Examination of a Linux Gui, w/color commentary

[Dana S. Tellier]

From: "John Abreau" <jabr at blu.org>

<cut>
The Redhat printer config tool that ESR was bitching about is truly a
piece of crap. But the technolazy behaviors that Microsoft promotes are
as reckless as telling drivers that the car will obey the traffic rules
automatically. Teaching drivers that attitude would lead to these
drivers suffering accidents every time they drive, much as teaching
PC owners this attitude leads to them suffering crashes, blue-screens,
and the worm-du-jour, every time they use their PCs.
</cut>

    Okay, I think my just-a-moment-ago reply to Derek already explains this,
but I'm not saying that general users are free from understanding basic PC
concepts in any way.  I'm just advocating that programmers and designers
need to design their software with that lowest common denominator in mind,
IFF they want the Linux desktop to succeed, which is what the original
thread was getting to.
    And I have to be honest with you, I don't know where *you* see blue
screens anymore, but in all of the environments I've done support lately, I
haven't seen any blue screens; there are still plenty of other problems, but
the old BSOD argument doesn't really hold much anymore.  And besides, in
terms of user ignorance, I don't see how BSODs figure in, anyway.
    But that's all beside the point, which is that a *combination* of more
user training and better UI design will all further the cause.

 - Dana

P.S.  I should have known from my 4+ years of lurking on this list that car
analogies NEVER pan out well...