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List:       kde-devel
Subject:    Re: Abstracting the Linux Desktop from the File-system
From:       Manuel Amador <amadorm () usm ! edu ! ec>
Date:       2002-12-03 18:31:34
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> peroidically, I blow away my .kde dir to see the changes that have come down 
> the pipe. If this change got adopted, I'd be the one UNDOING it in the 
> packaging phase of KDE for Sentinel Linux, meaning more work for me (yeah :| 
> ).
Read the summary.  A sensible and easy fix for this problem is suggested
there.
> 
> Remember people companies, like Microsoft and Apple, have spent a great deal 
> of money on their usability studies, why not pay attention to them instead of 
> breaking them.
Because they are wrong.  The desktop metaphor is dead:
http://escience.anu.edu.au/lecture/ivr/exercises/a1/02IVRA1_U3609021/Metaphors/Mixed%20Metaphores.htm
"User gut feelings must be respected".  That isn't "expert" users which
have a trained gut feeling, but "newbie" users which have a pure gut
feeling.


From:
http://escience.anu.edu.au/lecture/ivr/exercises/a1/02IVRA1_U3609021/Metaphors/Schemas.htm

Presumably part of the attraction of interface metaphors is that the
user will "instantly" know how to use the system, because they can apply
schemas from the source domain to the target domain.

This is not the case with the "desktop".  Since it is hard to understand
it as a separate entity (from a newbie perspective) then, why not make
the desktop show the home directory?

From:
http://www.ccsr.cse.dmu.ac.uk/conferences/ccsrconf/ethicomp2001/abstracts/moniot.html

the desktop metaphor also introduces a number of thorny problems,
raising ethical issues concerning the manner in which this development
has taken and is taking place. The drawbacks of the desktop metaphor
were recognized early on: it tends to limit the functionality of the
software to that of the physical analog; the implementation can never be
completely faithful to the metaphor and so will sometimes behave in
unexpected ways; and whereas the interface is easy to learn, it is not
optimal for many tasks and impedes maximum utilization of the
capabilities of the computer system [Gentner and Nielsen 1996, Halasz
and Moran 1981, Johnson et al 1985]. 

See?

This "Desktop" metaphor we're adhering to, is limiting us.  [Gentner and
Nielsen 1996, Halasz and Moran 1981, Johnson et al 1985]. 


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