[OT] A couple of links about Gnome and usability

Tim Jones tolistim at me.com
Fri Mar 23 10:46:49 EDT 2012


All very good points, Peter.  I am also an XFCE and OpenWindows (OLVWM in Linux speak) fan.  One important distinction to keep in mind here - GNOME is not GTK as KDE is not QT.  So long as developers keep that in mind when creating software, the desktop paradigm should not be a concern in delivering your applications in the Linux market.  Your GTK or QT based apps will run properly under any desktop manager so long as the GTK or QT libraries are installed.

Also, you can elect to install other desktop managers under Ubuntu if you do a manual install.  I always install FVWM and XFCE and then add BlackBox by building it from source and installing it.

If you really want to guarantee compatibility, toss those and look to xt and xlib.  Every other mid-level X11 framework has to start there.

Tim

On Mar 23, 2012, at 1:37 AM, Peter Alcibiades wrote:

> The first link is to a comprehensive review of Gnome 3, the whole thing being worth reading, but which culminates in the following:
> 
> http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/fedora-16-gnome-3-review,3155-16.html
> 
> The implications for the Gnome-Ubuntu usability project are quite devastating.  Basically this justifies all of Torvald's rants about interface authoritarianism
> 
> Then we have Carla Shroder's review of Bodhi.  Note in particular Hooglund's comments on the core issue:  one size does not fit all people or all devices.
> 
> https://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/556594-bodhi-linux-the-beautiful-configurable-lightweight-linux
> 
> The debate has turned from whether we like or dislike Gnome3 or KDE4, and has turned towards the core question:  is there one thing we should be imposing on people at all?
> 
> Finally, check out Linux Mint
> 
> http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/linux-mint-12-offers-traditional-gnome-feel
> 
> Finally, we have the ongoing revolt over the interface vandalism that KDE4 represented, and the forking of the Trinity environment as a response.
> 
> http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/trinity-kde.html
> 
> Basically, the Linux desktop world in the last few years has been testing an hypothesis to destruction.  This hypothesis was that there is such a thing as usability, with rules that can be discovered and implemented, and that if you do this, people will be grateful.  This hypothesis has been decisively falsified, particularly the part about gratitude.
> 
> In the course of testing this hypothesis what happened was that 'usability' ceased to have any relation to what real people actually do and want while using their machines, because actually the greatest usability feature is familiarity.  Never mind if other people find it politically correct, if I am used to doing it a certain way, its usable for me.
> 
> The predictable result was users are walking with their feet, first away from KDE4, and now away from Gnome3 and Unity, often towards xfce.  The less predictable result has been that the whole question of whether usability is a useful concept at all has started to be debated.  As Hooglund's remarks illustrate.
> 
> Me, I have moved to Fluxbox, because it gets out of the way and stays out.  Everyone I support will be moving to xfce over the next few months.  With any luck, they will not notice its not Gnome2....!
> 
> Peter





More information about the use-livecode mailing list