Re: Usability issues - root user/user accounts

[Pathbreaker <pathbreaker earthling net>]

Hi
	I second this suggestion. I think it's a very good idea. I just recently
migrated to linux from Windows. I know how long it took me to understand
many of the issues. There are still many things I do not know. But in the
initial stages there were many times I felt like giving up and going to
just windows. A little perseverance and everything became ok. But maybe we
could help ease this period for other new users. 


>GNOME will attract many users who are not familiar with Unix-like operating
>systems, and I'm concerned that they'll have a tough time with root and user
>accounts. Thanks to the new alerts, these users will realize that they
>shouldn't operate their computers as the root user. But they'll encounter
>difficulties when they attempt to create a user account for themselves. At
>the moment, the GNOME menus have nothing to offer; they'll have to hunt for
>linuxconf, which presents them with far more complexity than they're
>prepared to deal with. And once they log on as user, sound goes away --
>unless they're knowledgeable enough to start a terminal session, switch to
>superuser, start esd, and minimize the terminal window. Presumably there's a
>fix for this?
>
>Here's one suggestion. When GNOME starts for the first time in root, users
>see a wizard that briefly explains the the purpose of the root user and the
>need for creating a user account. Subsequently, the wizard guides users
>through the creation of one or more user accounts, and restarts GNOME in a
>selected user account. Thanks to this wizard, users will not spend a great
>deal of time configuring and customizing their root desktop, only to find
>that they shouldn't use this desktop for everyday computing.