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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: On The Open Source Desktop & Linux In General
From:       "Aaron J. Seigo" <aseigo () olympusproject ! org>
Date:       2002-02-22 12:04:33
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hi..

> 1.)A fully INTERACTIVE & ACCESSIBLE Speech & Remote Control-Enabled Desktop
> (for easy accesibility especially for the disabled & to a certain extent,
> lazy dudes ;))

speech control would be great for accessability ... we just need someone to 
write the code ... there have been a few projects started in this direction, 
but i haven't seen anything fully matured yet.

> 2.)An INTEGRATED Communication Suite (i.e. like Evolution has mailing,
> calender, contacts functions tightly INTEGRATED but with additional
> integration with ICQ, IRC, Gabber, etc all in one packaged solution), an

what are the benefits of such an "integrated" suite? how would this make 
things more usable? what would be the benefits to the user?

korganizer and kmail should have greater interoperability, i agree. and many 
more other applications can take greater advantage of the kparts, dcop and 
ioslave capabilities in kde, but i fail to see the benefit from pushing 
everything into one mega-application.

> 3.) Another Feature i thought might make the *NIX desktop slick i.e. a
> Folder to hide all running dock apps but still located at the lower right
> corner, where double clicking it will reveal the running apps).

to accomplish this i just make the panel autohide. or you can use the hide 
buttons and manually hide/unhide. child panels are great for this sort of 
thing, too.... 

> 4.)One interesting & maybe both KDE & GNOME should look into is REAL-TIME
> Drap N Drop & PIN BOARD abilities

you mean like SAMBA, NFS, fish://, webdav://, etc, etc ?

> 4.) Also a Centralized Control & Admin Center that incorporates existing

most of the issues raised in point #4 are the responsibility of the OS 
vendor, not KDE. as for GUI front ends for rpm/apt-get, compiling, etc ... 
there is kpackage and kconfigure (i think that's the name of it?), for 
compiling your linux kernel there is a kde control panel that will do this, 
etc ... but the vast majority of your requests here are not really 
controllable by KDE.

> 5.)Also i like to see a more INTUITIVE, INTELLIGENT & SPECIFIC Job/Task
> based layout to Application Menus e.g. Games can be divided into
> Multi-Player >>> Half Life, Unreal, FreeCiv, Parsec, Quake...Single-Player
> >>> Maelstrom, Tux Racer, Ampethamine. Clanbomber, NetHack....hmmmm

feel free to offer some usable structures ... the kmenu and kcontrol 
structures are often complained about but for all the complaining remarkably 
few usable solutions have been presented. (and the games menu has already 
been divided up fairly well ...)

> We in the *NIX family will have to come
> up with something that will at least rival if not surpass both Mac &
> Windows. 

we must come up with something that we, the usership, find useful and perfect 
for our needs. everything else is irrelevant. read that again: everything 
else is irrelevant.

we can (and should, and do) learn from the successes and mistakes of others, 
but we should not obsess about how we stack up to other systems. if we make 
the best thing we can that fits our needs like a well tailored glove, KDE 
will stack up just fine to the rivals. conversly, constant comparisons can 
(and will, and do) cause wasteful diversions of energy to match up with some 
other platform's latest whizzy feature with little rational beyond, "we need 
to rival them!"

> be a part the desktop. What I'm calling for is an understanding of what
> your Joe/Mary on the street wants in a system to encourage wider
> acceptability of Linux & the *BSDs..

will pandering to Joe & Mary Street as a primariy goal make KDE a better 
desktop? or will improving KDE as a technology for modern computing create a 
better desktop (and as a by-product create something better for Joe & Mary 
Street)?

> we need to implement stricter controls & standards i.e. Quality Control.

and how do you recommend doing that?

> I sincerely hope that the above can be given some consideration and once
> again a urge all desktop, application developers & distros to put aside
> personal interests & work together as much as it is possible for WE all
> want to see the promise that is the Linux Desktop becomming a REALITY.

let me reassure you that the issues you broached in your email are not new or 
unknown or unconsidered. however, many of the issues you raise are not within 
the control or scope of KDE. KDE is not only a Linux desktop, but a desktop 
for many other UNIX and UNIX-like OSes. KDE does not control or have a say in 
what the various OS vendors do.

and as easy as motivational speaches are to put together (and praise never 
hurts =), an hour of constructive effort is worth more than a year of 
rhetoric. if you are truly concerned about these issues, get involved! report 
bugs, write documentation, write code, perform usability tests, run 
alphas/betas of KDE to catch problems before they get into a stable release, 
help answer user questions on the mailing lists or irc, etc, etc... 

effort, not words, is what moves KDE forwards.

-- 
Aaron Seigo
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