Ubuntu

Bug #31775
Comment #18

Comment 18 for bug 31775

Revision history for this message

Matt Zimmerman (mdz) wrote on 2006-03-07: Re: [Bug 31775] Ubuntu should have better links to support options

#18

On Tue, Mar 07, 2006 at 03:48:07PM -0000, Matthew East wrote:
> Public bug report changed:
> https://launchpad.net/malone/bugs/31775
>
> Comment:
> Sorry for not quoting, I don't know how to use malone's email interface
> yet.

You need only reply to the email as you would any other.

> On the "Community" point you make, that's fine by me.
>
> However "Technical" does not go anywhere towards establishing that that
> service is a paid for one. Both free and commercial support can be
> "technical". So, something like:

I disagree; there is a strong connotation in English that "technical
support" is a helpdesk type service, in contrast to the kind of help that
one can get by asking family, friends, neighbors, etc. (which is what we
mean by the "community" option)

There are many important distinctions between "community" support (asking
other users for help) and "commercial" support (technical support / helpdesk
services), beyond the question of money. For this reason, I think they
should be named more distinctly.

> "Free (Community) Support"
> "Commercial Support"
>
> would work I think.

My preferred terminology, all other concerns being equal, would be something
like:

"Ask other Ubuntu users for help"
"Contact a technical support service"

However, these are too long for the menu (they would make good tooltips, but
that is no substitute for a clear and concise menu item).

> On the local language point, you're right: if the URIs can be localised,
> then that is no problem. But if they can't, a link to an English webpage
> with a link at the bottom to another page which has various languages on
> it is nowhere near as good as a link to the latter page straight away.
> In the first case, the user who doesn't speak any English has no change
> of finding the right page.

If the browser language preferences are not sufficient, then localizing the
URLs is straightforward with a helper program. The user has already told
Ubuntu the language in which they prefer to be addressed, and we should
respect that preference without asking again.

--
- mdz

On Tue, Mar 07, 2006 at 03:48:07PM -0000, Matthew East wrote:
> Public bug report changed:
> https://launchpad.net/malone/bugs/31775
> 
> Comment:
> Sorry for not quoting, I don't know how to use malone's email interface
> yet.

You need only reply to the email as you would any other.

> On the "Community" point you make, that's fine by me.
> 
> However "Technical" does not go anywhere towards establishing that that
> service is a paid for one. Both free and commercial support can be
> "technical". So, something like:

There are many important distinctions between "community" support (asking
other users for help) and "commercial" support (technical support / helpdesk
services), beyond the question of money.  For this reason, I think they
should be named more distinctly.

> "Free (Community) Support"
> "Commercial Support"
> 
> would work I think.

My preferred terminology, all other concerns being equal, would be something
like:

"Ask other Ubuntu users for help"
"Contact a technical support service"

However, these are too long for the menu (they would make good tooltips, but
that is no substitute for a clear and concise menu item).

If the browser language preferences are not sufficient, then localizing the
URLs is straightforward with a helper program.  The user has already told
Ubuntu the language in which they prefer to be addressed, and we should
respect that preference without asking again.

-- 
 - mdz