Warts, Features and Icebergs [Was: Request for breakage in gnome-panel]

[Jeff Waugh <jdub perkypants org>]

<quote who="Jeff Waugh">

> <quote who="Bryan Clark">
> 
> > Simply put I'd like to remove the 'Run Application' menu item from the
> > Applications menu top level since it shouldn't be something that most of
> > our users are expected to interact with very often or at all.  This
> > doesn't mean removing it's functionality, just removing it from the main
> > menu.
> 
> Minor comment, I don't necessarily disagree: We are going to get flamed
> for this change. Particularly since there's no way to customize the menus
> (and I don't mean "menu editing", more like toolbar/menu editors in office
> apps).

A more complete answer...

When I proposed the menu changes (not at all expecting them to go upstream
as fast as they did), I made it very clear that it was intended to be an
incremental, short-to-medium term change, designed to put some of our great
integration features in clear sight, and fix up a few niggy problems we had
with the previous menu model.

We should not be attempting to turn this into the one true menu system, and
spend a lot of time perfecting it. It is the WRONG MODEL. The Almighty Menu
has to go. I knew, full well, that I was rearranging the deck chairs on the
Titanic. (Kiss me Kate!)

I don't think removing the 'Run Application...' item is freeze break worthy.
If it were important enough, it could have been dealt with months ago. This
is a micro-incremental change, mostly to satisfy our rarefied sensibilities,
not give real value to our users. I mean *real* value. We're taking away one
lonely menu item, which perhaps looks ugly, which in turn, takes away one
function our users have had since before GNOME even had pubic hair.

In all honesty, I'm not opposed to seeing this go. But why frig around with
a dying model at all, let alone after freeze? Let's keep the feature, call
it a wart, and leave it alone until we fix the model. It's doing no harm. We
have stuff in GNOME that punches users in the face daily - let's fix a few
of those!

Thanks,

- Jeff

-- 
GUADEC 2005: Stuttgart, Germany                      http://2005.guadec.org/
 
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