usability study: "30 days with Ubuntu" author had trouble with wine

[Edward Savage]

On 25/06/2011, at 11:38, Austin English <austinenglish at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 18:58, Dan Kegel <dank at kegel.com> wrote:
>> http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/231065/ubuntu_linux_day_23_would_you_like_some_wine_with_that.html
>> 
>> First problem - ubuntu's package manager is unclear:
>> 
>> "I opened up my handy-dandy Ubuntu Software Center and typed Wine in
>> the search field, and...WTF? There are 14 matching items that show up.
>> Many of them are variations on 'Microsoft Windows Compatibility
>> Layer'. One has '(meta package)' at the end, another has '(dummy
>> package)'. They each have a little sub-title like 'wine', or
>> 'wine-gecko', or 'wine1.3-gecko'. Why isn't there just a single app
>> clearly called 'Wine'?
>> I didn't really have any clue which of these various software packages
>> is the real Wine, but the one at the top--the 'meta package'--had the
>> most ratings and ranked highly at 4.5 stars, so I decided to give that
>> one a shot."
>> 
>> Second problem - he expected to run a program called Wine, found
>> wineconfig, did something with it, and then got back on track:
>> "Once it completed installing, I went to the Applications lens on the
>> Unity bar and typed in Wine. It claims I have three apps installed
>> that fit that description: Configure Wine, Uninstall Wine Software,
>> and Winetricks. I was hoping to actually run Wine, but given these
>> three options it seems that Configure Wine is the logical first
>> choice.
>> I clicked Configure Wine and the Wine Configuration console popped up
>> (go figure). At the bottom of the Applications tab, it specific which
>> version of Windows to emulate...I mean be compatible with. It defaults
>> to Windows XP, but I changed it to Windows 7...
>> OK. Now, I am ready to run some Windows software, right?"
>> 
>> Third problem: he expected Office 2010 to install and run
>> 
>> Fourth problem: he couldn't even run the installer:
>> " I opened up the folder from my Windows drive where I store
>> downloaded software, right-clicked my Microsoft Office 2010
>> installation executable and clicked 'Open With Wine Windows Program
>> Loader', and...got an error message. Something to the effect that this
>> software is not marked as executable.
>> Windows logoRunning Windows software in Wine proved convoluted and
>> elusive.I checked with Google, and found a helpful walk-through from
>> Psychocats.net called Using Wine on Ubuntu. Apparently, the fact that
>> the software is an EXE is not obvious enough, so I have to first
>> right-click the file, go into the Properties, and click a checkbox
>> designating the file as executable.
>> Seems convoluted. The problem is, every time I click the checkbox my
>> check disappears. It won't let me make my file executable. I tried
>> looking for more help on Google to no avail. I tried a couple other
>> executable installation files, but couldn't mark those as executable
>> either. I assume it is a permissions thing--like I need to somehow
>> access the file permissions with root privileges in order to be able
>> to make those changes. That is just a theory, though.
>> So, no Windows software running for me just yet."
>> 
>> 
>> Ouch, ouch, ouch.
> 
> These all sound like packaging problems..
> 
> -- 
> -Austin
> 

At least one is an issues that Wine could directly address.  

Wine should investigate and inform users why they can't run a program and where to look for help.  

It could detect execution permissions, filesystem type, run location outside Wine paths etc.  Then give helpful direction.  

Regards,