Thursday, October 24, 2013

Ubiquity and Installing Ubuntu (and its official flavours)

Hi,

One of the things I really love about Linux (Ubuntu) Communities is that one Question or Problem could become a Community Debate/discussion where many get involved and start brainstorming, discussing, agree or disagree, share thoughts and ideas, etc. That is, for sure, one of the strong feature of Linux and Ubuntu specifically.

Having that said, today, a Hot Discussion has started over the Mailing List because of this Thread on Ubuntu Forums.

While there is NO DOUBT the User has done a serious mistake by NOT backing up his/her Important Date 'BEFORE' installing Ubuntu, there is NO WAY to blame the system since each and every Operating System in the world will only accept commands from the user and if the user will assume that the system will 'actually think' and 'read' the user's mind, this is the user's fault. The whole thing could have been avoided by doing a simple backup, that is all :)

It did not stop right there, the discussion went to another direction or point which is:

See this Email.

If truth to be told, I am sick (having bad flu) and my concentration is not at its best, obviously. After sometime, I realized the issue reported on Ubuntu Forum has nothing to do with the Email in a way. Why?

Because the mistake that the user did was simply failing to 'READ' carefully on this slide:


And, to anyone who can read, it can NOT be more clear and obvious as the warning is quite clear and readable.

While the Email is talking about this slide:



Now, if someone has failed to 'read' what was written on the first slide, I could expect nothing but he/she will have hard time with the second slide (Partitioning Slide).


What I personally think is:
ANY User who is willing to install Ubuntu or any of its official flavours, he/she MUST be aware of:

1- Backing Up his/her important Data before even downloading the ISO

2- READ/WATCH a HOWTO Install the system so that he/she will understand what exactly to be done, specially, if he/she is a newcomer to Linux/Ubuntu.


HOW TO Solve this?
The solution is very, VERY easy and simple:


1- Mention this Note:

"Please, make sure to backup your files and important data before anything else. Do not assume that Ubuntu GNOME will do it for you automatically."


2- Create a YouTube Video and add the link as shown above.

BOTH the note and the video MUST be added to the Download Page either on the Website OR the Wiki Page.

That is all.

IMHO, there is absolutely NO NEED to do ANYTHING else extra. I don't see any thing wrong with Ubiquity.

Anything to be added will cost time and efforts. Time to discuss, time to start working and and etc. It might be trivial and so easy step to be done by an Ubuntu Developers but the time to do it + the time to discuss whether to do it or not + the time to discuss WHAT exactly to be done = WASTE OF TIME!

Instead, leaving a simple note "Backup your data before you download" and to go the extra miles, create a video that explains how to install Ubuntu with all the possible options and upload it to YouTube and JUST include the link on the Website and/or the Wiki Page ... all that, IMHO could save time and efforts and has another benefit:

Those who are so scared to install Linux will NO longer be scared whenever they will 'WATCH' and 'SEE' and 'LEARN' how to install the system. Once they do, they will realize how easy it is and will fear no more :)

That is what I think :)

Thanks!



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