asterisk users - Nov 2004 - $200 AMP documentation bounty < - Comments o n the Linux user experience

>There is a reason Microsoft is winning guys and price isn't it.
At the risk of starting a flame war, I agree, although it's not nessisarily
a bad thing. There's two fundamental reasons why documentation and the user
experience (UI inconsitiencies for example) with Linux basically sucks:

1. The decentralized nature of open source. You don't like something? Fix it
or change it yourself, or fork off and do your own thing. 

This is good in that there's a Darwinian type of evolution going on where
only Good Projects survive and Bad Ones are abandoned, or forked into
something good. This paradigm shift in the way software is created allows
for *true* innovation, not just feature sets pumped down from the Marketing
department for implementation. If Mr. Spencer was a Windows guy, there's no
way Asterisk would exist. No way. 

This is bad simply *because* there is no rigid control over how a project
starts , is implemented, and ends. You have a free-for-all where everyone is
conviced they are right, everyone thinks everyone else is an idiot, and
there is a net dilution of focus and talent on a project and things like
documentation, consistient user experience and the like fall victim. 

2. The programmer culture

Programmers are human, albiet smart ones. Smart humans need stimulation. I
write code for a living too, and there's nothing cooler than coming up with
a super nifty way to do something that you never thought of before. Now the
boring part comes; documenting what you did, and wrapping it in a pretty
clicky-clicky interface so your PHB can go 'ooooOOOoooo'. My conjecture
is,
UI, user experience and documentation are the *hardest* part of any project.
Hands-down. Because, it's easy for a programmer to write stuff that a Linux
box will happily compile and run. Programmers understand the box.
Programmers don't understand people. They think everyone is as uber-talented
as them, and the interface they make works for them, so why not eveyone
else? But when they make that fatal assumption that everyone thinks like
they do and they set up their app the way *they* want it, from the user's
perspective, the app has failed. It doesn't matter how good the app is, if
it isn't slick and clicky-clicky, as far as the user is concerned, the app
doesn't work. 

Again, it's good because programmers are motivated by writing cool code and
not concerning themselves with trivial things like documentation and UI. 

It's bad because mere mortals cant comprehend what the hell the app does so
they won't use it. 

Strength and weakness.

Why did I write this rant? Because I (and my PHB's) are blown away by
Asterisk and it's capabilities, we are demoing * to other affiliated
companies, and they are blown away too (I did a demo yesterday to 20 PHB's
and it got a STANDING OVATION); our * implementation *will* fundamentally
change the way we do our business. 

-but-

we are nonplussed by the brutal interface, steep learning curve,
inconsitient and incomplete, and scattered documentation, and it's
close-to-the-metal implementation. 

I write this rant as a call to arms for all of the * users: Let's get
organized. Let's stop forking. Let's document and write howto's.
Let's get
some better abstraction layers on Asterisk that mere mortals can understand.
Let's stop bitching about top-posting on the list (who cares, anyway) and
move beyond that and focus on making Asterisk as beautiful on the outside as
it is on the inside. 

Before Mr. Critchfield can say: "Well, why don't you do something about
it,
instead of complaning about it" I'd like to say I am not without GUI
and
documentation skills; but I cannot do it alone. I need your help, too. I'd
like to start a project (wrong phrase: more like "Continue on with the
current efforts") for better documentation and GUI's. If anyone is
interested, contact me off-list. 

My apologies in advance if this offends you

On Fri, 12 Nov 2004 10:06:58 -0700, Colin Anderson
<colina@landmarkmasterbuilder.com> wrote:
<snip>
> I write this rant as a call to arms for all of the * users: Let's get
> organized. Let's stop forking. Let's document and write
howto's. Let's get
> some better abstraction layers on Asterisk that mere mortals can
understand.
> Let's stop bitching about top-posting on the list (who cares, anyway)
and
> move beyond that and focus on making Asterisk as beautiful on the outside
as
> it is on the inside.
> 
> Before Mr. Critchfield can say: "Well, why don't you do something
about it,
> instead of complaning about it" I'd like to say I am not without
GUI and
> documentation skills; but I cannot do it alone. I need your help, too.
I'd
> like to start a project (wrong phrase: more like "Continue on with the
> current efforts") for better documentation and GUI's. If anyone is
> interested, contact me off-list.
There *IS* a documentation project for Asterisk - Its called the
Asterisk Documentation Project (http://www.asteriskdocs.org), however,
we can't do it alone.  People need to get involved with it and help us
to create documentation.  There is currently 3 core documentors, and
we all have day jobs / school.  Unfortunately we haven't received any
documentation for probably about 2-3 months from anyone but the core
group.

We'd LOVE to have people help us out.  If you have documentation which
you have already written (perhaps internal documents, quick tips,
etc...) then submit them!  We do most of out stuff in CVS, but I'm not
opposed to converting your documents for you.  Links to websites which
offer Asterisk documentation can be submitted and there are sections
for writing documentation on the website through the website
interface.

You can also hang out in #asterisk-doc on Freenode to discuss documentation.

I write this to show people that there IS a group of people who are
trying to write good, clear and correct documentation for Asterisk -
but the number of contributers compared to the user base is minimal. 
There is no point in starting another project for documentation - one
already exists! :)

Thanks,
Leif Madsen.
http://www.asteriskdocs.org

Colin Anderson wrote:
> Again, it's good because programmers are motivated by writing cool code
and
> not concerning themselves with trivial things like documentation and UI. 
About cool code, why not make a Firefox Extension, which can connect to 
Asterisk. It is portable by XUL/Js and thus usable where ever Gecko 
runs, it can be run webbased but also stand alone. And probably a 
semi-portable XUL Phone can be made.


my euro 2 cents


Stefan