[Tails-ux] Greeter: wording

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Author: spencerone
Date:  
To: tails-ux
Subject: [Tails-ux] Greeter: wording
Sajolida,

On 01/24/2015 10:33, sajolida wrote:
> spencerone@???:
>>> As Tails cannot really be used as an easy replacement for your
>>> traditional operating system, I find it reasonable to assume that our
>>> target user base has some incentive to learn how to use computer
>>> security tools, either for their personal curiosity or because they
>>> need it.
>>>
>>> I'm not saying here that we require people to have a PhD in computer
>>> science to be in our target user base, but if they have no external
>>> incentive to add security on top of what is their primary goal when
>>> sitting in front of a computer (sending emails, browsing, etc.), then
>>> they shouldn't be using Tails.
>>
>> I do not think it is fair to decide for others what they need or what
>> they should and shouldn't be using.
>
> I was not proposing to do that.
>


My apologies, but I can only interpret "...then they shouldn't be using
Tails." as exactly that.

>
>> I also do not think it is logical
>> to presume that to have a secure computing experience that people need
>> to have anything other than the desire to have a secure computing
>> experience, even if they don't yet know what it means.
>
> Yes, I think that what you called "desire to have a secure computing
> experience" I called it "incentive to learn how to use computer
> security
> tools".
>


But those aren't the same, though I agree with your attempted
connection. If you liken desire to incentive, it is the "learn how to
use computer security tools" part that disincentivizes my mom from using
TAILS. Having a desire for a secure experience doesn't inherently mean
that people want to learn something new just to have that experience, is
my argument. Because if it did, just releasing the source and having
people compile it themselves would be enough.

>
>> We are teaching people how to learn, i.e., if done correctly, the UI
>> is
>> a self guided educational tool about how to use the UI. We should be
>> teaching with every step, and we already seem to be headed in that
>> direction, so making this the most usable might just be the most
>> appropriate.
>
> I totally agree with that vision. I was considering this "teaching" and
> "learning" as part of the added cognitive load that I think is
> inevitable if people want to use Tails.
>


Awesome! I Think having people use command line interfaces when they
have only used graphical interfaces is where my reservation with
"cognitive load" is, though that is a presumption on my part. I think
the education is best suited for learning what people's setup
designations are doing to ensure their secure experience with TAILS.

>
>>> Because using Tails *will* add some cognitive load in comparison with
>>> a
>>> traditional operating system. Our mission is to reduce this extra
>>> load
>>> but it won't disappear.
>>
>> Maybe this exists somewhere in discussions or documents, but what is
>> the
>> reasoning behind not having TAILS be a portable application, you know,
>> like drag and drop installation? Because that might be the most
>> suitable experience for everyone, presuming it is not a security
>> vulnerability.
>
> We need to run straight from the hardware or otherwise we rely on the
> host operating system to be trustworthy (and we shouldn't). This is for
> example the case in virtual machines, you can run Tails in a virtual
> machine but if your host operating system is buggy, then your Tails can
> be monitored, hacked, etc.
>


But doesn't drag and drop address this? I am thinking about TorBrowser,
for example. Oh wait, I mean drag and drop so I can easily throw it on
some external hardware, e.g., flash, and run from that, not be able to
throw it onto another computer, though I understand that is an inherent
possibility with portable wares.

>
> I've been working on a new documentation about virtualization. It
> hasn't
> been release yet but you can see the main page here:
>
> http://git.tails.boum.org/tails/tree/wiki/src/doc/advanced_topics/virtualization.mdwn?h=doc/7143-virtualization


I will check this out, thanks!

Wordlife,
SpencerOne