Out-of-box experience

Out-of-box experience (OOBE pronounced oo-bee) is the experience a consumer (or user) has when preparing to first use a new product. In relation to computing, this includes the setup process of installing and/or performing initial configuration of a piece of hardware or software on a computer. This generally follows the point-of-sale or the interaction of an expert user.

Overview

The out-of-box experience is typically the first impression a product creates, such as the ease with which a buyer can begin using the product. For hardware products, a positive OOBE can be created with logical easy-to-follow instructions and good quality of manufacturing.

For software, this often means easy installation and "Welcome" or "Initial Configuration" wizard screens that simplify elaborate set-up. Alternatively, the OOBE may be a preprogrammed set of displays that does not afford user input.

The process of installing Microsoft Windows is a common example for OOBE. While the installation is largely automatic, the user must proceed through multiple screens to acknowledge software license terms, specify partition settings for the hard disk, enter the "product key", select international settings, a time zone, and also configure network settings. After the installation is complete, Microsoft Windows launches the "out-of-box application" that presents a full-screen wizard to assist the user with critical first steps of using Windows, such as creating a user account, registering the software with Microsoft (optional), configuring Internet connectivity, and product activation. Although this Microsoft application is named after OOBE, the real OOBE began when the user first turned on a new computer and was taken through the initial setup.

Ubuntu 16.04 installation screen

Negative experiences

For poor out-of-box experiences, the specific term out-of-box failure (OOBF or OBF) has been coined to describe immediate product failures.

gollark: LyricLy LITERALLY tiling window manager?
gollark: That could not happen, actually.
gollark: It would be cool if Macron did have retrocausal updates, because this would finally provide an explanation for why we don't have it yet, due to the anthropic principle.
gollark: I know Macron doesn't have a retrocausal update mechanism, so this is very implausible.
gollark: ↑

See also

References

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