Having just upgraded a couple of systems to Red Hat 6.2, let me
compliment the developers for a job well done.
I do, however, have a suggestion for improving the user-friendliness of
the installer. Here is the crux of the issue:
Philosophically, An "upgrade" of a system basically involves replacing
outdated packages with new ones. If entirely new packages exist in the
new system that were not present in the old one, a choice has to be
made as to whether or not to install it. There are a few ways one could
deal with this:
a) Install the new packages automatically. Give the user the ability
to use the "Customize packages" option to de-select the packages.
b) Don't install the packages automatically, and give the user the
ability to manually select the packages vi the customize package
facility.
c) Provide a "check box" to toggle between:
- Upgrade existing packages, and install those packages I don't have
- Upgrade existing packages, and install nothing else
Option a) would annoy those who have carefully setup their systems with
only that software they really need. Option b) annoys those people who
have plenty of disk space, and want everything so that they can play
with all the software available. Option c) would help in either case.
Red Hat appears to have adopted strategy b). And it annoys me. Not so
much because of the philosophy (I've got no problems with that), but
because of the implementation of the "customize packages" facility.
Here is what is wrong with it (IMHO, of course):
- If a package is NOT marked for upgrade, the user is given no
indication WHY. Do I already have a recent version? Is this a
new package that I don't have? This is a big, fat, royal pain in
the butt for those of us who want to install everything. The
only way to ensure that I get all the toys is to go through and
select ALL unselected packages ONE BY ONE.
- Selected packages are marked with a RED "check". Red is a poor
choice, as our society has been trained to associate 'red' with
'trouble'. There are also problems with the graphical design in
here - after looking at screens of dozens of packages with some
checks and some not, my eyes become tired, and it requires more
and more concentration as the process proceeds.
So, with the above as motivation, I humbly suggest that Red Hat should
enhance the installer by implementing one or more of the following:
- Provide the upgrade-equivalent of the "install everything" option
available for fresh installs. This could be done, e.g., by adding
the check-box I described in solution b) above.
- Make it clear to the user WHY a package isn't marked for upgrade.
There needs to be three types of marks in the package selection,
telling the user: "Current Package is OK, No Upgrade Needed", "Current
Package is Old, Will Upgrade" and "Package Not Installed". Whether
or not "Package Not Installed" results in installation or not could
depend on the aforementioned check-box.
- Improve the graphics on the package selection screens to be easier on
the eye/brain. Get rid of RED check marks.
Comments??
-matt
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Matthew Nelson
Dynamics Technology, Inc.
21311 Hawthorne Blvd., Suite 300, Torrance, CA 90503-5610
Voice: (310) 543-5433 FAX: (310) 543-2117 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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