Comments on: 14.12.2005 Never reject a feature!

By: gaz

gaz — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

“We accept patches.”

heh, murray had that sussed ages ago, i think he has a mailing list and irc bot that answers most questions with that phrase :)

By: ac

ac — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

You got it wrong – as it’s a common thing across the GNOME community to turn around the facts as they really are.

You wrote in one of your first sentences that Linus is a GNOME user. The real truth is he isn’t! I already know a few years back that Linus primarily used KDE as his only desktop and recently tried OSX too since he got one of those apple machines.

Please stay correct when putting stuff on your blog.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Come on “ac”, lets not argue over semantics. Linus may not literally at this very second be a GNOME user, but he has used it and left because of a lack of functionality for him. So he _is_ a GNOME user, just an expatriated one. And, he obviously cares about the project enough to at least vent some frustration about it. If he did not care for one reason or another I do not believe he would not have said a thing.

Linus is right. Though Havoc said something along the lines of “2.x focus was usability and good defaults” (paraphrased, quotes for emphasis). I believe GNOME comes, by default, in a very usable fashion. It is now time to start replacing those missing “features” and adding back the old Advanced… buttons.

I personally love Linus’ flare and disregard for political correctness. Though, I am just a user and not on the recieving end of the sabot round. Many people have said that he should have been more grown up about it, but I think his comments served a purpose. They pissed some people off, got others thinking, others moving and some pissed off/thinking/moving (or some variation on those three). Maybe that was his goal, and still maybe there was no goal except to get some stuff off of his chest.

By: Perry Lorier

Perry Lorier — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

One of the things is that Linus has expressed an opinion a lot of people agree with. They may not have stated it, or they have stated it and had it put down. At least Linus has said it in a way that has made people take note.

By: Martin Grondin

Martin Grondin — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

I could probably very well be considered an “end user” of GNOME. I’m extremely happy with GNOME, honestly. I feel like I can do what I want instead of having to turn around and tweak the settings. I fire an app up and I use it.

I think this is the goal of GNOME and they (thus you) are doing a very good job at providing sane defaults in a usable fashion. I thank all of you heartily for it.

Now, “Advanced…” buttons are perfectly fine for me. When the mood strikes me I wouldn’t mind diving into some advanced configuration… I might discover something that I’d like to change and honestly I like that experience as well.

I think those buttons can be placed in a smart manner without overwhelming and cluttering the interface very easily. I think the “Advanced…” options are okay as long as:

1.) They maintain the current “uncluttered” interface.
2.) Provide LOTS of tooltip/help on what the options are
3.) The options are not “dangerous” in anyway (”oh no, now I have no menu bars!” type situation is bad ;))

What annoys me about KDE everytime I use it is the urge to configure it everytime I use it and in the end it doesn’t seem to quite act like how I want. With GNOME I don’t get that.

Anyways, these are my two cents as an “dumb” user of GNOME. A lot of my friends who are GNOME users feel quite the same way.

By: Alan

Alan — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Tim I thoroughly agree with you. It is always better to say “Yes, but …” (we dont have the manpower, or whatever) rather than “No, but maybe…” (if you really great patches). Unfortunately many developers are in the habit of being more pessimistic and start off by saying no, even if they aren’t really opposed to the suggestion if someone else put the work in.

As for Linus being a Gnome user I was under the impression he has been a long term KDE user since 1999 and occassionally uses a Mac but perhaps there is more to it than that. Calling people nazis or fucking idiots was entirely unacceptable, and easily the most inflammatory post the usability list has received in years and there have been some stinkers. I understand how frustrated users can get, I think most Gnome users aren’t entirely happy and everyone has their own personal wishlists of things they would like to see fixed.

If nothing else we have a serious marketing problem on our hands if Gnome is so badly perceived. Obviously we cannot please everyone but there must be more we can do to make sure users feel like they are being listened to and do not feel the need to resort to flames.

By: cendrizzi

cendrizzi — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Good comments!

I’m a user (well I’m developing one gnome app) and I really like gnome overall, this after trying KDE many times. But while getting the defaults is important, and gnome does a good job of it, there certainly is no reason to get rid of extra features. Many programs, as you’ve shown, have had great usability but also given access to advanced features.

Gnome does need to be more open since I’ve heard too many people complain about being turned away by developers.

By: Chris Cunningham

Chris Cunningham — Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0000

I completely disagree with the entire premise of this post.

1. The goal is not to please everyone.
2. Missing features can be filled by other programs which can do them well.
3. Highly vocal minorities demanding features eventually ruin all software.

Usability isn't an after-market concern, something that is build around features. It is an integral part of the product.

By the way, Advanced buttons are the devil itself.

- Chris