[Wylug-discuss] Linux GUI design [Was CUPS]

[Dave Fisher]

On Fri, Feb 27, 2004 at 10:51:38AM +0000, James Holden (WYLUG) wrote:
> So I'm not the only one who thinks CUPS is a shoddy pile of rubbish:
>
> http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cups-horror.html
>
> Seriously though. I've always said that printing on Linux is seriously
> lacking, and needs addressing if we're ever going to achieve world
> domination. It makes me wish I had the time to make some serious
> contributions in this area.

Clearly, Eric Raymond's point was not that CUPS and Linux printing in
general are pants ... although they clearly are.

I think his main points were that:

1. Almost all Linux GUI design is poor because it doesn't deliver the
things that GUIs are supposed to deliver.

  No, not endlessly repetitious themes, widget sets, and frameworks, but
  discoverability and relief from the requirement to understand and
  memorise every function and configuration in the system.

2. That this is a serious problem, even for techies who never use GUIs,
  because most I.T. systems are bought and paid for by people who aren't,
  and never will be, Unix hackers.

  i.e. Linux heads like ourselves will continue to suffer the negative
  consequences of a Windows-dominated I.T. ecosystem so long as we leave
  Microsoft with a monopoly over desktop systems.

3. Linux will never get any serious traction in desktop computing until
its developers treat 'dumb end-users' seriously, and develop software
from the perspective of said users.

I suspect that some WYLUG members will find such views quite abhorent,
but I would like to set off a _serious_ debate about this issue.

Ideally, I'd like to assume that Raymond's perspective is correct and
discuss the positive things that can be done to rectify the situation,
but if there are insuffient numbers of people willing to make that
assumption, I am more than happy to make the case for it.

Dave