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Eclipse User Experience 2015
Revision as of 17:20, 3 November 2014 by Denis.roy.eclipse-foundation.org (Talk | contribs)
In 2015, the Eclipse User Experience is still lacking:
- No user-friendly installer
- Large package size (150-300 MB)
- No easy way to set common/popular user preferences post-installation
Specific pain points
- Eclipse is packaged as a ZIP/tarball, which is an archaic form for distributing software packages. On Windows, it is also error-prone.
- Running Eclipse requires a JRE/JDK and fails miserably if one is not found by the native launchers
Useful components
- Oomph project provides an RCP-based installer (http://wiki.eclipse.org/Eclipse_Oomph_Installer)
- Oomph project provides a post-installation questionnaire/wizard for setting popular user preferences (and more)
- Eclipse already uses native launchers. Could these executables be helpful to the user should a JRE/JDK be absent?
The Road to Success
Eclipse UX 2015, Version 1.0 (Mars timeframe)
- Build native launchers with CBI (Linux, Windows, Mac);
- Extend native launchers to detect absence of Java environment, provide useful links for download/install;
- Create a minimal download package based on Oomph;
- Incoroprate Oomph preferences questionnaire/wizard into existing EPP packages.
Eclipse UX 2015, Version 2.0 (N* timeframe)
- Use a real installer (MSI/yum/rpm);
- Package a JRE; Oomph could run on its own.
Eclipse UX 2015, Version 3.0 (N* timeframe and beyond!)
- Alter Oomph so that user preferences are stored with Eclipse account.