[SoaS] SoaS Blueberry Marketing Collateral

[Douglas McClendon]

Sean DALY wrote:
> ok thanks for that Sebastian, so it creates a partition on a hard disk
> with Windows or OSX already installled? That's quite a risky operation
> for any nongeek teacher or parent to do. We need to warn them before
> they click on anything, in our doc. And add a phrase about how backup
> can be done to an external disk.

One could look at the way zyx-liveinstaller is split into two very 
distinct pieces.  The backend shell script that does the actual install 
by making writes to disk, and the frontend GUI which lets the user 
choose the target partitions, and warns them on multiple occasions 
before actually invoking the disk-changing shell script.

I think in some sense that is an existing literal implementation of the 
'need to warn them before...' part of your statement.


> 
> The install barrier is our greatest technical obstacle to Sugar
> adoption. Sugar on a Stick sidesteps that, but what makes non-techies
> willing to try it is our promise of no risk to the existing hard drive
> installation. If we introduce risk, that changes our message, which
> could work, but will require warnings, backup advice and probably a
> scary disclaimer ("use this software at your own risk, Sugar Labs
> accepts no responsibility for data loss...")

I would like to take this time to remind users of SoaS or _any linux 
distribution_ that they are running code from hundreds if not thousands 
of individual packages, which individually, and obviously collectively, 
are subject to the following warning from the GPL they are licensed under-

"
11. BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY 
FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN 
OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES 
PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER 
EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED 
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE 
ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH 
YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL 
NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
"

This applies whether or not a tool like zyx-liveinstaller is included 
and/or used.

I seriously doubt that SugarLabs is, or intends to provide a warranty 
above and beyond this.  That would no doubt be in the domain of 
commercial organizations supporting the software, i.e. as Canonical and 
RedHat do for their paying customers.  (and I haven't checked recently 
to see whether or not their paid support provides any guarantees 
different from the GPL's defacto un-guarantee)

-dmc



> 
> Sean
> 
> 
> On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 3:58 PM, Sebastian Dziallas <sebastian at when.com> wrote:
>> Sean DALY wrote:
>>> OK Douglas please bear with me so that's for installing on additional
>>> blank media (e.g. second USB stick)? No risk to whatever's installed
>>> on the host computer's hard drive?
>> The use case is exactly like I described it: "install Sugar to a computer's
>> hard disk". I'm planning to write more concrete instructions for that on a
>> separate doc, but I could really use a hand and plan to get back to readying
>> the release, soon.
>>
>> For replicating to a second USB key, the recommended way is (tip of the hat
>> to Dave Bauer) something like: sudo livecd-iso-to-disk --overlay-size-mb xxx
>> /dev/sr0 /dev/sdYZ
>>
>>> Put another way, in a typical classroom case (PC with Windows or Mac
>>> with OSX) what's the benefit? We need to communicate that to teachers
>>> and parents
>> It's basically like: "You used Sugar on a Stick and want to put it on your
>> hard disk while keeping all the changes you made already? Cool!"
>>
>> The procedure then is: Open a terminal and type a command. Launch the
>> partitioner through the interface and create a partition layout (big fat
>> warning should appear). Walk through the rest of the installer by selecting
>> your appropriate partitions. Wait. Once it's done, unplug your USB key and
>> that's it. No need to reboot. You're already using your installed system.
>> After rebooting, everything should work fine, too (tip of the hat to Douglas
>> McClendon for this cool technology).
>>
>> It will also somewhat work in schools, but from what I recall, we agreed not
>> market Blueberry aggressively as entirely deployment ready.
>>
>> --Sebastian
>>
>>> thanks
>>>
>>> Sean
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 11:38 PM, Douglas McClendon
>>> <dmc.sugar at filteredperception.org>  wrote:
>>>> Sean DALY wrote:
>>>>> OK Sebastian this is a great start but they need some work:
>>>>>
>>>> ...
>>>>
>>>>> * zyx-liveinstaller: AFAIK only for GNU/Linux systems? we need to say
>>>>> that
>>>> zyx-liveinstaller is a program that runs from a booted soas, and installs
>>>> the running soas OS to disk/partition (in traditional 'non-live'
>>>> fashion).
>>>>  No relation or dependence on any other OS.
>>>>
>>>> Though installation to loopback file on an existing linux or windows
>>>> filesystem (instead of a dedicated partition or disk) is a
>>>> straightforward
>>>> enhancement longterm.
>>>>
>>>> -dmc
>>>>
>>>>
>>