Re: Proposed module: tracker

["John Stowers" <john stowers lists gmail com>]

> The comparison is valid because we're doing the same with tracker as
> we did with bonobo: Searching for places we can put Tracker before we
> know what we want or need: "We want desktop search" is a rather
> general statement that says nothing about requirements.

"We want desktop search" is a catch all to concisely describe what
tracker achieves. Its phrasing is partly due to the phrasing of its
peers, vista calls it desktop search and osx spotlight describes it as
"search as quickly as you type (it also mentions indexing etc)".

The benefits to application authors have been described on this thread
and on the many previous. We have even seen GNOME application authors
come in and say how they could use tracker to improve their
applications. Application authors can see areas where tracker would
achieve a better desktop experience. A few minutes thought and you can
literally visualise what a desktop with a unified metadata experience
will allow will make any desktop app author excited.

Then someone mentions that the decision should be made based upon what
users and not developers think. Which is a fair point - usability is
one of the core ethos of GNOME.

So then to describe tracker concisely someone says "desktop search"
because the concept from a users perspective of what desktop search is
can be seen in OSX spotlight and in vista.

So now it seems that I am going in circles and will also stop.

> I'm not saying that desktop search is a bad thing and that no-one
> wants it. I'm just saying "How do we know Tracker is the correct
> solution?"

We dont, but of the solutions presently available tracker is the best.
The release team needs to weigh the cost of including tracker and the
cost of not.

John