Re: list o' importants

[EAMorical@aol.com]

 I've started hacking up the list but feel I've barely scratched the surface.
Will    keep at it.

 Rank the following in terms of importance (low, moderately low,
 moderately high, high):

 * local networking (connecting to other computers at my office, home,
   or other location)
 * being able to auto-setup local ethernet connection
 * wide area networking (connecting two or more locations)
 * being able to connect to the machine remotely 
 * being able to run graphics remotely 
 * running servers (mail, httpd, samba, telnetd, ftpd, etc) 

 * internet connection (direct)
 * internet connection (dialin)
 * internet connection (auto-dialin)
 * support, internet [could use rewording. I can't tell if this is
   'newsgroups' or 'ISP']

 * telephony

 * multimedia

 * being able to use (read/write/both) industry standard word/graphics file
formats
 * being able to convert from one word/graphics file format to another

 * being able to read the os/application source 
 * being able to modify/redistribute the os/application source

 * cost, hardware
 * cost, software
 * cost, upgrades

 * security C2
 * encryption
 * secure banking and commercial transactions
 * security (ability to prevent unauthorized people from using my
   system(s).
 * privacy (ability to keep other users from reading my files)
 * automatic virus protection (the system takes care of it for you)
 * manual virus protection (you run a program to scan or detect)
 * using a system which protects the user from making potentially dangerous 
   changes to system configuration 
 * being able to make a backup of your system
 * being able to make backup copies of large data files
 * being able to undelete files 
 * stability (computer and applications run without crashing or
   requiring restart)
 * prompt bugfixes (or hey, bugfixes at all) 

 * adding/removing software in an easy and familiar way
 * upgrades, ease of installation
 * upgrades, ease of finding/getting
 * having the installation stage for a program verify that all necessary
   components are present and functional

 * PnP support in hardware 
 * I2O support
 * multiterminal support
 * multiprocessor support

 * speed of overall machine
 * speed of graphics rendering

 * compatibility with existing systems [hardware]
 * compatibility with prior versions [software]

 * multitasking (being able to taskswitch between applications quickly) 
 * having many large applications open at once [easier than asking
   "supporting >64 megs ram"]

 * being able to run something like doublespace (dynamic disk compressor) 
 * automatic hard drive defragmenting (the system takes care of it for you)
 * manual hard drive defragmenting (you run a program to defrag)
 
 * administration questions [suggestions?]
 
 * multiple-users (several people can use machine at different times)
 * multi-user (several people can use machine simultaneously)
 
 * applications (I need to run specific applications on my computer)
 * uses (I need to use my computer for specific tasks.  Specific
   applications don't matter as long as they fill the need).
 * availability of a wide variety of apps (commercial, freeware?) 
 * support, applications [this needs more thought]
 
 * ease of use (this *MUST* be split up into "what constitutes EOU"
   elements). [no progress here yet :( ]
 * consistent user interface (things behave the same way even comparing 
   between two separate applications) 
 
 * having a graphical interface to applications and system
 * having a command-line interface to applications and system

 * multiple-languages (support for several languages)
 * multi-language (support for several languages simultaneously)
 * Unicode support

 * documentation, printed
 * documentation, electronic
   [might ask about "documentation, obtainable-from-internet" as well]

 * support, vendor [what is a 'vendor' for an end-user, anyway?] 
 * corporate reputation (vague -- good or bad reputation is
   important.)
   Note that responses here scale differently from most of above.  Maybe
   "importance of vendor satisfaction, ..." would fit better.
   I still don't know what a 'vendor' is for our audience. I don't like
   that word -- the computer might come from a different place than the
   support, and the OS from a still different place.