Most people who use a mobile device don't really want to know anything about how it works, they just want it to work as simply and intuitively as possible. These are the "ordinary users", people who are using computers for fun or productivity rather than as a hobby. They see computers the same way they see television sets, you switch it on and enjoy without caring about anything deeper.

Obviously all manufacturers do work on making their devices suitable for these kinds of ordinary mainstream non-nerd users.

My question is: does Nokia do this kind of work for Maemo in-house, internally, behind closed doors, or are they basing it on what goes on in the maemo.org community?

What worries me is that the users here clearly don't represent a typical sample of mobile device users. Users on maemo.org tend to be a lot more aware of how their device works, which is great if they want to get the most out of it but not so great if they want to spot problems in user-friendliness.

If there is any kind of programme for making Maemo as user-friendly as possible I'd love to take part in it, but AFAIK there isn't, at least not in public.

Maybe both?

So first you say maemo.org users are not representative and then you offer yourself in a maemo.org forum?

Nokia looks for representative users where they can be found. You know, companies doing serious market research and usability tests do that.

We take maemo.org with a grain of salt, just like any other singular source.

I don't think that's the case anymore.
The advent of the N900 changed things drastically in the maemo.org community.

We've got many more "users" than "geeks" now here.

Aniello

True... But I don't know where else to go.


Okay, well that's good to know.

I really hope you're sitting down with some complete novices and watching very carefully where they get confused or lost. I have to do that regularly for friends and family with many different devices, it really does open your eyes to what works and what doesn't in a user interface.

Some visual concepts are grasped by most people almost immediately, and these are what a good interface is made of.

You are also seeing that there are many videos being produced precisely to highlight features that might be not evident to new users.

Yes, and also Maemo is being promoted as a consumer brand, which is great as it will make it easier for Maemo device users to find support and compatible software.

S60 was never promoted by Nokia in that way, so it was difficult for S60 users to find help as they didn't know they were S60 users.

Sorry if it seems like I was being wholly negative, that wasn't what I intended.