Comment 447 for bug 332945

mac_v> "What is intriguing with Graeme's user scenario is, why have the users
been ignoring the window which was popping up?"

This is important to look at, I think. Others have mentioned reasons for this that overlap what I've seen: windows pop up minimized, or behind other windows so they don't get seen. Plus, they've been trained by the operating systems they use that important things notify from the system tray or the notification area, and that anything that pops up without them requesting it is broken or is some hassle come up with by some marketroid. In my parents case, and the case of some of the other users where I work, they dismiss it before even seeing what it is. As long as they've got that tiny notification icon saying there's updates, they'll do them when they're not busy, and they're quite good about doing that. Otherwise, they will just continue to dismiss the intrusive update-manager popup, and get back to what they're doing.

So, from my observations, the new "system" of notification for updates is essentially trying to retrain users away from what is intuitive and unobtrusive for them, to something that's part of a potentially harmful set of behaviour on other platforms (read: Windows) that they also have to use.

The fact is, when you're talking about having to retrain your entire user base (especially the least technical users), and your solution is for them to remember to run an arcane console command only documented in a bug report hundreds of comments deep? You've lost your usability argument. Straight up. Finding out why and fixing the behaviour is the next step, but you need to accept the changes you've made simply aren't working for people.