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Window Maker 0.80 Released
An anonymous submitter points out that Window Maker, the window manager behind GNUStep, is now up to version 0.80. There is NEWS which describes some of the recent changes, as well as a Changelog.
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Or, you could accept that it's never going to happen and that it could really be better this way. All we really need is some standard way of setting icons and menus, and doing drag/drop.
That's nice to say, but all current window managers currently suck in some way, and I don't ever see that changing. All we need is a more specific standard for talking between apps and deciding on icons, menus, drag/drop, copy/paste, etc (and some good docs for writing window managers using ICCCM, since I'm quite confused).
You obviously are a little confused. All of the improvements you mention relate to desktop environments rather than window managers. IMO there are a number of perfectly capable Linux window managers - Sawfish, kwin, and Enlightenment, among others. The desktop environments are a whole other thing, though and I think your comments in that direction are good ones.
I'm glad Linux gives people choices. There's nothing less user friendly than an operating system whose choices have all been made for you - and against what you would have chosen.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
why? why should linux take over?
I agree with you, but I would still like to see linux gain around 10% in the desktop arena. From a web developers perspective I'd see this as about the only way the web will stay 'free'. Just so that people (other web developers) begin to realize that there are more browsers than MSIE. And so that web pages stop using proprietary fonts and such.
With all the talk lately about how cryptic and information-less the Linux kernel changelogs are, I just now noticed how refreshingly descriptive the WM changelogs are (and have always been).
And for all of you out there, who have also never tried windowmaker. Go, and take it out for a spin. Use it on your productivity desktop for a week. It's diferent, it takes time to get used to, but it pays. It never, ever stands in your way. You don't realise it's there, until you start something else by mistake and you miss yer'ol wm. That's the signature of good things!
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"Linux" won't ever standardize on anything (sorry to say). Hopefully a majority of the community WILL standardize on one basic version of a desktop environment, and office suite, etc. If there's a 'defacto' standard, more people will use it. Sorry, but I don't WANT people to have to learn lots of stuff *before* using a system just to be able to make a choice.
No one is saying to take away choices - you can go keep running sawfish all you want. But having a pronounced 'standard' will help encourage people to learn and support that standard more. The more users, the more demand for my services. If Linux, which I've invested a lot of time in learning, always remains a 'niche' player, future job prospects will be less than optimal. Let all the newbies in - that's more work for us later. Look at how many 'newbie' type Windows users there are that know just enough about a system to screw it up, then call for help. Who do they call? People that know and support Windows, not Linux. If more people are encouraged to try Linux on the desktop (because of a default - and usable - 'standard') then the more secure the job market will be for people with solid Linux skills.
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Though I didn't really notice any big differences in WM 0.80.0, it's still good to see that development on this project is still going on. I've tried KDE and Gnome, and kinda liked them both, except for two things: speed and lightness. I'm now all the way back to WindowMaker, and runs brilliantly on my AMD380. My PC know feels faster than ever. For example, if a friend of mine tries to surf the net, rip a CD to mp3 s and plays music with Winamp on his 1GHz WinME machine, the responsiveness of the computer drops dramatically. On my machine, I can do the same things without a hassle, music never skips, etc.
The only thing I miss when running WM, is a decent filemanager. For diskoperations, etc. I'm happily running MC in a terminal, but when I want to browse through a CD and open up photo's or mp3's "on the fly" I'm rather stuck. Konqueror and Nautilus are too heavy for me. Has anyone got a lighter alternative?