#3677 NORM First D: activation failure mode and fail-screen are confusing

[Zarro Boogs per Child]

#3677: activation failure mode and fail-screen are confusing
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  Reporter:  sj      |       Owner:  Eben                  
      Type:  defect  |      Status:  new                   
  Priority:  normal  |   Milestone:  First Deployment, V1.0
 Component:  distro  |     Version:                        
Resolution:          |    Keywords:                        
  Verified:  0       |  
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Changes (by Eben):

 * cc: christianmarc, okada, walter (added)


Comment:

 Replying to [ticket:3677 sj]:
 > The result is quite incomprehensible, and doesn't obviously suggest a
 way to remedy the problem.  It's not even clear how to convey the problem
 to someone else over irc or a phone -- there is no error name or number,
 and no explanatory text.

 We have put an awful lot of effort into eliminating, to the extent
 possible, dialogs and text.  I think that the problem can be fairly simply
 described, as we have already had countless people from the field ask
 "Hey, how do I get past this screen with the little outlined XO and the
 lock?" when activation first landed.  I really don't believe that adding
 an arbitrary error number to this screen would help; in fact, it would
 complicate things because then someone might have to say "Read me the
 number on the screen.  No, not the one up there, the other one..."

 > 1) Since some of the people intended to understand and respond to this
 error are adults who are presumed able to read the release and activation
 notes, there should be a simple message describing what has happened in
 those languages.  This text could be part of the bitmap, so that no fonts
 need to be loaded first.

 I'm not sure that this is essential to the problem.  Unless we actually
 provide a complete paragraph description describing how to go about fixing
 activation leases on the various media, then an error message which says
 "Activation has failed" is somewhat redundant and not in any way more
 helpful.  Since this is part of boot, it will likely go in the first
 page(s) of any associated written instructions/manual, shouldn't be hard
 to find, and can be clearly illustrated with the outlined XO and
 lock/question badges.

 > I expect many, many children to encounter this screen; for them it will
 be the first major point of frustration.  We should make this as user-
 friendly as possible.

 I think that for a kid who doesn't understand the idea of activation, this
 is pretty user friendly.  They may not even read yet, and putting a
 smattering of text on screen will just make it that much more
 intimidating.  On the other hand, they will see the little white XO
 outline transition to fill on every boot.  When it fails to transition, it
 will be clear that ''something'' is interrupting the boot process, and
 that something is either a "question" or a "lock".

 We can't expect the kids to be able to (have permissions to) correct
 failed activation leases. As such the only course of action we can
 recommend to them is to take the laptop to a teacher, which would be their
 natural response anyway when something doesn't work.

 Also, as Scott said, this really should ''not'' be a frequent occurrence.

 > 2) It is unclear why those three icons show up; when you upgrade with a
 USB key, it is particularly unclear when you may safely remove the key.

 > 3) The one piece of alphanumeric information that shows up on the
 activation screen is the laptop ID# ... which is confusing in its own
 right.  What use is it there?

 Scott covered 2 and 3 pretty well.  I'm unsure about #900, as it seems
 silly to require a reboot to access such info, especially as we predict
 rebooting won't happen that often.  Why don't we make a simple section of
 the control panel contain system info like this?

 All in all, I haven't yet been convinced that adding text is really
 beneficial to the parties involved.

-- 
Ticket URL: <https://dev.laptop.org/ticket/3677#comment:4>
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