unity-design team mailing list archive

[Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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Martin Owens wrote on 21/06/10 19:55:
>...
> Myself and a few others have been working on a concept to improve the
> functionality and ease of use of the gpg key system we use. This
> project code named starfish[1] would be hopefully something average
> users can discover and take advantage of as well as making it easier
> for us geeks to deal with.

- From what I've seen, the Seahorse developers have been quite eager to
improve its design and understandability. I suggest trying to work with
them before resorting to a replacement.

> I would really like your critique of these rough designs for the
> system:
> 
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Starfish/Design
> 
> I have attempted to show the workflow from not having an identity
> (published gpg key) to discovering the possibility, setting it up and
> then creating a network of trust.
>...

That's an interesting start, but it doesn't seem to cover anything
practical yet. There's nothing there, for example, about verifying that
an e-mail message came from the person it looks like, or encrypting a
chat session, or opening an encrypted file that someone has sent you.

Everything you have shown is bureaucracy -- it's the stuff you don't
really want to do, but need to do, to get those other things working.
But if you don't design the process end-to-end, you won't know how much
of that stuff is really necessary, or mundane details like what kinds of
window it should use.

So, start with some use cases and some misuse cases, and work out the
most delightful way of satisfying them or foiling them respectively. For
example:

*   Abigail finds out that she could encrypt her e-mail messages to
    Bertrand if she wanted to, and understands what this means, without
    any effort on Bertrand's part.

*   Praneeth is borrowing a friend's computer, and is chatting to Vikil
    from an Ubuntu guest session. Vikil wants to know that it's really
    Praneeth and not someone else.

*   Timon wants to send a file to Androu, Neola, and Marcus so that only
    they can read it. (How does the encryption process work? How does
    Timon come to understand that any of the recipients might still pass
    the file on unencrypted?)

*   Claudia is 15, doesn't take computers that seriously, and thinks
    it's funny to "add as a friend" anyone who asks. Derek tries to join
    her web of trust. (How does the system discourage her effectively?
    What is Ubuntu using the web of trust for in the first place?)

- -- 
Matthew Paul Thomas
http://mpt.net.nz/
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