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GNOME and Enterprise Desktop Usability (Serverwatch)
Serverwatch looks at desktop
usability. "We've spent a lot of time experimenting with GNOME
2.6 during the past few weeks, and we're inclined to say it's no worse than
anything else we've dealt with in recent years. Early OS X releases
constituted the hoodwinking of an entire user community that had no idea it
was paying for the privilege of running two years of beta software. It took
a veritable bucket brigade of third-party software developers to let us
stand the sight of a pulsing blue button. We've been similarly troubled by
Windows XP and its obvious anxiety over OS X, and we've looked at the
latest from the KDE project, which provides a cluttered riot of
over-configurability." (Found on GnomeDesktop)
(Log in to post comments)
Users want consistency not a new interface Posted May 17, 2004 17:46 UTC (Mon) by southey (subscriber, #9466) [Link] A large number of users are already using GNOME so they are not switching from another UI. Users don't want to learn another interface every release as Gnome seems to require. Nor do support people want to reeducate people when this type of thing happens. (Heck, even Microsoft provides a 'classical interface' option in Windows XP.) By doing these type of changes alienates people who the current user base and these people are often the ones that were promoting this UI!
Users want consistency not a new interface Posted May 17, 2004 18:16 UTC (Mon) by huffd (guest, #10382) [Link] Come on, what you really want is that Windows '95 look and feel until the day you retire, admit it.Progress begets change, get it? It's the cycle of life otherwise you never advance.
Users want consistency not a new interface Posted May 17, 2004 19:41 UTC (Mon) by mmarsh (subscriber, #17029) [Link] But large disruptive changes are...largely disruptive. Sometimes you need to radically break an existing interface in order to move forward, but often gradual changes can instead be used, and when possible generally should be. When you're producing what is, in essence, an interface for its own sake, a change of sufficient magnitude is equivalent to an entirely new product. Changing the definition of "the Gnome desktop" on users who thought they were just getting an upgrade can result in a lot of lost productivity, not to mention ill will.
Users want consistency not a new interface Posted May 20, 2004 5:58 UTC (Thu) by huffd (guest, #10382) [Link] Ok, after having tried it, Nautilus in Spatial mode is pretty bad. I could never inspire the project planners to use desktops with Gnome on them if they saw that the default was spatial.Completely indefensable arrogance on the part of the developers. Sorry Gnome you've kicked me one to many times, the next XWM, DE or WM that gets my nod will probably be XFce.
Users want consistency not a new interface Posted May 18, 2004 8:12 UTC (Tue) by NAR (subscriber, #1313) [Link] what you really want is that Windows '95 look and feel until the day you retire, admit it. Progress begets change, get it?Yes, I admit it. However, when I installed Debian, I tried nearly every window manager in the distribution but I haven't found anything that differed from the Win95 look&feel and I could interpret as progress.
Users want consistency not a new interface Posted May 18, 2004 1:35 UTC (Tue) by marduk (subscriber, #3831) [Link] It's painful. I don't think any of us would disagree with that. But if one is a developer working hard to create "great" software feels as if one did't do everything right the first time, the alternative, continuing to develop "not-so-great" software, isn't easy to swallow either.It's a delicate balance, but so far I have not given up faith in the GNOME developer community. Keep up the good work!
Users want consistency not a new interface Posted May 18, 2004 8:43 UTC (Tue) by schauer (guest, #12010) [Link] >It's a delicate balance, but so far I have not given up faith in the GNOME developer community.I've given up faith not so recently. I've been a happy user of Gnome 1.4. No, that's wrong. I've been a happy user of WindowMaker for a long time and an happy occasional user of Gnome 1.4, too. When I had too much time at my hands, I started installing Gnome2.2 and found that Gnome sacrificied most of it's capabilities on the throne of "easy usability". To me, this is just a PITA. I've never believed in the theory that reduction of possible choices somehow eases choice, if choice is nearly all you want. And come on, we're not only talking about colours and what else comes with themes. KDE? No, I won't get used to that one either. But overconfigurability? Gimme a break. As far as I can live with Woody, I'll stick with Gnome 1.4.
Users want consistency not a new interface Posted May 18, 2004 11:53 UTC (Tue) by mbanck (subscriber, #9035) [Link] As far as I can live with Woody, I'll stick with Gnome 1.4.So, I predict that a large amount of 'forwardports' of Gnome-1.x to sarge will pop up as soon as it releases, as so many people seem to like it better than Gnome-2.x. :) Backports are *sooo* woody. Michael
Users want consistency not a new interface Posted May 18, 2004 17:11 UTC (Tue) by tjc (guest, #137) [Link] So, I predict that a large amount of 'forwardports' of Gnome-1.x to sarge will pop up as soon as it releases, as so many people seem to like it better than Gnome-2.x.I wonder, what ever happed to that project to bring KDE 1.x back to life?
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