Re: Selling/Switching and GNOME [Was: Nautilus]

[Reinout van Schouwen <reinouts gnome org>]

Hi Jeff,

Op Thu, 22 Dec 2005 23:45:05 +1100, schreef Jeff Waugh:

> Yes it *absolutely* is. Freedom - not just software freedom, but the "big"
> freedoms that it supports and defends - won't magically fall out into the
> world if we just write good software. We have to go out there and "sell"
> it.

I agree with you that writing the best Free software in the world will
get us nowhere if there is no one to use it. What I'm trying to say is
that I believe that design decisions on GNOME components should never be
primarily motivated by considerations like "will it be familiar enough to
Windows converts?" or "let's put in this useless gimmick because it will
generate more sales of a pre-installed GNOME desktop". Decisions about UI
design should be based on their own merits.

-Paragraph about direct manipulation and abstract thinking saved for
another occasion-

> We have to go out there and understand the market so we do the right
> things to lead the world to a Free system and culture. We have to go out
> there and MAKE FREEDOM HAPPEN.
> 
> You may not be interested in or motivated by this stuff, but don't for a
> minute think that it is not important to our goals or success.

Don't get me wrong, if I weren't motivated by those ideals I wouldn't be
taking the time to write this in the first place. But with regard to the
current navigational/spatial debate, I don't think reverting the default
to browse mode is going to help our cause in the long term. If some parts
of spatial mode don't behave well, then fix them (bookmarks/places and the
tree list go a long way there already), instead of changing the default to
navigational again, which does have just as much problems, be it in
different ways.

regards,

-- 
Reinout van Schouwen