Re: [Usability] On The Open Source desktop & Linux in General

[Sinzui Kobalt <sinzui cox rr com>]

On Fri, 2002-02-22 at 07:04, Ryan Green wrote:
> Some thoughts...but first some background, I'm a recent convert to Linux and have played with a few distros e.g. Red Hat, SuSE & Mandrake & am comfortable in both the major desktop environments i.e. KDE & GNOME. I must say I'm on the whole pretty please by what I've seen in both the desktops. And do think that they afford new migrants from both Windows & Mac most of the comfort of their old OSes. But I do sincerely believe that there is still much room for further improvements. Below are some of the ideas & proposals I have:
> 
> 1.)A fully INTERACTIVE & ACCESSIBLE Speech & Remote Control-Enabled 
> Desktop (for easy accesibility especially for the disabled & to a 
> certain extent, lazy dudes ;))  

You might want to check in with the Accessibility group
(http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gap/) they are very involved with
assistive technolgies.  I believe Gnopernicus can work with
text-to-speech tools.

> 2.)An INTEGRATED Communication Suite (i.e. like Evolution has mailing, calender, contacts functions tightly INTEGRATED but with additional integration with ICQ, IRC, Gabber, etc all in one packaged solution), an Office Suite (i.e. StarOffice with Impress, Writer, Calc but with added Personal Accounting e.g. QHacc, Gnucash, Linux-Kontor, Banal and WebAccount,
> a Web Browser Suite e.g. Galeon, Dillo, Mozilla, Netscape, Links etc, a Web Design/Graphics Suite (i.e. Babel, Quanta, Scribus, JBuilder, Gthumbs, Sketch & GIMP), Multimedia Suite that is divided into Music, MPEG/MOVIE Players (VideoLAN, MPlayer, Zplayer) & Multimedia Productions. And all these suites to have their own seperate Folders on the desktop i.e. possibly doing with the need for an application laucher.

Some of this exists in a few Evolution branches, IM for instance.  Gnome
Office is coming together slowly, but most of the pieces are there. 
Integration probably wont happen until more of the apps use Bonobo. 
Checkout GStreamer for multimedia, it's a strong candidate for Gnome
3.0's multimedia system.  

> 3.) Another Feature i thought might make the *NIX desktop slick i.e. a Folder 
> to hide all running dock apps but still located at the lower right corner, 
> where double clicking it will reveal the running apps).
> 
> 4.)One interesting & maybe both KDE & GNOME should look into is REAL-TIME
> Drap N Drop & PIN BOARD abilities aka QNX (i.e. a POSIX compliant *NIX 
> like OS) i.e. where one computer linked to a common network can Drag N Drop
> files/folders onto one another's desktop...? hmmm...

This sounds a lot like VNC/Gnome Meeting, but I may misunderstand.

> 4.) Also a Centralized Control & Admin Center that incorporates 
> existing functions as found in Mandrake Control e.g. User Add/User 
> Delete, Harddrake, Internet/Network Set-up & Admin but with added 

Coming, but not soon enough.  Ximian Setup Tools and Red Carpet does
much of this.  I think some of these tools are already making their way
into distros--RedHat's 7.2's network configuration looks like Ximian's
network tool.

> 5.)Also i like to see a more INTUITIVE, INTELLIGENT & SPECIFIC Job/Task
> based layout to Application Menus e.g. Games can be divided into 
> Multi-Player >>> Half Life, Unreal, FreeCiv, Parsec, Quake...
> Single-Player >>> Maelstrom, Tux Racer, Ampethamine. Clanbomber, 
> NetHack....hmmmm

I think some of this will show up in Gnome 2.0  Checkout the menu docs
at http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/

-- 

__S i n z u i___________________________________
sinzui cox rr com
Guilty of stealing everything I am.