fedora-list Digest, Vol 16, Issue 372

[William Case]

Hi; 

I try not to get involved in mailing list OT discussions; but I guess
today is a slow Friday and I would rather talk than work.

On Thu, 2005-06-30 at 16:15 -0400, fedora-list-request at redhat.com wrote:
> Date: Thu, 30 Jun 2005 13:14:03 -0700
> From: Richard Kelsch <rich at csst.net>
> Subject: Re: Some thoughts for the future

> 
> Brian Mury wrote:
> 
> >On Wed, 2005-06-29 at 18:12 -0700, Richard Kelsch wrote:
> >
> >>This may annoy the command line or simplicity die-hards out there,
> but
> >>eye candy is desirable in a GUI.  Anyone saying to the contrary
> never
> >>enjoyed the movie "Hackers."
> >> 
> >Well, I've never seen that movie, but anyway... I disagree that eye
> >candy is desirable in a UI.

To be honest we all use guis (eye candy).  If most people are honest
they will admit that when they are working in an area with which they
are familiar, it is much easier, quicker and intuitive to work from the
command line or with key board shortcuts.  But, when they switch to an
area where they are not as competent, working more slowly and carefully
with a gui for a program feels more secure and purposeful.  For example,
I like most use and write scripts on the command line (how else ?) or
since I write a lot of reports, I use keyboard shortcuts rather than
mouse clicks.  However, when it comes to setting up or doing things with
sound thank God for Helix, AudaCity, Volume Control, Sound Juicer etc.

As a generalization, everybody uses eye candy, just each of us use
different ones. 

> >Eye candy looks cool. I've had various pieces of eye candy on various
> >platforms over the years. I've eventually removed them all. My
> >experience is that what looks cool and what is usable is usually not
> the
> >same. Give me a nice clean UI without the candy, thanks. Eye candy
> might
> >make for cool screen shots to upload to some website, but if I'm
> going to
> >spend a significant amount of time using a machine, usability trumps
> >aesthetics every time.
> >
> >Function over form, ya know...

Some people make their living with computers.  They are not IT, they are
users.  It costs them money if they can't do what they want, when they
want; to simply and efficiently do their job.  If they have to climb a
learning curve they want it to be in their field not necessarily in IT.
  
> 
> Besides, I think for those (the 1 or 3 of you out there) with a wife
> or 
> girlfriend, the "function over form" claim may just get argued over 
> quite vehemently by them.  You can have both without sacrificing the 
> other.  

I agree.  What is good function and what is good form will get decided
by the market place eventually; users will decide with their feet and
dollars.  If they buy commercial products over free open source, they
are saying something.

> Also, the "function over form" perspective is one of the reasons 
> why Linux is not marketable to the average computer user; and never
> will 
> be until programmers finally get together with artists and
> designers.  
> Both would be surprised what the end result can do.
> 
I believe that part of the problem with Microsoft's products are because
artists and designers (another elite group) have been put together.
They end up telling us users what is best for us.

At least Steve Job's products have an intuitive feel for the user
market.

I was solely a computer USER for 25 years in a field unrelated to
technology.  I just wanted my computer to work and give me my product at
the end. Guis -- eye candy -- do that.

Now, I have been using Linux (first Red Hat 7, 8, and 9 and Fedora Core
2,3 and now 4) for two years.  I went to Linux to learn and don't mind
learning.  In fact, I love it.  I use Linux more and more everyday and
have migrated most of my projects here.  Having said that ...

I was (and still am) disappointed in Linux in one area.  I thought that
I would find amongst the Linux community some people who where on a
radical cutting edge of new ideas on how to re-design computers, their
uses and their programs. Improving user interfaces is more than
producing prettier pictures.  Browser tabs for example, is interesting
and useful to some, but not a cutting edge experiment.  

If someone knows were such cutting edge work is going on, please, let me
know.

Regards Bill, 
2 cents