Best way to make systems more available "to the average Joe"?

[bobkoure]

First off, I love my Squeezebox and SqueezeCenter to death (so long as I haven't done something to break 'em)
But... I'm a geek. I've written drivers and firmware and applications - so the fact that I find installation dead easy means, well, nothing.

We've been getting more-than-occasional posts on the forums with fairly inflammatory titles. I read that as average-Joes pissed off that something isn't "just working" for them.
IMHO, the problem here is that they blame the product - and then tell their friends (you know, that old saw about if you like something you tell a friend, if you hate it you tell everyone you know).
I'm sure that SD and Logitech see this as a problem, but we have a group of very smart people here, who, so long as they remember that the rest of the world isn't necessarily as technically adept as they are, may actually have a brilliant idea or two as to what to do.

So... all that said, and, just to start:
It seems to me that maybe SD had ought to think about having some kind of "installer certification" , including training and testing - and a way for those certified installers to get "published" - maybe here on SD. I'd guess that'd help the "loves music, has money, but technically clueless" part of the market. (Note - I'm not saying that this is a brilliant idea - but it might help you think of one).

Or is this kind of thread a really dumb idea? (self-doubt creeps in... guess I'd have tried product marketing if I didn't have that problem :-) )

[autopilot]

I think it's a daft idea personally, sorry. Giving a product an 'installer certificate' would just make the product be perceived as being even more complicated to average Joe. It would not help sales, possibly harm them. And it certainly not help the 'average joe', maybe just sacre them. And how much would it cost to have someone install a $300 system?.

If people can's get on with the product, maybe they need to look elsewhere? Apple or Sono's for example - really simple to install and use, but at the expensive of functionality, customisability, flexibility and community plugins, etc etc. But most people cant admit to themselves that something might be a little difficult for them and goes over their head, then blame the product, and become rude and offensive on these forums, shouting at people who try to help... but i really think enough has been said about all this now.

Also, if someone is so technically incompetent that they need a professional installation, you could argue that they should not bother at all - as how are they going to cope with maintaining it, trouble shooting network issues and ripping and tagging music etc when the 'certified installer' is not around? Slimserver/Squeeeze Center is far from perfect, but I would in fact argue that the initial installation is not actually that hard, most problems people have are with their existing Wifi network, PC or badly tagged music, not the Squeezebox specifically.

My biggest fear has always been since the logitech acquisition that the products could be 'dumbed' down to give them broader audience. Although i would say that looking at Squeezecenter 7.0, thats not the case so far.

[pfarrell]

autopilot wrote:
> I think it's a daft idea personally.

I think its decent, and creative idea.

I would agree that "requiring" a certified installer is a daft idea.
But the world has many people who would like music and are technophobic.

Offering a list of 'qualified, honest and nice' folks to help with the
setup could be a nice way to widen the population.


> My biggest fear has always been since the logitech acquisition that the
> products could be 'dumbed' down to give them broader audience.

You mean that they might make the product usable enough that many folks
can enjoy the great features without being geeks themselves?


--
Pat Farrell
http://www.pfarrell.com/

[autopilot]

You mean that they might make the product usable enough that many folks
can enjoy the great features without being geeks themselves?

No, i mean exactly what i said. The reduction of some functionality, in order to give the product more mass market appeal. Like i said, hopefully not happening.

[pfarrell]

autopilot wrote:
> Pat Farrell;269514 Wrote:
>> You mean that they might make the product usable enough that many folks
>> can enjoy the great features without being geeks themselves?
>
> No, i mean exactly what i said.

Being "dumbed down" is how you make it widely usable.

Clearly you are not the target audience for the idea.


--
Pat Farrell
http://www.pfarrell.com/

[autopilot]

Being "dumbed down" is how you make it widely usable.

Clearly you are not the target audience for the idea.

Your right, but thats not why i dont think it would be good. Having a 'certified network engineer' help you out maybe, because the vast majority of peoples problems are network related and could have happened with any product.

[autopilot]

I think its decent, and creative idea.

Having the idea was decent and creative, thats what forums should be for (not all the bitching of late), it's the idea itself i dont agree with.

[smc2911]

Giving a product an 'installer certificate' would just make the product be perceived as being even more complicated to average Joe. It would not help sales, possibly harm them. And it certainly not help the 'average joe', maybe just scare them. And how much would it cost to have someone install a $300 system?.

I tend to agree with this point. While there is doubtless always room for product improvement to make SB products easier for the tech-challenged, if this type of offering were to exist and be advertised, it could send the signal that the product is just too difficult for the average user.

[peejay]

So in the Sonos so much more friendly to the non-techincal user? Does it have similar teething problems?

[smc2911]

Based on anecdotal experience of friends/colleagues (3 sonos owners, 5 SB users), I would say that there is some simplicity with the Sonos, but it comes at a significant cost. The reasons are:

(1) Sonos runs its own proprietary wireless network, whereas the SB pigggy-backs on your own wifi network. The drawback for SB is the challenge of dealing with such a diversity of hardware, the drawback for sonos is more hardware and the risk of interference with your existing network.

(2) Sonos effectively provides a server box too, albeit one that it far less customisable than the Slimserver or SqueezeCenter. The advantage for SB is that they don't charge you for that hardware as you already have it (your PC/NAS/whatever), the drawback again is dealing with diverse infrastructure.

For me the SB advantages are far greater, but for some the ease of the Sonos is worth the extra $$. Logitech/SD are clearly aware of these issues and are working hard to close the gap while retaining the benefits of flexibility that their system provides.