Author: Dann Corbit
Date: 12:25:43 04/05/04
Go up one level in this thread
On April 03, 2004 at 05:51:09, Sune Fischer wrote: > >>Having done software support, I have to agree with Vincent. >>People will have a terrible, terrible time with anything requiring more than a >>couple clicks to "Yes". >>Forget about editing an ini file. It sounds so simple, but one person in 1000 >>will be comfortable doing that. They won't know what kind of machine that they >>have. They won't know if they have any space on their hard drive. They won't >>know what kind of screen resolution or CPU they have. They won't know anything >>about their computer. They won't be able to tell the computer where the Nalimov >>files live. They won't be able to do anything at all. > >I'm sure those kind of people are out there, but I'm also sure that Arena will >be the least of their problems. > >They won't know what table bases are, they won't know how to google around to >find them, they won't know how to browse Bob's ftp. > >If you are at that level you will have problems using _any_ windows program. Any nincompoop can install Shredder or Chessmaster or Chess Assistant. Have you tried it? There will be one or two questions that require an "OK" and those will have defaults supplied. My description of how an install should go is basically exactly how all of the professional programs work. Now, suppose that you want your users to answer lots of questions and tweak lots of paramters. You will be very sorry, because the technical support calls will instantly destroy any money you might have made. It should be possible for advanced users to change things to their liking. But by far this is a tiny sliver of the user base for the worldwide use of chess programs. >>Here is what the install program must do: >>1. Figure out if all the prerequisites are satisfied. >>2. Create defaults for every single setting. >>3. Ask the householder as few questions as possible. >> A. Do not ask about hash >> B. Do not ask about opening books >> C. Do not ask about learning >> D. Do not ask about anything at all unless it is impossible to guess >>4. Tell them you are going to install in a location where you have already >>checked to be sure it has enough space >>5. Do the install after they click "Yes." That should be their total input. > >I disagree. > >What use are they going to have of a chess engine if they can't manage to answer >these questions. They will play games against it. They might be able to go online and play against other people if it is stupendously simple to do it. >How will they ever figure out to setup a position for analysis, >how will they ever figure out to change the time control? They may never figure it out. Most people won't care about analyzing a position because they will not know what the analysis means anyway. >You need some basic understanding before you can use programs. Point and click should be enough for any mass market product. >>It will be hard enough for them to put the CD in the drive. You had better have >>an autostart for your install, too. They are not going to browse to the drive >>and find autorun\cdsetup >> >>I have found people who could not install Arasan. Believe me that everyone here >>can do it, but even something as totally simple as that can be too hard for some >>people. >> >>But that's OK. They know how to curry a horse or to do titrations in resin >>columns or tune a Ferarri. They just don't know how to mess with computers. > >They will have to learn, there is no other way. Software can't do magic. There is no need for them to learn to edit ini files or to understand what a hash table is for or to know what pondering means. None of it is relevant for the average user.
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