Re: Wizards! I mean, Assistants!

[Jonas Steverud <tvrud@bredband.net>]

Simon Josefsson <jas@extundo.com> writes:

> Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen <larsi <at> gnus.org> writes:
>
>> (I don't really like that word, though.  "Assistant"?)
>
> I think "saints" was proposed last time, but I don't recall if people
> liked it.  

Considering that this is for new users that might be new to Emacs as
well, I don't think it is a wise decision to invent a new word for an
old concept. There are plenty of places to confuse the newbie without
having to confront them with unknown words. Besides, the user will
mostly become angry - "if this is x, why the #@% don't they call it x
then?!" The user know what to expect if he is presented with "This
Assistant will guide you through the configuration process", but might
more easily be confused if it is "This gnome..." or "This daisy..." or
"This elf..." It never pays of to be witty when to find names for
concepts that will live much longer then any laughter.

Two other "cases in point:" I think Wizard is trademarked by
you-know-who (I remember seeing some information about some discussion
about the topic for about five years ago... you get the
picture). Apple calls 'em Assistants in Mac OS X and yes, they might
have trademarked that as well - worth checking out.

These dialogs doesn't do any magic, so lets not call 'em Wizards.
It sounds too much PR/Marketing Management to me. Assistants are much
better.

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