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Sun Mad Hatter Linux Desktop Revealed

magellan writes "Sun has released screenshots of its upcoming Mad Hatter Linux desktop. Mad Hatter includes GNOME, StarOffice, Evolution, and Mozilla. Sun has made minor modifications to Gnome to make it more familiar to Windows users. Sun's Mad Hatter, along with SuSE's new push on the desktop, could make Linux on the corporate desktop and laptop a bigger reality."

11 of 663 comments (clear)

  1. Windows... by corkhead0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If windows is so bad why do we keep trying to copy it?

    fp

    1. Re:Windows... by xyvimur · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Maybe just to `convert' people. People are not willing to change their habits easily - so it's kind of bridge between `worlds'.
      On the other hand I'm sick of all attempts to make WM's look'n'feel like windows environment. It's reasonable to a point, but `copying' every tiny detail is too much.

    2. Re:Windows... by Gyorg_Lavode · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The problem with windows was never it's gui. (Well, not for most users at least.)

      --
      I do security
    3. Re:Windows... by Spellbinder · · Score: 5, Insightful

      i think that it is a problem if you copy the windows guy for users used to windows
      most user will think "Ohh, this looks like windows, so it has to work like windows!"
      like on a cd player or a vcr all the buttons look same
      and i think may will get angry if it does not
      if the UI clearly differs from the windows the user will realise "Ohhh, this is something else, maybe i should make the tutorial that pops up, or look at some documentation!!"
      i think a move away from windows would be a real chance to change and improve the UI dramatical
      we should not keep things because users are used to them but because they are the easiest way to do the job

      --


      stop supporting microsoft with pirating their software!!!!!
    4. Re:Windows... by Pharmboy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If windows is so bad why do we keep trying to copy it?

      Excellent question. I see two basic reasons.

      1. We are already familiar with it, so the learning curve is less steep. Although the Windows desktop is not perfect, it IS pretty good, and the flexibility of Linux will allow more configurability under all circumstances, so it can be made less like Windows and more like what you want it to be, if you know how. If you don't know how to configure it, then the "Windows like" look is probably the best desktop anyway.

      2. The closer the Linux desktop looks to Windows 9x/xp, the more people will be willing and/or able to use it. The more people that use it, the more likely that popular applications will get ported to it OR some group will form to develop an open source application to replace the proprietary software. Linux doesn't need 97% to be successful. 20% of the desktop market is more than enough for this to happen. We are about 17%+ at this time.

      In business, a company that want to compete with larger companies in the same industry will often compete on the lower price part of the market. Units are less expensive to stock, and you can gain "economy of scale" at a lower investment level. You make the cheap stuff and sell it for less, then work your way up the ladder, eating away your competitor's market share. The same holds true for Linux.

      As an advocate of Linux, who uses Windows and Linux, I have faith that the applications and commercial support for Linux will continue to grow. Broadening the appeal of Linux to mainstream users will excellerate this process, by increasing the potential financial returns for companies who are considering developing or porting applications on Linux.

      You may or may not like software from Adobe, Macromedia, and the like, but many DO, and they will be more willing to switch if they can get their favorite software (or free alternatives to a degree). Me, I just want Photoshop on Linux so I can work up CMYK stuff. But we need less technical minded people using Linux before we will get broader support by developers.

      It is in our own best interest to welcome the broadest range of Linux users, an open tent that all are welcome in. This includes people who don't want to know how the OS works, they just want it to work. When all is said and done, Linux has the best potential to do this.

      --
      Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
  2. Re:Kinda skimpish, by 0x0d0a · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm not so worried about Sun being a nice player. They've contributed some to GNOME development already.

    The idea is to let Sun do the not-so-fun-but-profitable work of pulling people over to GNOME from Windows. Sun goes after Microsoft, and we get to keep making fun software.

    A lot of the folks Sun's after aren't coders. There's lots of good software for coders out there, because OSS people like writing stuff that they can actually use themselves. Sun likes making money, so Sun does their thing.

    I wish Sun had more of a Linux movement, but I suppose Solaris and BSD are really the only things out there that can compete with Linux and more, and Sun wants to keep their sunk investment in place.

  3. Re:You press start to stop the computer by fault0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I really doubt that a company that current has more than 90% market share, and focuses it's products on 90% of the populace are going to worry about an obscure feature such as regular expressions that only 1% of the populace uses.

    But hey, that's just me.

  4. Re:Launch = Start = Sigh by garcia · · Score: 4, Insightful

    this is Insightful?

    People do NOT care about "freeing themselves from MS", they don't care about speed (we have insanely fast CPUs now), and they certainly don't want anything other than what they already are used to.

    People HATED XP when it first came out (and most still do) because it was "different" and they couldn't find anything.

    We have seen plenty of articles on here about how people are finding applications easily when switching from Windows-based OSs. They find the "start menu", they then find applications that are "familiar".

    You think that a "freed desktop look" is going to have easy to find applications that are familiar?

    We want people to switch but we don't want to make that switch easy? Get real.

  5. Annoying that it's Gnome by soloport · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ok, I know I'm going to be flammed for this one, but here goes:

    Please, Gnome developers, switch Cancel and Ok to a consistent Ok(LHS) and Cancel(RHS)... Please?!!!

    So annoying! I'd use Gnome, be proud of it and recommend to all, if not for this one, single, pull-my-hair-out irritation.

    As it is, every time I try to introduce Gnome to someone (Mac or Windows user), that's the first place they stumble. Then I have to say, "Well... Eheh... Why don't we try KDE. Mk?".

    Look, it sure seems that the whole left-to-right-reading world thinks this way. I think Gnome is a terrific windowing environment, otherwise.

    [puts asbestos suit on, real fast]

  6. Re:You press start to stop the computer by leonardop · · Score: 4, Insightful
    ... are going to worry about an obscure feature such as regular expressions that only 1% of the populace uses

    All flammable opinions aside, this is a very sad fact (I don't know if 1% is correct, but the point is still valid).

    To some extent, regexps suffer from the same problem many Free Software projects do, and it's that a lot of people simply don't want to get very far along the learning curve. We tend to live the moment and try to get the job done as fast as possible, so investing time learning something useful is usually pretty hard, no matter how blatantly obvious the potential benefits are.

    Imagine how much efficiency could be gained from teaching at least some basic regexp skills to secretaries, just to mention one example.

    Actually, many of us who use regexps everyday, still do it poorly sometimes.

    Jeffrey Friedl put it clearly in his book "Mastering Regular Expressions":
    You might think that with their wide availability, general popularity, and unparalleled power, regular expressions would be employed to their fullest, wherever found. You might also think that they would be well documented, with introductory tutorials for the novice just starting out, and advanced manuals for the expert desiring that little extra edge. Sadly, that hasn't been the case.
  7. Re:You press start to stop the computer by Pseudonym · · Score: 4, Insightful
    You press start to stop the computer.

    So? I've been quitting programs for a decade or so using the "File" menu. Since when has quitting a program been a file operation?

    The semantics of "Start" is that to do anything, you "start here". That actually makes more sense to me than putting Quit under the File menu.

    --
    sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});