for a
>> new theme (all themes I make are either ugly or a ripoff of someone else's
>> work). I am also available for module/core development/debugging.
>>

Great! There are many designers who appreciate a good challenge looking 
for a design solution just as there are many programmers who enjoy a bit 
of a programming challenge.

You might also want to talk to typographers, photographers, writers and 
even maybe some games designers: They each have some amazing and 
wonderful solutions--if we can just figure out the magic question to 
unleash the treasures.


>> Antoine
>>
>>
> 

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