Fwd: Re: GNOME user survey 2011

[Frederic Muller <fredm gnome org>]

That was surely intended to the list.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: GNOME user survey 2011
Date: Mon, 1 Aug 2011 08:33:34 +0000
From: GSO <gsowww yahoo co uk>
To: Frederic Muller <fredm gnome org>

How about an applet linking to a user feedback forum and/or
questionnaire etc.  A desktop icon would do the same, but dists would
maybe just remove that thinking that more than one feedback icon is
one too many and replace it with their own.

You could maybe do it in a fun way also, attach a cartoon personality
- the ill fated M$ clippy character springs to mind, but he was fun.

I'm not a GNOME developer - just someone who usually sets up his own
desktop (which generally involves in the first instance a level of
kiosk type setup, I don't unfortunately live in nirvana).  So I
thought I'd give the GNOME desktop a try for personal customisability,
it woulld look more impressive when my friends came round after all :)
 It's a bit impenetrable I have to say - whereas most *nix window
managers are setup to be customized, it's not so straighforward to do
the same with GNOME.  Admittedly GNOME is a full desktop environment
rather than just window manager, aiming I guess to provide a full API
for the applications software developer, but you've lost the *nix lets
have some fun with the window manager attribute.  Configuring the
window manager would maybe only take a few pages of additional
judiciously placed (so the person looking to do this could
serendipitously bump into it) documentation - I'd even be motivated to
write this myself if I thought it would go anywhere worthwhile.  Also
a menu system that cannot be reduced to zero items is a serious
departure from past *nix window managers - I thought someone might
have knocked together a quick applet to do this however not as yet it
appears (I am using 2.x GNOME).  It may be that I'm a bit old
fashoined, but it does strike me GNOME is losing a tradition - some
traditions do fall by the wayside and for good reason, I'm not sure
the *nix's should lose their tradional wm flexibility though.  And
while I am at it, a  second point :) If you are going to move
everything over to XML please include a decemt XML editor - this XML
stuff is nuts, gimme a straightforward config file any day, but I
appreciate times change and technology progresses, but if you can't
view/ edit a config file with your fave editor, then can we have the
XML editor to do it please.  In conclusion is GNOME in catering for
the desktop user perhaps unwittingly also edging away from the
traditional *nix user who is not a software engineer but uses what
computing knowledge they can aquire for the work they do - and
unfortunately because it has become too abstruse for most people,
knowledge of GNOME's window manager is now out of most people's reach.
 GNOME is a fully featured desktop, but there is no need to lose this
traditional *nix user and the tradition, a bit of forthought and s/he
would be happy :)


G.