Re: [Usability] we need interoperability

[Alan Horkan <horkana maths tcd ie>]

On Mon, 17 Apr 2006, brian muhumuza wrote:

> Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2006 20:27:11 +0300
> From: brian muhumuza <brian muhumuza gmail com>
> To: usability gnome org
> Subject: [Usability] we need interoperability
>
> The linux desktop has lagged behind in interoperability arena.

Compared to the ideal of what it could be it does seem less than perfect
but (but it is getting better all the time and) if you think about it is
far better than the ability of Microsoft to interoperate with anything but
their own standards.  What are the chances of Microsoft ever supporting
the OpenDocument file format?

> 1. Unix applications should be built on Unix principles.

> Here i mean supporting pipes and output redirection both on the console
> and in the GUI.

Most applications provide command line arguements allowing them to be used
at the console but by all means file requests against specific
applications and offer patches if you think they could be improved.

Not sure what you mean by the equivalent of pipes in the GUI.

> do the same thing. Imagine using gimp's functions on a few thousand photos
> within a shell script without having to open its window, using pipes and
> redirection as needed.

ImageMagick.

> I think this is what Apple' s automator wants to become. It becomes easy

Gnome is gradually moving towards better and better scripting and use of
lower level abstractions like DBUS which might it possible to implement
something like Apple Automator (if it was easy it would have been done
already).  Developers are not unaware of the idea but it requires a lot of
underlying work to make it look as easy as Apple does.

> 2. We need standardised central data stores to store user data and
> configuration. Users need to be able to access their data and services with
> any available application without having to reconfigure that application or
> import/export data.

There is work underway to centralise personal information and share it
between applications like Evolution, Gaim, Gnomemeeting (ekiga) and
others.  It is happening, slowly but surely.

Unifying other more generalised user data might come after that.

> 3. From a developer point of view, there should be libraries/apis/whatever
> that enable applications (whether GUI, console or shell scripts) access

these ideas are certianly all under consideration.  if you are a developer
and interested in helping out you might contact the desktop-devel-list or
gnome-love and there are plenty of people there who would recommend a good
place to start helping to make these things happen.

Thanks for your feedback.

-- 
Alan H.