[SoaS] installation fear, was Re: [Marketing] Governance & Trademark in the Wiki

[Dave Bauer]

On Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 9:07 PM, Douglas McClendon
<dmc.sugar at filteredperception.org> wrote:
> Sean DALY wrote:
>
>> You've mentioned how the website could be improved - the "fine print".
>> When you look at the Sugar on a Stick page, what do you think it could
>> express better to guide inexperienced users? The single biggest
>> barrier we face is installation fear - this is how Windows keeps its
>> marketshare (with help from proprietary file formats), and why
>> GNU/Linux desktops have so much difficulty breaking out. Sugar on a
>> Stick sidesteps the problem by not touching the hard disk, but does
>> indeed require system-specific BIOS fiddling.
>
> In response to this, and DancesWithCars autorun html point, I can see
> possible progress in this direction-
>
> a) autorun html.  Simple to add technically.  I'd opt for pure open
> source but possibly less compatable simple autorun technique, as opposed
> to using the various less-free and often closed source autorun helpers.
>
> b) the content of the html to be autoran- obviously the sky is the
> limit, and something marketing is particularly suited for.  To the
> extent that technical information should be contained, there is the
> LiveDistro wikipedia page, which would be included, as well as a layer
> above it translated/shrunk into a quickstart version targeted at average
> parents/teachers.
>
> c) other low hanging fruit windows FOSS.  Firefox seems worth it if
> you've got the space.  But more importantly qemu, or whatever the best
> open source windows virtualization solution is (qemu/virtualbox/?).
> I.e. the webpage should include simple instructions for launching that
> virtualizaiton targeted at the CD/USB that contains it.
>

Virtualbox could allow a pretty good in-Windows experience. With
seamless mode it runs in an OS window. We can automate the startup so
a Sugar appliance starts up with  one click. The trick is getting
permission to bundle an  installer with virtualbox and the sugar
appliance. I think one would have to ask Sun for permission to do
this.

You could do this also with OS X and Linux although each needs a
seperate installer.

Dave

-- 
Dave Bauer
dave at solutiongrove.com
http://www.solutiongrove.com