Hi guys,
We have touched on a few points and here is the short note on what was discussed.
“where NS is now and what we are going for? solution wise.
set the "All in one " or special purpose goal, with versatility in mind. Could be both options or a mix of options (see below the template solution)”
Alessio has understood that the question is important for the users and he explained that Nethserver will remain a “All-in-one” server distribution.
There will be no change in focus of the company, to start reducing the functions (aka Zentyal). And the main purpose is to be able to deliver a product (a server platform) that will be versatile for almost every usage.
Another point was:
“propose some templates at first install for the user to choose (gateway, gateway+proxy+AV, gateway+mail,
gateway+web+mail, mail +AD, Everything or Custom, etc)
this could be useful in reducing the first configuration complexity”
Together with Nas, Alessio and Stephano we discussed on how we can improve the usability.
The posibility to have a template/role base setup wizard after the installer finishes was proposed.
This will be very usefull for new users that maybe don’t know what to do next after the installation.
In this case, after you finish the instalation you are presented with a screen to choose the roles that you want your server to do. You select them and then hit “Apply role(s)”.
After all the roles you have selected are installed, the user will be presented with a setup wizard that will run trough all the steps. (and in the proper order! )
In this way we touch some points regarding:
- user-frendly,
- Fail safe that you do not skip (forget to install) some packages that will ruin the setup
- easy setup procedure (next-next-next)
- less time to setup the server (no longer searching for “what did i miss to set up?” question)
This has to be refined, and some draft sketch to be presented, a workflow also has to be drafted so the developers have a start point to begin.
We (the community) need to offer some input on this
Another point was the openness of the system.
NS i open, and is welcoming developers to start create their modules. A proposal for having a “Marketplace” was discussed and it seemed very interesting for NS.
This will allow users to develop free/paid modules. In this way we expand the features, options available on NS.
Another ideea was to be able to buy modules from NS that are in the “Enterprise” version. Maybe you o not need the whole enterprise setup and you just want x module.
Also the “visibility” of NS on the market was a discussion point and we need to make NS more visible in order to be tried / adopted by more users. So any ideas that you may have, put it here to be discussed.
Don’t be shy guys, give your feedback so we can all benefit.
Also regarding the usability of NS compared to other software was discussed.
“create alternative tool(s) for managing users/groups (like windows AD mmc, or Zentyal etc) something to be more familiar to administrators.”
We need to see how we can add/modify/create features or options for NS to be more familiar for users that are switching from other systems. Like: MS, Zentyal, RedHat etc.
So, we need to give feedback on this if we want to see the changes
I hope i did not miss anything and most important i hope that i did write correctly what we discussed on Hangout.
Please guys give your feedback/ideas/opinion on this.
Best regards
Bogdan