Quote:
Originally Posted by kiwidude
However for me the question is whether you even want to try to target users who don't care about any of that stuff, and just want to "put books on their Kindle". They don't know or care about the format wars, they only have one device to begin with, they just want to sort, categorise, search and send their books and possibly track ones they have read. Over a longer period of time they may get adventurous and start finding out about custom columns, yada, yada - but not during those crucial first few hours of trying out calibre to see if they will stick with it.
Now maybe you don't care about those users and suggest calibre is just not the product for them. Which is a perfectly valid approach, it gives you a (obviously smaller) user base that is slightly more technical or motivated and hence easier to support. In which case threads like this have an easy response.
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I think that's the main question. I believe Calibre has to have all the features that it has today and some more (like sharing lists of books a la spotify or lending books to your friends with a click). And that doesn't mean it can't have an easier and simpler user interface for beginners and the average user. Of course there can be a simpler UI with better user experience for the average user. For all of you who need more features, you can activate them.
Will calibre be for IT people or will it be for everyone? I don't accept the answer "lots of average users are using it now" because there is no decent alternative right now. If calibre doesn't get easier to use, and an alternative appears, I believe the move will be instantaneous among those average users. If you believe calibre should be for everyone, I think it's time to work on it and accept some changes.