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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Hi hoping to join the movement
From:       "Aaron J. Seigo" <aseigo () olympusproject ! org>
Date:       2002-05-21 19:58:11
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On May 21, 2002 10:30 am, Eoghan Murray wrote:
> I am not yet a user of KDE but hope to be as I am
> purchasing a computer soon, I would like to get
> involved in development.

that would be great =)

> I have some questions and reservations first though...
> Is KDE innovating or is it chasing Windows and Apple
> OS? ...

yes. ;-)

honestly, there is no blanket answer to that one. in some ways, KDE is quite 
different with positive results (aka innovative); in other ways it is very 
similar to other environments. the similarities exist because:

 o sometimes the other guys simply Got It Right(tm)
 o familiarity prompts similar things to be implemented
 o nobody came up with something better at the time

> Are you sure?!

rarely =)

> Is anyone addressing the fact that for 90% of users,
> the recursive directory filesystem is gobildegook?  (I
> think this is the single biggest stumbling block and
> timewaster for the majority of people who don't care
> about the internal structure of the filesystem)

this isn't a KDE issue. this is a Linux / UNIX issue. where KDE can help is in 
the presentation and searching of the file system. e.g. by default showing a 
user only their home directory in the file manager. but don't bother trying 
to "fix" this "problem" within the scope of KDE.

> Is it possible to make a major proposal as a
> non-programmer, e.g. a complete redisign of some
> aspect of the user interface, and have it accepted?

it isn't about being a programmer, it is about putting effort into it. we 
always need artists, documenters, bug triage people, testers, etc... also, we 
use Qt Designer for much of the GUI design here in the usability project 
which is a RAD tool that requires very little if any programming experience.

the odds of something you come up with being implemented hinge on how good an 
idea it is and how much effort you put into helping KDE develop further.

- -- 
Aaron J. Seigo
GPG Fingerprint: 8B8B 2209 0C6F 7C47 B1EA  EE75 D6B7 2EB1 A7F1 DB43
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