Re: Questions

[Mark <jamess1 wwnet com>]

Jared White wrote:
> 
> On Monday, May 21, 2001, at 12:29 PM, Eric Lemings wrote:
> 
> <snip>
> > Lastly, will the GNOME user interface "reinvent the wheel" or reuse
> > existing and proven models?
> 
> Are they really "proven"? Or are they just existing? I can't help but
> feel that in most case today's user interfaces are woefully inadequate
> for getting the job done quickly and efficiently. I know you can't do
> graphics or multi-media production on a command line, but why can a lot
> of people get certain kinds of work done more quickly at a command line
> if they're used to it than in a GUI?
> 
> I personally think KDE and GNOME are WAY-Y-Y too similar to Windows and
> Mac OS. Linux needs to have its own way of doing things -- not just some
> Frankenstein  mismash of everyone else's ideas. I'd really like to see a
> complete break from current X Windows paradigms -- maybe even leave X
> Windows behind altogether -- and have some completely new interface
> concepts put on the table. I won't attempt to make any suggestions here,
> but I have a few basic ideas rolling around in my head that I might
> share with y'all at some future date.
> 
> I could be wrong, but I have the feeling that a lot of people think the
> prevailing GUI of today is the best it can be simply because nobody's
> come up with anything else. It isn't like there are all kinds of
> different sorts of GUIs out there and may the best man win -- there
> isn't really anything else out there, period! So what can you compare
> Windows, or MacOS, or GNOME, or KDE, or BeOS, or QNX, or whatever, with?
> 
> There's gotta to be more to life than windows and icons!

I would agree to some extent. However, not Gnome nor KDE are the place
to try out radically different ideas. At one level the whole idea of a
Linux desktop is to provide a free software alternative to what is
already available. This unfortunately means reimplementing MS Office,
sticking to existing UI conventions, and most importantly emphasizing
compatability. By doing this the desktop will be reduced to a commodity
and users will be freed from their proprietary systems, at this point
better models of computer use can be gradually adopted. For now we are
slaves to most dominant propretary system. Although, nobody is stoping
you (or me) from making a really cool demo!

Mark