Commenters on Slashdot should not be able to hide behind "Anonymous Coward" to post comments like this. This kind of comment should be a bannable offense.
GNOME 3 has been compared with OSX, but it didn't copy the functional aspects that made OSX good- it only copied the cosmetic aspects, which made the desktop broken. It's got something that looks like a menu bar on the top, but it doesn't actually function as a menu bar- it just takes up space. It's got something that looks like a dock, but it can only be brought up through a full-screen launcher. It doesn't even have a persistent taskbar of any kind: You have to perform an extra action just to see a window list.
There are many ideas in OSX that could be used, ideas that are really good- but cosmetics isn't at the top of the list.
Global menu bar? Maybe. Some people like it, some don't. It's nice as an option. Unity really screwed up by making the global menu take up space but stay hidden until it's moused over. That's blatantly anti-usability.
Only one "System Settings" or "Control Panel", with all settings living in logically organized applets. This is something the Mac does really, really well. All "sharing" settings live in one "sharing" applet, for example. Linux still has problems with functionality being duplicated, or split up into different control panel applets because various under-the-hood things are taken care of by different software. The user doesn't care whether window effects and menu fonts are taken care of by different software- they just want settings to be easily found.
One, universal "system tray" with icons that convey information quickly. OSX does this well, Windows has played catchup but its systray icons aren't quite as readable- Just think of the volume icon, for example. GNOME has tried to do this, but they're all plugins and they aren't compatible with the systray applets that have been in use up to now, hence the hidden floating systray in the lower right for legacy applets. How was this let out the door? It's almost as broken as Windows 8.
The various software that makes up the desktop should have self-explanatory names. The file manager should be called "File Manager". The text editor should be called "Text Editor". People are rightfully confused when they see "Caja".
Of course, this is small potatoes compared to the awfulness they've foisted off with Windows 8. As Microsoft abandons the desktop and users look for a proper OS, I'm holding out honest hope for a Linux desktop with some real usability and polish. Just... for everything to feel like it was developed as a whole.
People will find ways to game this system, just like people gamed search engines with Google bombs.
If you think blog spam is bad right now, just you wait.
Thing is, the time it takes for the Explorer shell itself to load on my laptop is almost nil compared to actual bootup (30s or so). I don't see the advantage of loading Chrome in its place- it's not like RAM is pricey these days, you can afford to run both at once.
If we're going to get instant-on on laptops and netbooks, it's going to be through some sort of super-energy efficient sleep mode that you can return from fast, not through fast bootup speeds. That's the nice thing about Apple hardware- it's always very good about waking almost instantly from sleep, while my Windows laptop takes about five seconds.
You can't be returned to the buxom of anything, because buxom isn't a noun. It's an adjective.
Were you thinking of bosom? They're two words with completely different etymologies: Buxom used to mean "bendy or pliable" and is related to German biegsam.
So the only phones at risk are the jailbroken (jailbreaked?) ones?
You'd think the thing to do would be to incorporate a password-changing tool into the jailbreaking tools somehow, so users have to select something other than the default one.
Personally, I find GIMP's layout to be rather painful, and I say this through my own pained attempts to use it, not out of trying to be fashionable. If a lot of people are saying something, sometimes it's true.
However, I do thank the GIMP team for GTK, which has had some rather decent apps built on it.
The GIMP was made with GTK, which was originally designed solely for use in the GIMP and was later used by other apps.
Personally, I find its user interface rather terrible but that's not GTK's fault. (for what it's worth I find Photoshop's UI to be only mildly better.)
Yes, I admit it. My name is really Bill Gates and I'm here to spread Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt about Linux.
I find it rather disappointing that after lurking for years, I sign up for an account to make some rather timid criticisms of an OS I use on and off only to get my comments modded as "flamebait". Can we keep things civil and reserve that sort of response to comments like "UR ALL F**S WINDOZE R00LZ"?
OK, fired up the linux distro again, checked it out. It's been a while.
The problem wasn't that the dialog didn't exist, it was that the dialog didn't work, whereas the CLI did. I kept clicking "Add", entering the settings, and Voila! Settings not stored, the list remained empty.
So in this case it was an issue of bad quality assurance, not a lack of a GUI tool. My apologies.
The last time I gave Ubuntu a try was last month, having used Linux on and off since Red Hat 5. This time around I made it for a week.
In my case, I had to connect over a PPPoE network to get online. The problem (if I recall correctly) was that while Vista had the dialog to connect, Ubuntu did not, and I had to fall back to a command prompt to get the job done.
Thing is, there may well have been a package that I should have installed to get the functionality. Thing is, you shouldn't have to do that. And if it doesn't just work, people vote with their feet.
I keep checking back on Linux every now and then to see how things have progressed, and on some fronts it looks pretty slick. It's when you try using it for that one thing you really have to do that you realize that it's still an OS made by coders, for coders and whatever coders think users are.
Honestly, I don't think you should have to use a CLI for basic administration. Having to regularly drop down to an xterm is what keeps driving me away from Linux again and again. Linux is an incredibly cool idea and will eventually get there, but with the state of Linux today, I can't be too shocked that people would choose Windows or Mac over something that's so fiddly. Linux doesn't even need to be as good, it needs to be better and easier to use for regular people before they'll make the leap.
Slashdot Mirror
Commenters on Slashdot should not be able to hide behind "Anonymous Coward" to post comments like this. This kind of comment should be a bannable offense.
Man here. This is absolutely unacceptable. Women code too. Women are smart too. In fact, women are human beings, just like everybody else.
I would mod this "troll' if I could.
Slight pedantry: The swallows aren't being forced to evolve. The selection pressure is causing evolution among the swallows.
I would be much happier if nobody ported their software, and Windows 8 was allowed to completely fail.
Then Microsoft would be forced to fix the UI and bring back the start menu.
I agree, it is too little, too late.
GNOME 3 has been compared with OSX, but it didn't copy the functional aspects that made OSX good- it only copied the cosmetic aspects, which made the desktop broken. It's got something that looks like a menu bar on the top, but it doesn't actually function as a menu bar- it just takes up space. It's got something that looks like a dock, but it can only be brought up through a full-screen launcher. It doesn't even have a persistent taskbar of any kind: You have to perform an extra action just to see a window list.
There are many ideas in OSX that could be used, ideas that are really good- but cosmetics isn't at the top of the list.
Global menu bar? Maybe. Some people like it, some don't. It's nice as an option. Unity really screwed up by making the global menu take up space but stay hidden until it's moused over. That's blatantly anti-usability.
Only one "System Settings" or "Control Panel", with all settings living in logically organized applets. This is something the Mac does really, really well. All "sharing" settings live in one "sharing" applet, for example. Linux still has problems with functionality being duplicated, or split up into different control panel applets because various under-the-hood things are taken care of by different software. The user doesn't care whether window effects and menu fonts are taken care of by different software- they just want settings to be easily found.
One, universal "system tray" with icons that convey information quickly. OSX does this well, Windows has played catchup but its systray icons aren't quite as readable- Just think of the volume icon, for example. GNOME has tried to do this, but they're all plugins and they aren't compatible with the systray applets that have been in use up to now, hence the hidden floating systray in the lower right for legacy applets. How was this let out the door? It's almost as broken as Windows 8.
The various software that makes up the desktop should have self-explanatory names. The file manager should be called "File Manager". The text editor should be called "Text Editor". People are rightfully confused when they see "Caja".
Of course, this is small potatoes compared to the awfulness they've foisted off with Windows 8. As Microsoft abandons the desktop and users look for a proper OS, I'm holding out honest hope for a Linux desktop with some real usability and polish. Just... for everything to feel like it was developed as a whole.
This is kind of a silly conjecture. It's not as if some other browser wouldn't have arisen to challenge MS-Netscape.
People will find ways to game this system, just like people gamed search engines with Google bombs.
If you think blog spam is bad right now, just you wait.
This is definitely the thing to do- bury it in a heap of other, good information about yourself.
Kill squirrels by feeding them bubble gum, it blocks them up and they cannot poop it out nor can they puke it out.
That's... awful. Squirrels are nice and killing them doesn't do any good.
At least they ate the rat.
On a related note, I think final car safety tests should be performed with the CEOs of the car company inside the car.
Ginormous IS a word. It's just a relatively new word.
Craigslist is doing fine. There's only one!
:)
(/grammar police)
Thing is, the time it takes for the Explorer shell itself to load on my laptop is almost nil compared to actual bootup (30s or so). I don't see the advantage of loading Chrome in its place- it's not like RAM is pricey these days, you can afford to run both at once.
If we're going to get instant-on on laptops and netbooks, it's going to be through some sort of super-energy efficient sleep mode that you can return from fast, not through fast bootup speeds. That's the nice thing about Apple hardware- it's always very good about waking almost instantly from sleep, while my Windows laptop takes about five seconds.
returning them to the buxom of party censorship
You can't be returned to the buxom of anything, because buxom isn't a noun. It's an adjective.
Were you thinking of bosom? They're two words with completely different etymologies: Buxom used to mean "bendy or pliable" and is related to German biegsam.
I'm thinking more something like, say, if you install Cydia then you have to run the password utility before it will allow you to download packages.
gejailbreakte
I love it.
So the only phones at risk are the jailbroken (jailbreaked?) ones?
You'd think the thing to do would be to incorporate a password-changing tool into the jailbreaking tools somehow, so users have to select something other than the default one.
You're right!
Personally, I find GIMP's layout to be rather painful, and I say this through my own pained attempts to use it, not out of trying to be fashionable. If a lot of people are saying something, sometimes it's true. However, I do thank the GIMP team for GTK, which has had some rather decent apps built on it.
The GIMP was made with GTK, which was originally designed solely for use in the GIMP and was later used by other apps. Personally, I find its user interface rather terrible but that's not GTK's fault. (for what it's worth I find Photoshop's UI to be only mildly better.)
Yes, I admit it. My name is really Bill Gates and I'm here to spread Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt about Linux.
I find it rather disappointing that after lurking for years, I sign up for an account to make some rather timid criticisms of an OS I use on and off only to get my comments modded as "flamebait". Can we keep things civil and reserve that sort of response to comments like "UR ALL F**S WINDOZE R00LZ"?
OK, fired up the linux distro again, checked it out. It's been a while. The problem wasn't that the dialog didn't exist, it was that the dialog didn't work, whereas the CLI did. I kept clicking "Add", entering the settings, and Voila! Settings not stored, the list remained empty.
So in this case it was an issue of bad quality assurance, not a lack of a GUI tool. My apologies.
In this case, it was a policy on the part of the building management so they would know who was illegally downloading.
The last time I gave Ubuntu a try was last month, having used Linux on and off since Red Hat 5. This time around I made it for a week.
In my case, I had to connect over a PPPoE network to get online. The problem (if I recall correctly) was that while Vista had the dialog to connect, Ubuntu did not, and I had to fall back to a command prompt to get the job done.
Thing is, there may well have been a package that I should have installed to get the functionality. Thing is, you shouldn't have to do that. And if it doesn't just work, people vote with their feet.
I keep checking back on Linux every now and then to see how things have progressed, and on some fronts it looks pretty slick. It's when you try using it for that one thing you really have to do that you realize that it's still an OS made by coders, for coders and whatever coders think users are.
Honestly, I don't think you should have to use a CLI for basic administration. Having to regularly drop down to an xterm is what keeps driving me away from Linux again and again. Linux is an incredibly cool idea and will eventually get there, but with the state of Linux today, I can't be too shocked that people would choose Windows or Mac over something that's so fiddly.
Linux doesn't even need to be as good, it needs to be better and easier to use for regular people before they'll make the leap.