Comments on: UI Brainstorm update http://blog.symbian.org/2009/11/02/ui-brainstorm-update/ Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:46:18 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Brendan Donegan http://blog.symbian.org/2009/11/02/ui-brainstorm-update/#comment-5512 Brendan Donegan Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:54:05 +0000 http://blog.symbian.org/?p=3047#comment-5512 Can I clarify that I didn't think that letters on the dialler was 'uneccesary', just that we know who designed the dialler (some Finnish people) and that it's not as obvious (for Europeans) to put the letters there as some people would make it out to be. The best thing about Symbian is that they will not ignore or reject your idea for being 'too obvious' or 'uneccesary'.Truly open software. Can I clarify that I didn’t think that letters on the dialler was ‘uneccesary’, just that we know who designed the dialler (some Finnish people) and that it’s not as obvious (for Europeans) to put the letters there as some people would make it out to be.

The best thing about Symbian is that they will not ignore or reject your idea for being ‘too obvious’ or ‘uneccesary’.Truly open software.

]]> By: Effie Vraka http://blog.symbian.org/2009/11/02/ui-brainstorm-update/#comment-5494 Effie Vraka Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:47:03 +0000 http://blog.symbian.org/?p=3047#comment-5494 Thanks for all the comments. The point I wanted to make when writing this post was that the foundation not only appreciates and listens to the community, but actually takes action to drive materialization of the good ideas. We are an open source software foundation and all of our usability assessment, design, development, and most of our documentation come from the Symbian community. We don't have developers on staff, nor designers, nor usability researchers. So our focus is to rally the community's support and then do matchmaking with contributors to get the fixes and innovations into the platform. In the comments there has been a lot of focus on the "characters in the dialer" idea, some think it is too obvious, some that is completely unnecessary, some just welcome it. The diversity of the reactions does not surprise me; it only reflects the diversity in the cultures of end users that have chosen Symbian phones - something what is considered a "necessity" in the US might have absolutely no reason for existence in another part of the world. The inevitable question is, in such a case, do we put it in the platform or not? My personal opinion is that, if it is a feature important enough for an important section of the Symbian market, yes we do. And, at the same time, we make it easy for stakeholders (OEMs, operators) to enable/disable it according to their needs and targeted market. Finally, why I put my pic in the blog? I think mambo covered this perfectly - it is what we are encouraged to in our first Symbian blog post in the context of openness and interaction with the community. Thanks for all the comments. The point I wanted to make when writing this post was that the foundation not only appreciates and listens to the community, but actually takes action to drive materialization of the good ideas. We are an open source software foundation and all of our usability assessment, design, development, and most of our documentation come from the Symbian community. We don’t have developers on staff, nor designers, nor usability researchers. So our focus is to rally the community’s support and then do matchmaking with contributors to get the fixes and innovations into the platform.

In the comments there has been a lot of focus on the “characters in the dialer” idea, some think it is too obvious, some that is completely unnecessary, some just welcome it. The diversity of the reactions does not surprise me; it only reflects the diversity in the cultures of end users that have chosen Symbian phones – something what is considered a “necessity” in the US might have absolutely no reason for existence in another part of the world. The inevitable question is, in such a case, do we put it in the platform or not? My personal opinion is that, if it is a feature important enough for an important section of the Symbian market, yes we do. And, at the same time, we make it easy for stakeholders (OEMs, operators) to enable/disable it according to their needs and targeted market.

Finally, why I put my pic in the blog? I think mambo covered this perfectly – it is what we are encouraged to in our first Symbian blog post in the context of openness and interaction with the community.

]]> By: mambo http://blog.symbian.org/2009/11/02/ui-brainstorm-update/#comment-5476 mambo Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:53:45 +0000 http://blog.symbian.org/?p=3047#comment-5476 I have to disagree with both 'rkb' and 'me'. @rkb: I respect your comments but coming up with such kind of feedback is really a waste of time for everybody including yourself. For now Symbian is alive, safe and sound, and it's becoming a truly open mobile platform - and don't assume that this is simple, for a starter. Second, Symbian powers most of the smart phones on this planet and I really don't think it may die any time soon and there are loads of technical reasons for that. Third, being open to a community of developers and end users does not mean they depend on a brainstorm idea, it means respecting the people you make the software for and open up to a constant dialog with them. @me I understand your point but as you may have noticed most of the Symbian Foundation employees put their picture typically on their first blog post. I have to say I like it, at least I know who's talking to me and I respect the fact that these guys put their face on the spot freely and take responsibility for what they say when they could as well hide some nasty comments behind a short and cryptic nickname. I have to disagree with both ‘rkb’ and ‘me’.

@rkb:

I respect your comments but coming up with such kind of feedback is really a waste of time for everybody including yourself.
For now Symbian is alive, safe and sound, and it’s becoming a truly open mobile platform – and don’t assume that this is simple, for a starter. Second, Symbian powers most of the smart phones on this planet and I really don’t think it may die any time soon and there are loads of technical reasons for that.
Third, being open to a community of developers and end users does not mean they depend on a brainstorm idea, it means respecting the people you make the software for and open up to a constant dialog with them.

@me
I understand your point but as you may have noticed most of the Symbian Foundation employees put their picture typically on their first blog post. I have to say I like it, at least I know who’s talking to me and I respect the fact that these guys put their face on the spot freely and take responsibility for what they say when they could as well hide some nasty comments behind a short and cryptic nickname.

]]> By: Brendan Donegan http://blog.symbian.org/2009/11/02/ui-brainstorm-update/#comment-5471 Brendan Donegan Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:09:21 +0000 http://blog.symbian.org/?p=3047#comment-5471 @rkb - The world we live in is called, 'Not the United States', population 6.5 billion or so. You see the single use-case for letters on the dialler in a phone with a QWERTY keypad (virtual or not) is so that people can figure out how to dial numbers that are listed as words. The rest of the world doesn't do this, therefore why would I want letters on the dialler? Also, note that the same 'problem' is there for any device with a QWERTY keypad, such as the E71 or even North American originated devices such as Blackberries. Regardless of this point, firing abuse in Symbian's direction doesn't really achieve anything because this 'mistake' (as you seem to see it) was made by Nokia. They designed the UI. And they've fixed this in firmware v20 for the N97/mini. @rkb – The world we live in is called, ‘Not the United States’, population 6.5 billion or so. You see the single use-case for letters on the dialler in a phone with a QWERTY keypad (virtual or not) is so that people can figure out how to dial numbers that are listed as words. The rest of the world doesn’t do this, therefore why would I want letters on the dialler?

Also, note that the same ‘problem’ is there for any device with a QWERTY keypad, such as the E71 or even North American originated devices such as Blackberries.

Regardless of this point, firing abuse in Symbian’s direction doesn’t really achieve anything because this ‘mistake’ (as you seem to see it) was made by Nokia. They designed the UI. And they’ve fixed this in firmware v20 for the N97/mini.

]]> By: Symbian Foundation dares to call characters in the dialer a ‘brainstorm idea’ http://blog.symbian.org/2009/11/02/ui-brainstorm-update/#comment-5469 Symbian Foundation dares to call characters in the dialer a ‘brainstorm idea’ Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:59:30 +0000 http://blog.symbian.org/?p=3047#comment-5469 [...] Read?|?Permalink?|?Email this?|?Comments [...] [...] Read?|?Permalink?|?Email this?|?Comments [...]

]]> By: me http://blog.symbian.org/2009/11/02/ui-brainstorm-update/#comment-5468 me Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:07:29 +0000 http://blog.symbian.org/?p=3047#comment-5468 why does the author post a pic of herself??? how does her picture add to the article?? why does the author post a pic of herself???
how does her picture add to the article??

]]> By: Symbian calls characters in the dialler a “brainstorm idea” http://blog.symbian.org/2009/11/02/ui-brainstorm-update/#comment-5465 Symbian calls characters in the dialler a “brainstorm idea” Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:17:09 +0000 http://blog.symbian.org/?p=3047#comment-5465 [...] idea” by Paul on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 | View commentsComments On Symbians blog they recently posted about their recent brainstorm ideas. One of the features was an alphanumeric [...] [...] idea” by Paul on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 | View commentsComments On Symbians blog they recently posted about their recent brainstorm ideas. One of the features was an alphanumeric [...]

]]> By: rkb http://blog.symbian.org/2009/11/02/ui-brainstorm-update/#comment-5462 rkb Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:25:14 +0000 http://blog.symbian.org/?p=3047#comment-5462 You guys must have your brains up your arse to need a brainstorm idea for putting alphabets on a dialer. Which world do you live in? Symbian, you are as good as dead! Count your days! You guys must have your brains up your arse to need a brainstorm idea for putting alphabets on a dialer. Which world do you live in? Symbian, you are as good as dead! Count your days!

]]> By: Effie Vraka http://blog.symbian.org/2009/11/02/ui-brainstorm-update/#comment-5460 Effie Vraka Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:14:20 +0000 http://blog.symbian.org/?p=3047#comment-5460 @Tojo: Once we find a really good idea, the first thing we do is match-making with potential contributors; there are quite a lot of companies that have expressed open interest to contribute to the foundation, so we need to find the ones amongst them that have relevant expertise to implement the idea. At the same time we bring the respective package owner into this process and discussions, as he/she is the one that has the overall responsibility for the software package. Finally, we also start open discussions with the community (through forum and ideas sites) to identify technical and other issues, provide valuable feedback and help shape the final idea. According to the size and importance of the idea (it could range from a small bug-fix to the introduction of whole new functionality), this will lead to to a major or a smaller contribution proposal. A major contribution proposal is prepared by the contributor company and submitted to the relevant SF council for approval, while a smaller one could just be approved by the package owner. The above is just guidelines; a lot depends on the nature of the idea and its potential materialization, so there is flexibility and a range of different actions to take to suit each case. I hope this covers your question. @Tojo:
Once we find a really good idea, the first thing we do is match-making with potential contributors; there are quite a lot of companies that have expressed open interest to contribute to the foundation, so we need to find the ones amongst them that have relevant expertise to implement the idea. At the same time we bring the respective package owner into this process and discussions, as he/she is the one that has the overall responsibility for the software package. Finally, we also start open discussions with the community (through forum and ideas sites) to identify technical and other issues, provide valuable feedback and help shape the final idea. According to the size and importance of the idea (it could range from a small bug-fix to the introduction of whole new functionality), this will lead to to a major or a smaller contribution proposal. A major contribution proposal is prepared by the contributor company and submitted to the relevant SF council for approval, while a smaller one could just be approved by the package owner.

The above is just guidelines; a lot depends on the nature of the idea and its potential materialization, so there is flexibility and a range of different actions to take to suit each case. I hope this covers your question.

]]> By: Tojo Mathew http://blog.symbian.org/2009/11/02/ui-brainstorm-update/#comment-5451 Tojo Mathew Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:15:17 +0000 http://blog.symbian.org/?p=3047#comment-5451 I would like to know what are the follow up actions being taken on the wornderful ideas proposed. I would love to see the selected ideas are converted to formal requirements and vested on responsible teams. I would like to know what are the follow up actions being taken on the wornderful ideas proposed.

I would love to see the selected ideas are converted to formal requirements and vested on responsible teams.

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