grip being removed [Re: rawhide report: 20050120 changes]

[Tyler Larson]

Jamie Zawinski wrote:
> Jeff Spaleta wrote:
> 
>>Thanks for volunteering to help the bmp developers work
>>through the remaining usability issues.
> 
> 
> Yes, by all means, let's improve the Linux user experience by 
> replacing working tools with half-working tools.
> 

Jamie has a point, you know. Albeit cleverly disguised amidst the sarcasm.

Progress for progress' sake is an absurd motivation. That is, replacing 
an app with a functionally inferior one just because it uses old 
libraries isn't sensible. If you replace an app, the new one should be 
*better* than the old one. The goal isn't to make new programs better, 
it's to use the best programs.

The underlying drive for every change we make should be an improvement 
in the overall user experience. Every other goal--simplifying the 
package selection, decreasing the download size, etc--should be an 
appendage to the primary goal of making the distro more usable.

Any decision that meets one of these lesser goals (like shrinking the 
distro size) but still runs contrary to the more important principle of 
improving the user experience is a bad decision to make. Don't destroy 
the forest to save a tree.