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

[John Hodrien]

On Fri, 27 Feb 2004, Dave Fisher wrote:

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

Indeed, his criticisms were of the rationale behind the interface.  It's
seemingly been put together by someone who doesn't want to use it...

>   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.

Indeed.

> 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.

Fedora-Test mailing list, complaint from a new user that they'd got no sound.
It defaults to muted (an alsa default to stop annoying pops and clicks during
driver initialisation).  Fedora2 wasn't bothering to change that...  What
fruit-loop would ship an OS with sound muted by default?

> 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.

Why abhorent?

> 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.

Hackers' wives should be more willing to test their creations...

jh

--
"My mother said to me, "If you become a soldier, you'll be a general; if you
 become a monk, you'll end up as the pope." Instead, I became a painter, and
 wound up Picasso."                                  -- Pablo Picasso