[sugar] (very) Little Proposals for 9.1

[pgf at laptop.org]

simon wrote:
 > Carlo Falciola wrote:
 > > Giovanna: Why not to enable shut-down from the XO icon of any of the standard 
 > > view? The icon is always there in the middle of screen but "works" only in 
 > > one...  (in general, maybe enabling the hoovering menu in all of the views 
 > > Home, Neighborhood, Group  could make sense and could be reasonably  easy to 
 > > do....)
 > 
 > The idea was that you do not need to shut down, rather suspend the 
 > machine :) The palette in the mesh and group view could be used for 

i realize simon was smiling as he said this, and that giovanna's
need is a relatively small one, but this exchange, along with many
conversations surrounding the importance of fast boot time, are a
perfect example of something Elana Langer said just yesterday: 
"You cannot tell people how to use their computers or what to
expect from them.  ...  All we can do is offer a tool (computer)
and help folks think about integrating it into their communities
and curriculums but you CANNOT change expectations by simply not
meeting them."

the fact is that we don't (and may never) consume so little power
that the laptop can be used heavily on a daily basis, in a place
where power is scarce, and not need to be shut down.  simply
repeating "suspend will take care of that eventually" won't solve
our users needs today.

(again, not picking on simon.  elana's observation just happened
to strike a chord for me yesterday, and this note gave me an
excuse to reiterate it.)

paul
=---------------------
 paul fox, pgf at laptop.org