Default button placement in Linux GUIs

[Peter Alcibiades]

But Richard, my point is a slightly different one.  Leave aside what we think 
of HIGs - my own reaction to the Gnome guys, unlike yours, is total 
incomprehension.  But leave this aside. 

This isn't really the issue.  The issue is, even if you are using Ubuntu, and 
are using Gnome, odds are you are not only using Gnome or gtk apps.  You're 
almost certainly using KDE apps as well.  And probably a few others.  Because 
any linux distro is going to ship with hundreds of apps, and they are a mixed 
bunch.  For instance, k3b is usually recognised as THE CD burning app, but 
its KDE.  Even gnome users will use it.   Kate is a superb multi pane editor, 
and gedit wonderful if you want it stripped down and simple.  Most people 
will have and use both whether on gnome or kde.   Email is similar.  Lots of 
people who don't care much for gnome will use evolution as a mail client, but 
lots of gnome people will use kmail, like me.  In either case our mail client 
is out of synch with the 'house style' of the desktop, but we don't notice.

So there is no such thing, in Linux, as an homogenous user environment.  This 
is because of the huge variety of stuff the distros ship with.  And because 
Ubuntu after all, while gnome may be the default, allows installation of KDE 
with a snap of the fingers.  And then, there's Kubuntu.  But even if you go 
to Kubuntu, you will probably find yourself with several gnome apps.

The problem with trying to match the user environment is, you can't do it, 
because it don't exist.  I think we differ in how we look at this - to me, 
homogeneity is just irrelevant.  And it is to most users I know, who I end up 
putting on a gnome desktop with lots of kde apps.   But however we feel about 
it, its absence is just a fact of the environment right now.

So I am not suggesting making life easy for yourself particularly.  Just, 
focus on what will matter to users, and whether it looks like gnome or kde I 
don't think is going to be one of these things.

Peter