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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Parallel versions of KDE
From:       Rene Horn <rhorn () SDF ! LONESTAR ! ORG>
Date:       2003-02-24 1:58:51
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On Sun, Feb 23, 2003 at 09:26:14PM +0100, Simon Edwards wrote:
> In all honesty, MS's decision to make a Professional and Home edition of NT 
> has very little to do with usability and everything to do with marketing. The 
> Professional and Server versions are full NT, while the Home Edition is NT 
> for the low end of the market, taking over from the 9x line of products but 
> at the same time being hobbled enough so as to give people incentive to cough 
> up the dough for the full price versions.
> 
> Also see this:
> 
> http://usability.kde.org/activity/recent/userlevels.php
I was right in the middle of writing a response to this when stuff started crashing on me!  \
Didn't even have a chance to save the message.  Oh, well, I remember most of it.

Anyway, I understand what you're saying about Pro. Vs. Home, and I agree with you, but to \
market it, they need to tweak the interface accordingly for the demographic they're trying to \
market to.  They wouldn't be so successful trying to sell Pro-Edition features to "Home Users." \
Money as a motivator doesn't make them blind to usability issues.  It didn't do that for Apple, \
and they have some of the best UIs out there.  There are quite a number of significant \
differences in the UI between Home and Pro. Edition (see \
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/windowsxp_home_pro.asp for a good comparison of features.) \
Pro. Edition can, and does, often overwhelm the computer-illiterate, but it definitely is a lot \
more configureable.

Rene
-- 
rhorn@sdf.lonestar.org
SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.lonestar.org
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