"Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer."
--Dave Barry
While many people find the inclusion of the Ribbon in Windows Explorer debatable, I don't think the Ribbon is a failed concept. It's excellent for its purpose, and that is to provide a) an accessible user experience for new users b) versatility for experienced users and c) swiftness for really experienced users.
Point a), given the intuitive interface, is more or less a given. Point b) is the most common source of disagreement among users, others say it hinders their ability to work and the others say it makes it easier, because they find features they have never seen before. The latter makes sense, as that was one of Ribbon's purposes. The former is a matter of getting used to, and in fact, I will elaborate on point c) in this regard. Point c) is about key bindings. Yes, key bindings.
I mostly do text editing and programming with vim. So I live and breathe keybindings. The Ribbon UI is designed to provide dynamic keybindings for everything. You simply press Alt and the keybindings will highlight above the buttons and tabs, highlighting subgroups dynamically as you go, sequencing tab groups. For example, in a hypothetical Ribbon program, if the 'Insert' (I) tab group had the subgroup 'Image' (M) and 'From File' (F), one would press Alt+I+M+F to access this option. This is extended to every control in the application, and it allows everything to be keybound, requiring no mouse input, which I find slows me down. So if anything, this will make using Windows Explorer faster for the experienced user, provided he is willing to learn keybindings (or just watch the labels).
Another strong point about the Ribbon is that it can be hidden. Towed away, able to be called back with a keybinding. Thus if one finds the Ribbon obtrusive in anything, one can effectively minimize it -- making any Ribbon UI more minimalist than its previous non-Ribbon incarnation!
So speaking as a "power user" of applications I, for one, find the addition of the Ribbon to Windows Explorer a pleasant surprise. While I do not feel its inclusion to be completely warranted--what does one need from a simple file manager anyway--it will make using the program a lot faster for someone used to having keybindings for everything. I'm sure most of you can relate to this sentiment.
I am doing the opposite. GMail is just a POP3 client for me. I prefet it to most non-web e-mail clients as its user interface works well and looks better than most clients, e.g. Thunderbird. All mail is on the POP3 server -- which has backups -- GMail just duplicates it.
Qt will continue to be the development framework for Symbian and Nokia will use Symbian for further devices; continuing to develop strategic applications in Qt for Symbian platform and encouraging application developers to do the same. With 200 million users worldwide and Nokia planning to sell around 150 million more Symbian devices, Symbian still offers unparalleled geographical scale for developers.
Extending the scope of Qt further will be our first MeeGo-related open source device, which we plan to ship later this year. Though our plans for MeeGo have been adapted in light of our planned partnership with Microsoft, that device will be compatible with applications developed within the Qt framework and so give Qt developers a further device to target.
So they are not ditching Meego and Symbian completely, but it definitely looks like the systems will be sidelined into low-priority projects.
Chrome has never been hacked, which is not surprising, because the contest requires the contestant to exploit a Chrome bug and escape the sandbox while doing so. This is a far greater challenge than merely exploiting a browser bug that lets you do whatever, because if you find an exploit in Chrome the odds are high you will run into the sandbox and be stopped outright.
As much as Google Docs is a website it is also a web application. Whether the shortcut I see on my "Apps" view in Chrome takes me to a local or remote (cloud) program is irrelevant. If I am using vim remotely through a ssh client, am I using a terminal or vim, or both? In the same sense, the browser acts as a terminal for Google Docs, and denigrating the contemporary definition of 'app' is a waste of time.
The students that find lectures uninteresting are. But this is a problem that is a rather large problem, one that you can't solve easily. Depriving people of their distractions doesn't always work -- chances are they will find a new one. Conversely, it's just as likely they will focus better, but it's not automatic -- you can't just shackle a person down and have him or her register every single word you say.
The underlying problem here and is that laptops are capable of being a distraction -- and a tremendous one at that, granted -- but they can also be a tremendous utility. During my student experiences I would often have the lecture slides open on my laptop in order to read them 'offline' from the lecturer. Yet, on other lectures, I would just as often have IRC open. How that undermined my potential performances as a student I don't know - I found out that on most lectures I could read and recap the material, wherever present, offline without problems. If I found myself doing nothing but IRC and browsing the web during the lectures of the same course, I stopped attending those and opted for reading the material on my own.
Personally, I was never distracted by what others did on their laptops -- granted, I wasn't studying during the Facebook era. Others doing whatever on their computers provided momentary distractions ("Oh, that guy is playin WoW now? And he clicks his spells? *sigh*"), unless the lecture wasn't interesting, upon which I would probably have been surfing the web.
But I digress. If I was sitting at a really boring lecture right now, I would probably be thinking about a bunch of rocks.
The show's only merit besides using a Scottish accent on one of its pivotal characters was its plausible portrayal of aliens. Unlike the traditional English-speaking, bipedal vaguely homo sapiens-y aliens we encountered most of the time on SG-1 and SG:A, these aliens were, in fact, alien. If they were humanoids and capable of communication in one form or the other, they didn't understand our language. If they understood anything, it was Ancient, failing that, it was a few words ("Surrender" being one of them).
What essentially killed the show was the plot, or rather, the lack of advancement thereof and the ever-lasting status quo. Almost all serious conflicts were solved by the end of their episodes or at the beginning of the next. Serial storytelling requires progress, otherwise all you have is a boring sitcom, in a big ship that is essentially a submarine, in outer space. Characters were developed, relationships were made, but the first major advancement happened only by the middle of the second season. The reasons for that are anyone's guess, but it shows a distinctive lack of skill from the writers.
Had they focused on the aliens this show might have been worth something.
Slashdot Mirror
"Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer."
--Dave Barry
While many people find the inclusion of the Ribbon in Windows Explorer debatable, I don't think the Ribbon is a failed concept. It's excellent for its purpose, and that is to provide a) an accessible user experience for new users b) versatility for experienced users and c) swiftness for really experienced users.
Point a), given the intuitive interface, is more or less a given. Point b) is the most common source of disagreement among users, others say it hinders their ability to work and the others say it makes it easier, because they find features they have never seen before. The latter makes sense, as that was one of Ribbon's purposes. The former is a matter of getting used to, and in fact, I will elaborate on point c) in this regard. Point c) is about key bindings. Yes, key bindings.
I mostly do text editing and programming with vim. So I live and breathe keybindings. The Ribbon UI is designed to provide dynamic keybindings for everything. You simply press Alt and the keybindings will highlight above the buttons and tabs, highlighting subgroups dynamically as you go, sequencing tab groups. For example, in a hypothetical Ribbon program, if the 'Insert' (I) tab group had the subgroup 'Image' (M) and 'From File' (F), one would press Alt+I+M+F to access this option. This is extended to every control in the application, and it allows everything to be keybound, requiring no mouse input, which I find slows me down. So if anything, this will make using Windows Explorer faster for the experienced user, provided he is willing to learn keybindings (or just watch the labels).
Another strong point about the Ribbon is that it can be hidden. Towed away, able to be called back with a keybinding. Thus if one finds the Ribbon obtrusive in anything, one can effectively minimize it -- making any Ribbon UI more minimalist than its previous non-Ribbon incarnation!
So speaking as a "power user" of applications I, for one, find the addition of the Ribbon to Windows Explorer a pleasant surprise. While I do not feel its inclusion to be completely warranted--what does one need from a simple file manager anyway--it will make using the program a lot faster for someone used to having keybindings for everything. I'm sure most of you can relate to this sentiment.
Perhaps the great author Arthur C. Clarke was not far off in his hypothesis.
Being descendants of... alien poo... is a humbling thought.
I am doing the opposite. GMail is just a POP3 client for me. I prefet it to most non-web e-mail clients as its user interface works well and looks better than most clients, e.g. Thunderbird. All mail is on the POP3 server -- which has backups -- GMail just duplicates it.
From their letter to developers [nokia.com]:
So they are not ditching Meego and Symbian completely, but it definitely looks like the systems will be sidelined into low-priority projects.
Chrome has never been hacked, which is not surprising, because the contest requires the contestant to exploit a Chrome bug and escape the sandbox while doing so. This is a far greater challenge than merely exploiting a browser bug that lets you do whatever, because if you find an exploit in Chrome the odds are high you will run into the sandbox and be stopped outright.
As much as Google Docs is a website it is also a web application. Whether the shortcut I see on my "Apps" view in Chrome takes me to a local or remote (cloud) program is irrelevant. If I am using vim remotely through a ssh client, am I using a terminal or vim, or both? In the same sense, the browser acts as a terminal for Google Docs, and denigrating the contemporary definition of 'app' is a waste of time.
The students that find lectures uninteresting are. But this is a problem that is a rather large problem, one that you can't solve easily. Depriving people of their distractions doesn't always work -- chances are they will find a new one. Conversely, it's just as likely they will focus better, but it's not automatic -- you can't just shackle a person down and have him or her register every single word you say.
The underlying problem here and is that laptops are capable of being a distraction -- and a tremendous one at that, granted -- but they can also be a tremendous utility. During my student experiences I would often have the lecture slides open on my laptop in order to read them 'offline' from the lecturer. Yet, on other lectures, I would just as often have IRC open. How that undermined my potential performances as a student I don't know - I found out that on most lectures I could read and recap the material, wherever present, offline without problems. If I found myself doing nothing but IRC and browsing the web during the lectures of the same course, I stopped attending those and opted for reading the material on my own.
Personally, I was never distracted by what others did on their laptops -- granted, I wasn't studying during the Facebook era. Others doing whatever on their computers provided momentary distractions ("Oh, that guy is playin WoW now? And he clicks his spells? *sigh*"), unless the lecture wasn't interesting, upon which I would probably have been surfing the web.
But I digress. If I was sitting at a really boring lecture right now, I would probably be thinking about a bunch of rocks.
The show's only merit besides using a Scottish accent on one of its pivotal characters was its plausible portrayal of aliens. Unlike the traditional English-speaking, bipedal vaguely homo sapiens-y aliens we encountered most of the time on SG-1 and SG:A, these aliens were, in fact, alien. If they were humanoids and capable of communication in one form or the other, they didn't understand our language. If they understood anything, it was Ancient, failing that, it was a few words ("Surrender" being one of them).
What essentially killed the show was the plot, or rather, the lack of advancement thereof and the ever-lasting status quo. Almost all serious conflicts were solved by the end of their episodes or at the beginning of the next. Serial storytelling requires progress, otherwise all you have is a boring sitcom, in a big ship that is essentially a submarine, in outer space. Characters were developed, relationships were made, but the first major advancement happened only by the middle of the second season. The reasons for that are anyone's guess, but it shows a distinctive lack of skill from the writers.
Had they focused on the aliens this show might have been worth something.