Mark Shuttleworth interview (Linux Format) [LWN.net]

Mark Shuttleworth interview (Linux Format)

Posted Oct 3, 2006 19:22 UTC (Tue) by ajross (subscriber, #4563)
In reply to: Mark Shuttleworth interview (Linux Format) by rsidd
Parent article: Mark Shuttleworth interview (Linux Format)

Wow, it seems this has sparked quite the flame war.

Without going line by line, it seems to me that most of your information is either stale (fonts), wrong (PPP, OK-button), or just a reasonable difference in opinion (Konqueror, or all the UI complaints)*. Please try a modern Gnome desktop and be more open minded. You may not like it, but what I take from your list of complaints hardly rises to the level of "doesn't work" or "stupid".

Flaming about this stuff really has to stop. Neither desktop is going away, and you are more than welcome to use the one you prefer. But be rational about it: flipping out because some folks (me, for instance) prefer one over another for architectural reasons isn't going to win KDE any converts at this point.

* The Bluetooth point is valid though. I'm not aware of any good Gtk-based OBEX clients. The OBEX server applet works acceptably, though. If Bluetooth weren't such a disaster, I might care more. As it is, I use my phone over USB exclusively.

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Mark Shuttleworth interview (Linux Format)

Posted Oct 4, 2006 5:28 UTC (Wed) by Janne (guest, #40891) [Link]

"Flaming about this stuff really has to stop. Neither desktop is going away, and you are more than
welcome to use the one you prefer. But be rational about it: flipping out because some folks (me,
for instance) prefer one over another for architectural reasons isn't going to win KDE any converts at
this point."

Well, you did post quite debatable comments about KDE and GNOME, and when someone decided
to correct you, it's "flaming" and it "has to stop"? No, no-one has flamed anyone here. Someone
posted comments about something, and some other people disagreed with those comments, that's
all.

I might as well say that disparaging and untrue comments about KDE isn't going to win any converts
to GNOME at this point.

Mark Shuttleworth interview (Linux Format)

Posted Oct 4, 2006 7:30 UTC (Wed) by rsidd (subscriber, #2582) [Link]

most of your information is either stale (fonts),

No it's not stale. Read the wikipedia page I linked to. That page is there for a reason.

wrong (PPP, OK-button),

The ppp thing may be stale (not wrong), and I explicitly said so. As for the button, are you claiming that the order is "ok/cancel"? Every GNOME installation I've seen has "cancel/ok" by default. It is possible that there is an obscure gconf variable to change that.

Pointing out shortcomings of your pet desktop isn't flaming.

Mark Shuttleworth interview (Linux Format)

Posted Oct 4, 2006 8:01 UTC (Wed) by micampe (guest, #4384) [Link]

As for the button, are you claiming that the order is "ok/cancel"?

No, the fact is that there are no dialogs with "cancel/ok" buttons, and if there are, it's a bug. The buttons should read "don't save/cancel/save", for example.

Mark Shuttleworth interview (Linux Format)

Posted Oct 4, 2006 14:21 UTC (Wed) by ajross (subscriber, #4563) [Link]

rsidd: No it's not stale. Read the wikipedia page I linked to. That page is there for a reason.

I did. It says, in no uncertain terms:

You do not need to do anything to enable viewing of Indic text in Gnome 2.8 or later.

rsidd: Every GNOME installation I've seen has "cancel/ok" by default.

Sorry, but Gnome applications don't have OK buttons. They have an affirmative action, always explained in the label (e.g. "Save"), and it is always in the bottom right corner for consistency (because there may be more than one way to "cancel" or "negate" a dialog choice). This is sane, well considered, and consistent. You may not like it, and there may even be some good reasons why you do not like it. But calling it "stupid" as you did (especially since you clearly don't understand the issue) seems like mindless flaming to me and not reasoned argument.

Just stop. You like KDE better, and your are more than welcome to tell us why. But you are going beyond merely stating a preference, and making arguments about Gnome (the desktop you don't use) that are misleading at best and in some cases simply not true. This is called "flaming" or "spin", and only makes you look like an immature fan boy.

Mark Shuttleworth interview (Linux Format)

Posted Oct 5, 2006 11:49 UTC (Thu) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link]

To be fair, the changed button order in GNOME 2 *was* contentious and the source of considerable flamage on the gnome lists at the time: what's more, the flamage was halted by a blatant argument from authority ('that's the way Apple does it'). Small surprise that some people consider this somewhat weak...