[Libreoffice-qa] Question of the use of 'Fresh' rather than 'Beta' and support for XP

[Bjoern Michaelsen]

Hi,

On Mon, May 05, 2014 at 04:59:37PM +0400, Jay Philips wrote:
> Yes initially i was confused as i was used to seeing chrome's
> labelling there releases as development, beta and stable.I think it
> would be great if the website would provide better explanation on
> the download pages of what each of the versions was for so that
> users would understand what they were downloading.

http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/simon-says/2014/03/libreoffice-gets-fresh-and-stable/index.htm?utm_content=buffer5d3d0&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

explains it nicely as does our wiki (even since before we labeled the stuff
"fresh" and "stable". Putting it on the webpage is not a good idea, as most
users just want their download without too much hassle. Those interested in the
nitty gritty will find it.

> Also think that the download page would be a great location to encourage
> users to submit bugs.

It already does. If you have concrete further suggestions, please take them to
the website mailing list.
 
> I believe that if we wish to encourage users to submit bugs to LibO,
> then we need to have bug reporting more visible in the UI, like a
> bug icon in the app toolbar similar to the help icon, maybe a crash
> report dialog that appears after LibO crashes (like KDE), maybe a
> bug report button next to 'Help' and 'Extensions' in the main UI,
> and possibly an initial bug report request visible to users when
> they first run LibO.

So, for one the main barrier to bug reporting is not a missing toolbar button
etc.(although we already even have "report a problem" in the menu) but the
hassles of needing a bugzilla account setup. Migrating to our own bugzilla will
hopefully allow us simplifications there. If you are interested to help out
there, Robinson will certainly be happy to get you started.

The other thing is that we are not so much lacking bug reports, but lacking
GOOD bug reports that have complete triaging info, reproduction scenarios etc. 
o the last thing we want really is making it simpler for people to file bad or
incomplete bug reports that cause us more work than they help us.

If someone is not able to file a bug report proper, it is likely better to
discuss the symptoms on ask.libreoffice.org, user mailing lists, IRC and social
media and get help on how to file a good bug report. Again as for the bugzilla
migration, you are invited to hang out on these channels and help getting users
up to speed.

Best,

Bjoern