[plug] Newbie Guide - The beginning

[Cameron Patrick]

Brad Campbell wrote:

> > I doubt that's true. Imagine if we could only eat corn, rice and
> > carrots, or if there were only five musicians in the world. To the
> > contrary, we like variety, and the ability to try something new, and
> > the ability to have what we "want" when we want it. What *has* been
> > demonstrated, at least, is that if you need to "commit" to a single
> > taste-based selection (e.g. it's more complicated that choosing a radio
> > station or sharing a buffet with your family), then having fewer than
> > ten choices is "comfortable", but being exposed to a larger number of
> > options makes it likely that you'll postpone your decision or make an
> > "irrational" choice.

Alex Polglaze wrote:

> People aren't used to having three web browsers to deal with. The are used 
> to clicking here for the web, here for e-mail etc.. Give them multiple 
> choice and they loose it.

I think the issue here is that you're talking about different kinds of
choice.  Brad's concerned about keeping the "I don't like this, give
me something different that does things the way _I_ work" kind of
choice, while you're complaining about being forced to make choices
about things which aren't really relevant (3 different web browsers,
all of which work, and so on).  It's quite possible to preserve the
first kind of choice while removing the unnecessary decision making,
but requires a bit more effort when designing the system.

I think it's also pleasing to note that a lot free software is moving
closer towards this ideal - there's a lot less in the way "stupid
questions" involved in setting up a Linux system than there used to,
for example.

Cameron.