From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: myglc2@gmail.com Subject: Re: website: say what Guix is at the very top Date: Mon, 22 Jan 2018 11:43:12 -0500 Message-ID: <867es94zfj.fsf@gmail.com> References: <87inc0gzoz.fsf@elephly.net> <87efmixtl7.fsf@gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:33077) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1edfBm-0007QK-U7 for guix-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 22 Jan 2018 11:43:20 -0500 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1edfBj-000101-OS for guix-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 22 Jan 2018 11:43:18 -0500 Received: from mail-qt0-x22b.google.com ([2607:f8b0:400d:c0d::22b]:39519) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:RSA_AES_128_CBC_SHA1:16) (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1edfBj-0000zj-Jb for guix-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 22 Jan 2018 11:43:15 -0500 Received: by mail-qt0-x22b.google.com with SMTP id f4so22353267qtj.6 for ; Mon, 22 Jan 2018 08:43:15 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: <87efmixtl7.fsf@gmail.com> (Chris Marusich's message of "Sun, 21 Jan 2018 23:04:20 -0800") List-Id: "Development of GNU Guix and the GNU System distribution." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: guix-devel-bounces+gcggd-guix-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: "Guix-devel" To: Chris Marusich Cc: guix-devel@gnu.org On 01/21/2018 at 23:04 Chris Marusich writes: > Ricardo Wurmus writes: > >> Hi Guix, >> >> on the website it starts right away with a list of features: >> =E2=80=9CLiberating=E2=80=9D, =E2=80=9CDependable=E2=80=9D, and =E2=80= =9CHackable=E2=80=9D. But what is this thing >> called Guix? >> >> We should add a very short paragraph above that list to say what Guix >> and GuixSD are. >> >> What do you think? > > How is Guix different from other package managers? Why is it better? > I think that's the most important thing to explain. I've also found > that it's one of the most difficult things to explain. I think we > should entice readers by concisely explaining that, if we can. Agreed. The first step: STOP calling Guix a "package manager". Why? Users aren't shopping for a package manager. They either already have one, or expect one to come with the software they are looking for. They will think, "I don't need one." So calling Guix a "package manager" sets up a marketing problem like selling transmissions to car drivers :-( How can we avoid this? Call it something else! What? Ricardo called Guix a "software environment manager". This is a better term and we can apply it to both Guix and GuixSD ;-) > Perhaps the best way to do that would be to write a problem statement. > Instead of explaining what Guix is, explain what problems Guix solves. > The first chapter of Eelco Dolstra's Ph. D. thesis [1] did a fantastic > job of explaining what problems Nix solves, and by the end of that > chapter, I was really excited to learn more about Nix (and Guix) and try > it out. In particular, the list of problems with the state of the art > in section 1.3 "Motivation" and the list of solutions that Nix offers in > section 1.5 "Contributions" were particularly concise and convincing. > Maybe we can aim for something similar on our Guix website? > > Footnotes:=20 > [1] https://nixos.org/~eelco/pubs/phd-thesis.pdf Agreed. If we could reduce this to a short list of problems we could then say, "Introducing Guix/GuixSD, the first software environment manager that solves these key problems. " WDYT? - George