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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Re: Idea for KDE 4 - global, smooth zoom feature.
From:       julian oliver <julian () selectparks ! net>
Date:       2005-05-25 18:41:48
Message-ID: 20050525184148.GB5462 () localhost
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..on Wed, May 25, 2005 at 12:55:30AM +0200, Maurizio Colucci wrote:
> > however many agree there is plenty wrong with apple's assumptions on what constitues a
> > default Productive Desktop Experience (TM), let alone their generisation of 'usability'; 
> 
> Out of curiosity, what assumptions are you referring to? Cheers

examples:

the Finder, which assumes your software is lost already (and this must
be 'found').

the single button mouse (few mac users use it for long).

the strategically crippled query capacities of spotlight (give me
beagle anyday).

all this is derived from a general assumption that the user is, and wishes to remain stupid.

John Siracusa has plenty to say on the matter in his (largely
flattering) Ars Technica review of Tiger, one comment of which stands out.


"I think Apple has an insultingly low opinion of users' ability to
understand nested boolean logic. They may not know what it's called, but
the concept is intuitively understood. Even my mother has already asked
me how to create a Mail rule that requires nested boolean logic: "(from
A or from B) and subject contains C." I had to tell her that it's not
possible. When asked why, I told her that Apple thinks few users need
this ability and that it's potentially confusing. She wasn't
particularly satisfied by that explanation, and neither am I."

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/macosx-10.4.ars/9

i have to work with osx often, and sometimes teach on it. while it offers several small innovations
(i like launchd alot), it is far from a triumph of usability. my own
students spent a day familiarising themselves with KDE3.4, their first
contact with Linux altogether, and were quickly comfortable. 
in another class on osx machines, 2 weeks have passed and many still struggle.

julian

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