[maemo-developers] Screenshots to user installable GUI packages in extras-testing [was Re: External Repository and HAM]

[From: Tim Teulings]

Hello!

> Sorry ? I don't follow. We don't have the luxury of natural selection and wait
> for applications to actually cause damage to crystallize a score on a web page
> (which is BTW not even visible from the Application manager). I do believe
> that Extras as default was given the green light by Nokia in good part because
> the extras-testing concept proved as a working (albeit not perfect) measure to
> increase quality of software encountered by end users.

I think initialy (and hopefully still) extras was not about good or bad 
software, its was about software that does not break your device (and 
does what it told). That is what QA must try to target. Comments about 
usability, spelling mistakes improvements are good (and I personally got 
some good hints by such comments, so I do not want to miss them), but 
that should not avoid applications getting into extras.

That was (AFAIK) the initial vision (and if it is not somewhere 
explicitely state, it should). Everything else (apps egtting better and 
better) is an result of personal motivation, positive/negative feedback, 
karma, voting etc... To get such positive feedback the additional limits 
for getting software into extras should be low (since we want to have 
the as much as possibly *working* applications in extras). Note also 
that the numbers of applications in extras is somehow possibly also a 
obvious, measureable marketing relevant information, while quality is 
not that clear - so for Nokia is possibly not the only goal to only have 
excellent quality application in extras. As always things are 
complicated ;-)

> I would accept this as a valid argument IF you did not have the option of
> installing applications from downloads.maemo.org. But you do. If you go that
> route, you will never ever see the application icon - the screenshots have the
> same purpose there. Plus, for better or worse, Nokia is moving in this very
> direction of installing via browsers.

Yes, it is wise to have a screenshot, but if the application is not 
downloaded because of a missing screenshot this is a problem for the 
author, but not for Nokia neither for the community ("it does not do any 
harm to the end user"). Of course we are also interested in a good 
repository and this includes screenshots for asmuch applications as 
possible, but to get as much developers interested and have a very low 
entry barrier it may be more wise so send a regular friendly reminder to 
the author or make the applkication disaapear from the front page 
earlier (within a definded process) instead of making this a clear entry 
barrier, makeing the author stop working for maemo (MeeGo).

-- 
Gruß...
        Tim