Make kde 1st class in fedora

Olivier Galibert galibert at pobox.com
Sat Nov 18 10:48:35 UTC 2006


On Sat, Nov 18, 2006 at 08:37:16AM +0200, Avi Kivity wrote:
> Users want to configure using a gui.

That's a common misconception.  Lots of users are perfectly ok with
text configuration files, and even often like them more, because:

- it's easier to find a file in a specific place than to find the
  configuration-application-of-the-day

- it's easier to find what you want in it, especially when your setup
  is nonstandard in any slight way.  Things hidden in the new tab of the
  day which appears only when you click on allow advanced in a dialog
  box coming from a menu can be quite frustrating.  In other words, the
  interface part of a text configuration file is much harder to fuck up.

- you can google using its contents

- you often have useful comments in them, where the GUI equivalent
  requires a number of manipulations to access

- you can grep a bunch of files to help finding where is the
  configuration concerning <x>

- it's way easier to talk about it in email

- you don't need to leave the keyboard for all your configuration and
  you can see all the configuration options on one screen

Of course, that breaks down if your "text" file is actually
computer-oriented xml crap with a randomly generated name hidden 3
levels down in a dot-directory.

Debutant users don't want to configure, period.  Advanced users want
efficiency.  Efficient GUI configuration tools are extremely rare.

  OG.




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