PPD files [LWN.net]

PPD files

Posted Dec 15, 2005 21:06 UTC (Thu) by cventers (subscriber, #31465)
In reply to: PPD files by GreyWizard
Parent article: GNOME v. KDE, December 2005 edition

I want you to re-read my original remarks to which you objected:

>> If you want an extreme example of where this "minority" attitude
>> breaks down, let's consider accessibility features for a moment. 99%
>> of the current Linux desktop market probably doesn't have damn bit of
>> need for a screen reader / magnifier / sticky keys. But you'd get
>> flamed off the planet for suggesting that we forget about this
>> 'accessibility nonsense' on the grounds that the desktop should Just
>> Work for the Majority.

If you think for a second that reading documentation and
interacting with CUPS on the command line for non-default printing is not
an _absolute_ barrier to usage for 90% of corporate computer users on the
planet, you're missing:

>> logic and common sense

Scenario 1: A large number of corporate users can't use GNOME because it
sucks bad at printing.
Scenario 2: A small number of people can't use GNOME because they can't
see and it lacks a screen reader (hypothetically, if it did).

In Scenario 1, a group of users cannot use GNOME because it lacks
critical functionality.
In Scenario 2, a group of users cannot use GNOME because it lacks
critical functionality.

Now, tell me, what piece of critical functionality are _YOU_ missing to
imply that these two things are totally different / can't be compared?

I never implied the disabled weren't important - quite the contrary, in
fact. But to claim that people who print aren't at least as important is
(see Linus's big F word) INSANE.

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PPD files

Posted Dec 17, 2005 1:58 UTC (Sat) by GreyWizard (subscriber, #1026) [Link]

Scenario 1: A large number of corporate users can't use GNOME because it sucks bad at printing. Scenario 2: A small number of people can't use GNOME because they can't see and it lacks a screen reader (hypothetically, if it did).

I've already pointed out that you have presented no credible data to substantiate your claim about which group of users is larger. Without that you're merely speculating. But even so you're on shaky ground for two reasons. For one thing, whether you care to admit it or not, most so-called "corporate users" are supported by system administrators who are quite capable of reading documentation and configuring things on the command line. For another, the second group will include elderly users who are not necessarily blind but have impaired visual and motor abilities which probably makes it larger than you imagine.

Nevertheless, the relative sizes of the groups is not the real issue.

But to claim that people who print aren't at least as important is (see Linus's big F word) INSANE.

Nowhere have I claimed that one person or group of people was more important than any other. Quote the text that lead to you to believe that and I'll clarify what you have misunderstood. The point I've been making (again and again and again...) is that coping with a missing feature that prevents a user from accessing a computer in any way is qualitatively different from coping with a missing feature that prevents a user from accessing a subset of features of a subset of printers.

Leaving a user unable to make a printer staple automatically is preferable to leaving one without access to email, the web, office productivity tools or indeed anything a computer could possible do -- not because the second user is more important but because the first has a much smaller burden to bear. Admitting this does not require you to concede that Gnome is in any way better than KDE, that the printing support the former provides is adequate in general or that any particular decision made by the designers of the former is appropriate. But it does require you to think of something other than your bruised ego. Can you manage that?