OT: HIG and Usability - KDE 4.3

[Richmond Mathewson]

Peter Alcibiades wrote:
> Anyone with an interest in app usability and the desktop should take a look 
> at the latest KDE release.  The Kubuntu live version is a reasonable 
> source.  It is very different indeed.  Easy to use once learned, not 
> necessarily instantly inutuitive ways of working.  But what is funny is, 
> once you have done something once in their initially uninituitive way, you 
> find it automatic to do it the second time.  They took a major risk, one 
> probably no commercial OS supplier would ever take, and but it has, 
> finally, paid off.  It is also visually stunning.
>
> There is an article here:
>
> http://www.kdenews.org/2009/10/21/kde4-demonstrates-choice-not-usability-
> problem
>
> Here is Aaron Seigo's interesting take:
>
> http://aseigo.blogspot.com/2009/10/comparing-kde-4-and-gnome-3.html
>
> The article, and trying the latest KDE, confirmed all my old prejudices - 
> namely, that one size does not fit all, and that the fatal flaw of HIGs is 
> that ease of first use is totally different from ease of continuing use.  
> In fact, that the first usually leads to endless irritation in experience.  
> At least, for this particular user, which is why this is written from 
> Fluxbox with hand edited menus!
>   
My "Desktop of choice" is an extremely heavily personalised GNOME with
a Mac-like doc; all made to resemble Mac OS X as nearlyas possible. But
that is because I am used to Mac.
> PCLInux has now finally moved to KDE 4, and they usually have one of the 
> best implementations of stuff for the enterprising ordinary user.
>
> Gnome with 3.0 is about to change rather dramatically also.  So, all you 
> Rev Unbuntu users, fasten your seatbelts!
>
> Peter
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