[NCLUG] Re: Thoughts on Linux Users

Dennis Clark dlc at frii.com
Tue Nov 13 15:44:58 MST 2007


Uh oh.  I feel an ideology war brewing...

DLC

> On Sun, Nov 11, 2007 at 11:08:05PM -0700, John L. Bass wrote:
>>
>> That the linux GUI is finally catching up to the Mac, some 25 years
>> late,
>> isn't a good thing. It means we have missed 25 years of ground breaking
>> innovation.
>
> I'm afraid I have to disagree with this part of your characterization of
> the difference between Unix-like systems and Macs with regard to UI
> design.
>
> X is broken in a number of ways, and could reasonably be improved or
> replaced by some quite drastic changes.  Much of the core design
> philosophy, however, involves some advances that still have not been
> touched by either Apple or Microsoft, twenty years later.
>
> I think what you're seeing as a lack of progress in the Unix-like world
> is, in fact, simply progress that is largely orthogonal to that of Apple
> and Microsoft.  There the former focuses on productivity enhancement and
> efficiency improvement, the latter two focus on certain aspects of
> discoverability and UI confections.  As someone that might be described
> more accurately as a "power user" than a typical user, I find the areas
> of most progress for Unix-like system UI design indescribably more
> important and beneficial than those of Apple and Microsoft UI
> advancement.  In fact, the almost orgiastic devotion to nominal
> discoverability in the design of interfaces like that of MS Windows over
> the last fifteen years, give or take, has contributed to some severe
> damage to the efficiency (both of the software and of the user's
> interaction with it) over the years, in my estimation.
>
> I prefer a UI that stays out of my way, and facilitates my work, over one
> that constantly tells me that the way I'd like to do things is *wrong*.
>
> There's no denying that until the last few years the eye candy
> advancements of consumer level Unix-like UIs have tended to lag well
> behind those of Apple and Microsoft OSes, but that's only of secondary
> importance (if even that) to me.  Further, from what I've seen, it looks
> like the last couple of years have seen Unix-like UI design leap past
> that of Apple and Microsoft, in terms of the eye candy factor.
>
> --
> CCD CopyWrite Chad Perrin [ http://ccd.apotheon.org ]
> Baltasar Gracian: "A wise man gets more from his enemies than a fool from
> his friends."
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-- 
Dennis Clark
TTT Enterprises




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