[Aust-NZ] Conference theme

[Hamish]

> Cameron Shorter wrote:
> > I'm rewriting the theme to be "User Friendly" instead of "User
> > Driven FOSS4G".


Shoaib Burq wrote:
> Any particular reason?
> 
> Both terms evoke similar ideas but "User Driven" is broader.
> 
> User Driven encompasses a larger user community, ranging from the
> non-developer /non-geek community (GUI's, pretty front ends, etc)  to
> the developer user (Restful web services and APIs, data). "User
> Driven" also goes beyond software to data and the philosophy of
> openness.
> 
> "user friendly" seem narrower and evokes the notion of a non-expert
> user group. So I would be inclined to keep "User Driver".


Indeed, intuitive/shallow learning curve is nothing to do with software
for/of/and by the customer. Most specialist geospatial and scientific
OS software may not be "user friendly" in the traditional dumbed-down
sense, but it is often intuitive, and certainly "user driven". Or to
put it another way, one of the great strengths of FOSS is that it is
not beholden to a corporation or industry's agenda, it reacts directly
to the users' needs. "User friendly" says nothing for that.


regards,
Hamish Bowman

GRASS GIS Project
  /
Dept Marine Science
University of Otago
Dunedin, NZ



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