'Re: Usability Strategy Discussion'

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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Usability Strategy Discussion
From:       "Aaron J. Seigo" <aseigo () olympusproject ! org>
Date:       2002-07-06 3:56:08
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for SuSe, mandrake and others it is indeed a commercial thing. and it is 
market driven, only its market isn't guaged by people trading in dollars for 
bits. and it is a fun thing some people like to do in their spare time.

it's all three!

> 2- Whatever public value KDE has, its real value depends on the developers.

twist: the public can become developers (which includes writing code, writing 
docs, translating, testing, helping w/bugs, websites, etcetc) .. the barrier 
only exists where people in the "public" put it.

> 3- KDE emulates a single user desktop on multiuser server/client network
> POSIX compliant operating systems.

hrm.. i don't think so. seeing as all my network resources are accessable 
quite transparently to me (fish:// anyone?) and i can (and do) run apps as 
different users and have dozens of open terminals and have dcop tools and 
....... no, this is simply a UI that allows me to use this multiuser 
networked system.

> 4- KDE uses 3 interface conventions: X11, MacOs, and Windows.

no, it uses the KDE interface conventions. there is no X11 interface, but you 
will find similarities between KDE and MacOS, Windows, BeOS, and other 
systems.

> 5- A UI is an interface layer between the user and the computer (apps).
> 7- A UI allows the user to access apps forming an app/user relationship.
> 8- An app customises the UI to make the app more usable.
> 9- A good UI offers a range of features for apps to improve their
> usability.

ok ...

> 10- A GUI allows the users to imagine their work, rather than describe it.

i have no idea what that means =)

> The GNU/Linux was motivated by people who wanted to explore an operating
> system with minimal restraint. The idea of presenting a graphical view of a
> text based system is a rather interesting challenge (er, to some..). The

the command line is simply an interface to the underlying OS. it isn't the OS 
itself. UNIX in not synonymous with "the command line", it is one part of the 
system. the fact that the two are held in the same breath is really a 
testament to the completeness and power of the command line as implemented in 
UNIX.

> fact that _other_ people want to actually _use_ it, is largely accidental.

no, not accidental at all. it was created  to be used, the driving force was 
not for academic meandering and testing of theories. 

> incompatibility exists, is it reasonable to question KDE's usability when
> the system itself hasn't found a 'user market'?

it has a market: the hundreds of thousands (i read millions somewhere?) who 
use it. the market found it. strange, i know.

> Are people raising the usabilty question because - like the hackers - they
> finally have a free OS to explore usability issues? While a free OS

perhaps some. i'm raising the usability question because i want:

 A) a system i can use that is comfortable and efficient
 B) a system that is Free(dom) that i can share with others (e.g. my family)

> However, multimedia and printing services should form part of the OS itself
> (GNU/Linux), or the GUI driver (i.e. X11). It's possible to include

they do: lpr or CUPS and X ... they are part of the OS. they aren't in the 
kernel, and that's good design.

> multimeadia as part of the user interface, but that exceeds the 'window
> manger' definition and certainly blurs the distinction between a
> multimeadia/printing system and a ui with that capability.

of course it exceeds the window manager definition because it fits into the 
"Desktop Environment" definition.

> any ongoing X11/QT/KDE discussions? As a project, KDE should have a well
> defined scope and not exceed that by emulating missing parts other
> sub-systems don't supply (e.g. printing) - just to make GNU/Linux 'usable'.

it doesn't emulate missing parts, it provides an interface to the existing 
parts. e.g. kprint is a way for the user to join up his graphical apps to 
printing services such as CUPS and lpr.

> Perhaps usability hackers should have separate projects to thrash out
> suitable approachs to Bazaar type projects before intergrating with them? I

nice, but i want a usable desktop and KDE is pretty damn close. i'm after 
results, nothing more.

> they'll be more interested. If the project presents results to the KDE
> team, identifying the exact problems they're trying to solve, and possible
> alternatives they dismissed or ignored, it might advance usability far more
> than pursuasive argument. Assuming the solutions work:)

hrm... well, the coding that has been done towards usability in KDE has been 
welcomed with open arms, and developers are starting to ask more about 
usability and take it seriously ... the disconnect is not as wide as it 
seems, it is closed a bit tighter with each every usability-related commit 
that happens in CVS. talk on the other hand............

>  btw, I thought 'hacker' applied to software geeks only, until I read the
> jargon file. Did I use it correctly?

yes.

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

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler"
    - Albert Einstein
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