Re: Is keynav to unavailable menu items a bug?

[Jason White <jasonw ariel its unimelb edu au>]

earl johnson writes:
 > Input from 2 Interaction Designers we've worked with over the 
 > years. Their basic take - make the interaction like Windows 
 > because that's where our users are coming from and that's what 
 > they expect.

I disagree with this in principle, as I think it is wrong to
perpetuate a legacy except where it is clearly the best design choice.
So, wherever Windows behaviour happens to be at least as good as other
reasonable alternatives then it can be emulated; otherwise, it would
be better over the long term to make the superior design decision.
This is especially true of free/open-source software, which by its
nature is likely to outlast current proprietary offerings, including
current Windows-based technologies.

As an alternative, if the developers due feel compelled to maintain
compatibility with Windows-inspired expectations in the face of better
design ideas, then the latter should at least be offered as an option
for those of us who don't want a particular behaviour imposed upon us
simply because it is what some users coming from a Windows environment
expect.