A provocative article "dilemma of Linux desktop".

[woodsmoke]

This one really IS worth reading, it is a very provocative article about Shuttleworth, Unity, HUD, the developer of Cinnamon and what is really going on with it and a proposal that "Linux" is "losing ground" because of the wasted efforts of all of them.

I would posit two things:

Re: Shuttleworth's statement about menus, there is a readymade answer to hand and it is called the Cairo Dock. What seems to have escaped everyone's notice is that most users usually use only a few apps and when they do need the once in a month app, they don't mind hunting in several layers of menus.

To the woodsmoker, Shuttleworth's statement is a grasping at straws to find SOME reason for Unity and HUD other than the obvious reason which is new form factors in hardware.

Re: The discussion of the "ribbon" menu of MS Office and LO's classical menu. Again, the answer is right in front of people's faces and it is Koffice's paradigm.

It would seem that both situations are really a situation of "We HAVE TO INNOVATE....we may not need it but BY GAWD...we are going to innovate and people will accept it!".

But, the inclusion of KDE is .....I think a nod...as it were.

But anyway.... a very provocative read:

http://www.datamation.com/open-sourc...desktop-1.html

woodsmoke

[SecretCode]

Again, the answer is right in front of people's faces and it is Koffice's paradigm.

Except in front of the faces of people who don't have KOffice installed (like me) ... can you describe its paradigm?

[whatthefunk]

Excellent article. Thanks for that.

[lo_koraco]

Bruce is a click whore. I do like his blatant bias towards Debian and KDE, but that doesn't make his articles any less horrible.

[SecretCode]

From the article:

applications like GNOME Do or KRunner, in which users type in commands with auto-completion, appeal only to advanced users who know what they want. Less experienced users are likely to avoid such tools.

I'm sure it's true as a rough generalisation but is it really that significant?

[SecretCode]

Overall, the answer is clear, surely: a hierarchical organisation of what you need to find (whether in a menu or a settings dialogue or whatever), supported by - but not replaced by - a text search that searches deep and is quickly actionable (like KRunner and GNOME-Do and the search box on the Windows start menu since Vista, or like the search field in System Settings and in the Eclipse IDE settings dialogue, and so on).

So basically, exactly what we have now but used by more / all applications, not just the operating system.

[woodsmoke]

people who don't have KOffice installed (like me) ... can you describe its paradigm?

Hi SecretCode:

You asked and the woodsmoker provides. A fellow wrote a small jotting at Linux Forums about it here.

However, here is an image of the Kword interface. The really "big" idea of the "paradigm shift" is that "the most used functions" have been moved away from the top where one must "mouse up and over" to the right where one need only to "move over"

An argument can be made that one can "simulate" the same thing in LO or MSO by repositioning the menu items from the top to the right, but, since I have done that, I can say, that at least for moi, that the "ergonomics" of it is not the same as the situation with Kword.



woodsmoke

[SecretCode]

Thanks!

At a first glance, it's more like the toolbox approach of paint programs.

Have you used Ms Word 2007 (or 2010)? When you select some text a mini toolbar appears immediately above it with some of the most common formatting commands. That's a good innovation in terms of not having to move your mouse very far. But I find it intensely annoying (and in any case I use LibreOffice and only rarely have to tangle with Word).

[GreyGeek]

This one really IS worth reading, it is a very provocative article about Shuttleworth, Unity, HUD, the developer of Cinnamon and what is really going on with it and a proposal that "Linux" is "losing ground" because of the wasted efforts of all of them.

My opinion on that is that the idea that "Linux is losing ground" because of redundancy is an unsubstantiated statement used to justify yet another version of Linux. It seems contradictory.

...
Re: Shuttleworth's statement about menus, there is a readymade answer to hand and it is called the Cairo Dock. What seems to have escaped everyone's notice is that most users usually use only a few apps and when they do need the once in a month app, they don't mind hunting in several layers of menus.

The KDE plasmoid, AppLauncher, is my primary facility to launch applications. The ones I use the most are iconed in it. Currently there are 14, and they take up very little desktop space but are VERY accessible.

The ribbon, the dashboard and the current default menu I hate. They are too helpful and always get in the way. So Microsoftian of them. That's why the first thing I do when installing Kubuntu is to change the menu to the classic form. I know exactly what I want to do and when I want to do it. I don't appreciate a "helpful" desktop getting in my way trying to second guess my intent. That said, I don't mind a DE like Unity as long as I can change the default behavior to something I prefer.

To the woodsmoker, Shuttleworth's statement is a grasping at straws to find SOME reason for Unity and HUD other than the obvious reason which is new form factors in hardware.

From my POV, the only justification for Unity is that it reduces the development needs from several versions of a distro to only one, Unity. Unity is supposed to be able to detect the kind of hardware it is being installed on and to configure itself for that hardware. Smartphone or tablet, initialize the touch screen interface and make it either 4, 7, 9 or 10". No touchscreen? Then activate the laptop or desktop GUI features, but not the touch screen.
Makes perfect sense. And, as long as I can start with Unity and install Kubuntu over it I won't mind. IF Canonical stops supporting KDE then Debian, Linux Mint will have a new user. openSUSE won't because I do not like the rpm paradigm.

It would seem that both situations are really a situation of "We HAVE TO INNOVATE....we may not need it but BY GAWD...we are going to innovate and people will accept it!".

I don't think it is that attitude. Shuttlesworth wants desperately to find a hardware vendor that will do what Spark is doing with Plasma-Active-Two, put Unity on its hardware pre-installed. Shuttlesworth is still trying to turn the corner on profitability and the Ubuntu DE is not it. Neither is the KDE DE. RH has shown that profitability is in the server side of the business. Canonical tried to break into that and failed. I believe that Shuttlesworth sees Unity on a tablet or smartphone as his only remaining route to profitability. That is why he has extended the LTS of Precise to five years. I believe, as I've stated before, that he has given Canonical five more years to reach profitability. IF it doesn't then he will shut it, and Ubuntu down, and invest his money elsewhere. That would require Kubuntu to find another sugar daddy, or become another of the hundreds of distros unsupported by any but a devoted few.

I plan to order Spark when it is released.

[woodsmoke]

Thanks!

At a first glance, it's more like the toolbox approach of paint programs.

Have you used Ms Word 2007 (or 2010)? ).

Hi
The toolbox of paint is not quite correct. That is the GUI for ALL of the suite.

Have I use MS 2007 2010, yes I use(d) them both daily at the college(I also have 2007 on a Vista Machine) and as I said in the article, one "can" change them, but the "ergonomics" of it is not the same, at least in my opinion.

woodsmoke