I have seen some reports (and seen it myself) of badly presented webbooks in store. One store I went to the display unit was missing, another it was switched off. Other people have seen even worse which I responded to later in the thread. Up to now I had assumed that the display models did not require special treatment and should just be exactly what you get if you buy one. Seems I may have to rethink that assumption. So what do you think would be the best way to present the webbook in store? I don’t really like the idea of a locked down rolling presentation. I want people to pick it up and play with it. What do you think?
The British public are a strange bunch, I saw 2 girls in the CPW in Merry Hill try to photo their arses with the iphone demo!
gosh. I bet Apple didn’t anticipate that as a use-case for the iPhone. I wonder if that enhanced sales at all? Interestingly enough if you install the ubuntu-calendar package through Synaptic then you will get a monthly ‘artistic’ wallpaper with lots of skin on display, possibly including the occasional bottom. In fact the package description is as follows:
Somehow I don’t think this is going to be something we pre-install on the display models.
In fact, purely in the interests of providing my readers with the best webbook information, I just installed the ubuntu-calendar package on a webbook and I can now confirm that the March image does indeed have a bottom on display. After installing the package you have to right click on the desktop background and select “change desktop background” then click on the last image which should be labled Ubuntu Monthly Widescreen Calendar if you hover over it. I don’t know why it currently thinks it should be displaying the March image and there only appear to be images for October, November, December, January, February, March. I guess the project got stopped halfway through (or maybe they ran out of girls). I will try and find out more.
It seems there was an April image, but it doesn’t fit with the others at all in colour or content. Here it is:
And there were no more after that. I have seen some speculation that they may have been a bit racy for the prudish Americans. There is some talk of reviving the project. I think they should at least complete a set of 12 months.
In accordance with the actual article – i mentioned before that I saw a totally broken box in Manchester – it was just running busybox, and no hope of booting Gnome.
So, on one side, it would be a good idea to lock it down, and show off Ubuntu to its full potential, but again on the flip side, i do think people should pick it up and play with it.
As a side note – a few people have seen my webbook, and gone out to buy one of their own!
I was planning how to create a /home partition, and move my existing data to it, so reverts and new installs wouldn’t trash my data, and thought something like that might be an idea for your display machines. Have a /home partition, a system partition, and a r/o image. Have a rolling display running that will stop if the keyboard or pad is used, to allow someone to try things out and explore. If there is nothing from either of the input devices for 30 or 60 seconds, go back to the rolling display, and (depending how long it would take) zap the image onto the system area again, and clear /home/demouser. or maybe just zapping all the .* files in demouser would be enough?
Avoiding the naughty calendar pictures of course
i think they should just customise the GUI a bit. you know, install some nice themes off gnome-look.org, and put a nice wallpaper. instead of that boring brown scheme.
BTW, I was in CPW, gloucester couple of days ago, and all the webbooks on display had windowz xp instead, with a big sign saying “now with Windows”.
I had only ever used Windows before I got my free Webbook on an Orange contract from CarPhone Warehouse. The Webbooks had only just been delivered to the store and the staff did not know very much about them. It would have been very useful to have a colourful poster confirming the answers to a few FAQs such as;
- Firefox is installed and works right out of the box,
- you can open Word documents
- Linux is fun,
- the Webbook is ideal for trips because it’s light and easy to pack.
- there is a lot of information and support available on the internet
- it comes with lots of free software
- it works with the cute Logitech mouse for laptops.
I got a Webbook despite the lack of information, and despite not being able to try one out in the shop. I was curious about LInux, and I was about to go on a business trip and thought it would be useful (it was).
Until I had the Webbook, I thought that free software was probably not as good as Windows. Now I think that Linux is great, and I have really enjoyed the challenge of working it how to install new programs. I have managed to get Google Chrome to work on the Webbook so I am feeling very pleased with myself.
Sue
@Sue, I did do some documentation but the marketing folk wanted to do it themselves, then they promptly didn’t. Documentation and proper sales information is one of the key areas we want to improve. Apparently when communicating with typical consumers of phones it is very important not to have any documentation written by technical people, not sure that applies so well to computers running Linux.
I have to say, I’m impressed, as I sit here typing this on my webbook. OK, so the right hand shift key annoys the f**k out of me, but otherwise, I love it.
I knew enough about linux, but not so much that I was comfortable enough to fill my main pc with it. I use Office 2007, depend on Outlook, and in my personal life, have a need to communicate with people using microsoft things.
In my business life, I run http://www.medicaladmissions.co.uk along with colleague Dr. Rob Rigley. As our server is linux, uses php, mysql, apache, and the rest, I figured it would make sense for me (as the Webmaster) to have a linux based laptop. So I did. And I have to say, I love it to bits. If I get my way, it’ll become policy that our staff/volunteers can only use linux-based laptops/desktops to edit the site or give presentations!
Today, I managed to uninstall Gnome. Yet with a bit of googling, I set a root password and downloaded/installed it again. Try doing that without explorer.exe on xp!
In the store – Newcastle-upon-Tyne (Northumberland Street) are fantastic. Right on the doorway, almost on the street. With a helpful lady lurking nearby to come and talk to those playing with it. She was able to explain everything that ubuntu can do, and even gave a demonstration of installing vlc media player using synaptic. Perfect idea!
As for Sunderland – they have these horrible posters about how some idiot went and put xp on it. And are trying to sell it. The sales assisstant was almost horrified when I asked for a linux version… Not good – but I was forceful!
Regards,
Matt Dinnery,
Webmaster,
Medical Admissions – Getting you in…
http://www.medicaladmissions.co.uk
@Matt, the sales experience is variable to say the least. Your site sounds like a worthy cause, what do you use to update it?
@Alan,
Thanks for looking at it!
Update in in what way?
@Matt, I was just wondering if you used something like Bluefish or another tool that made the webbook particularly useful to you in maintaining the website.
@Alan,
Would you believe I prefer gedit? It does everything I want it to – including colouring in my php and making it pretty!
I have used Synaptic to install FileZilla client, which is great (although ‘compact’ on a 1024×600…)!
And of course – I’ve been to Apache Friends to download XAMPP for linux (formerly LAMPP) and used terminal to get it up and running. I haven’t yet put the files into the htdocs folder yet, as being able to get online so easily means I almost always have access to the online development server we use!
More recently (as in last night), I’ve made use of Pidgin’s ability to handle multiple accounts to have a dedicated account for the website – both MSN and GoogleTalk variants.
Regards,
Matt Dinnery,
Webmaster,
Medical Admissions – Getting you in…
http://www.medicaladmissions.co.uk