[svlug] RE: Consumer Reports and Linux (Dave Roseman)

[David E. Fox]

On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 04:40:44 +0000
"David Roseman" <droseman at hotmail.com> wrote:

> 
> Hi,
> 
> This is typical of Consumer's Reports.  One of their unstated criteria
> is ease of use:  _Rapid_ ease of use, that is.  When reviewing SLR
> cameras CR's main criteria was the number of minutes a took a novice

I haven't seen that specific article, but I do read CR on occasion, and
I notice that ease of use is frequently a stated criterion, and one
among many, particularly when reviewing electronic gear.
Certainly reliability and quality are important too. But if the product
is hard to use -- or harder to use than other offerings, they score it
appropriately.

I'm not a photo enthusiast per se; I do have a camera (film,
unfortunately) and it can usually take pretty good pictures. "Point and
Shoot" is technically possible with this camera, but of course that
belies when confronted with film / shutter speed, F stops, and the other
assorted esoterica. 

> Linux is my development environment.  I'm not sure it's easy to use,
> though.

Two words: "development environment". I'm going to guess that the
intended readership of CR aren't developers. Ease of use is a relative
term. 

> Dave Roseman
> droseman at hotmail.com


-- 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
David E. Fox                              Thanks for letting me
dfox at tsoft.com                            change magnetic patterns
dfox at m206-157.dsl.tsoft.com               on your hard disk.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------