He does have the right to complain. Slashdotters are whining all the time about how BSD is freeer than the GPL and how everything must be BSD. If you don't BSD your software, the Slashdotters will flame you down.
"Problem for MS is that if focus shifts from the OS to the web (Google will run on any OS), then they quickly become irrelevant. Companies will write web apps instead of regular apps. Ties loosen."
I wouldn't be so sure about that. Just look at all the banking sites that require IE. Look at all the businesses that have internal websites that heavily make use of ActiveX. Heck, look at all those companies that write tons of Java apps that only run in the Microsoft Java VM!!
Except the "usability" rants get modded up to +5 Insightful, while the power user rants either get modded down, or get flamed down by "your attitude is exactly what I'm talking about"-zealots.
Well, isn't that exactly what Slashdotters want? In every single Linux article you see Slashdotters whine about "Linux will NEVER be ready for the desktop until grandma can use it!" So GNOME applied many usability studies for grandma-type people. And now the Slashdotters whine again. Some people even blatantly deny the existance of those usability studies and continue to whine about how unusable GNOME is.
Concerned corporate managers are supposed to sign a $70.000 contract with RedHat or other commercial Linux distributors, not downloading random tarballs from Slashdot-linked sites.
You seem to have totally forgotten why Firefox changed their name in the first place. Phoenix -> Firebird was because Phoenix (the BIOS maker) asked them to. Firebird -> Firefox was because the name conflicts with Firebird the database.
"Exactly, it installs an operating system which I can customise to my hearts content and enough applications for me to run the computer and start downloading/installing other applications I use."
The average user doesn't care about your geeky OS/app seperation. They want a system that's as complete as possible. Linux provides a much better price/value ratio.
"And you promise not to cry foul or complain when Microsoft include a version of every single application type included in a "standard" Linux distro including their own version of OpenOffice?"
No. Microsoft is a convicted monopolist, Linux is not. Microsoft cannot bundle everything because it has a monopoly, Linux can because it doesn't. It doesn't matter what's "fair", it's the law. And the average user couldn't care less why MS doesn't bundle more apps. Linux can provide them with more apps out-of-the-box, Windows can't. It's as simple as that.
Does anybody know more about the improved boot time in Fedora? How quickly does it boot compared to FC 1/2/3 and an average (not freshly installed) Windows XP?
"You're underestimating the force of inertia. Many XMMS users are former Winamp users. For them the idea of using a different interface, even though there are superior ones out there, is frightening."
Then Beep is the perfect player for them. It's basically XMMS ported to GTK 2.
"You're forgotting all those people who still use that godawful crap that is XMMS."
If they all agree that it's "crap" then why don't they use Rythmbox or Beep or whatever?
"Oh, and MPlayer's awful GUI"
I don't even use the GUI. All I care about is the video. Using the keyboard arrow keys to fast forward is much, much easier and more convenient than using the mouse.
"Why does GNOME have this spatial paradigm as opposed to the more popular navigation paradigm?"
Because professional usability studies showed that spatial is more usable. They switched to spatial exactly *because* they listened to advise by usability experts.
Now... weren't you Slashdotters ranting about open source developers not listening to usability experts? And when they *do* listen, they're somehow being elitist bastards?
"Why so I have to totally reformat my hard drive to install debian or ubuntu?"
Dunno about Debian not Ubuntu certainly does not. I've been told on IRC that Ubuntu must format your hard drive, but that turned out to be false. You can install to an existing partition without formatting.
You may also want to ask: why do I have to totally reformat the partition when installing Windows? Why does Windows refuse to continue unless I try to install it on the first partition?
"We should be able to plug a mouse into a port on a Linux machine and expect it to work."
I have a 3 button USB mouse with scroll wheel. I installed Fedora 1 two years ago - and the mouse worked, out-of-the-box. That's right - no fiddling with magic commands, no editing ASCII files, no clicking on buttons in obscure configuration dialog. It Just Worked(tm).
"Ditto sound."
VIA AC97 on-board sound chip. I installed Fedora 1 two years ago. Sound worked out-of-the-box. No magic commands, no editing config files - it Just Worked(tm).
Are you sure you aren't using RedHat 5?
"And, what's with that stupid business of distributions shipping muted ALSA drivers? That makes no sense at all."
Agreed, but... which distributions do that? I don't know a single distribution with sound muted by default. At least the most popular desktop-oriented ones don't. And if you're serious about using Linux on the desktop, why would you use an impopular/non-desktop distribution anyway?
"There is xterm, which is not necesserily fontconfig. Emacs, but I am not going there."
Xterm is ancient legacy software and was written before fontconfig was invented. You can't blame one for not using the wheel when it hadn't been invented yet, can you? All modern terminals use fontconfig. Emacs - ditto.
"Some apps see certain fonts, others do not, do not know why."
The reason is because they were written because fontconfig is invented. Again - you can't use the wheel until it has been invented. Upgrade to modern software. Practically all modern applications use fontconfig, the single unified font system.
Similarly, Windows 3.1 applications don't use the Windows 95/98/XP file dialog. The solution is the same: use modern applications.
"Mozilla is a big violator in the last one."
Mozilla has used fontconfig for years, ever since the GTK 2 port became the default.
"But that is not the issue that I am referring to. My issue comes with font management itself. I still have no clue which command needs to run to properly make all the fonts work."
Then let me tell you how easy it is: you don't run magic commands. You drop.ttf files in ~/.fonts, and that's it! No magic commands, no configuration files - it Just Works(tm).
"There is also not a standard way to force the use of antialiasing in some apps."
? I don't understand this. Virtually all modern Linux distributions have anti-aliasing setup out-of-the-box, with no need for additional configuration whatsoever.
It seems the problem here is not that the problem hasn't been fixed - it's just that you're stuck to the past and aren't aware of the new, better, easier, unified font system.
Many apps try to use very different systems to get the fonts? Really?
Uhm... let's see: - GTK 2: fontconfig - QT 2 and 3: fontconfig - Mozilla/Firefox: fontconfig - OpenOffice: fontconfig The two major toolkits are already using fontconfig, and have been for almost two years now.
What's that you say? "Motif"? "Other toolkits"? Come on, this is 2005. Apps using any other toolkits are... what? 1% of the total number of available applications?
3 button wheel USB mouse? I have exactly that, and it was correctly setup out-of-the-box on Fedora Core 1, a distro from 2003.
PC hardware is very, very, very diverse. Can you really expect a not-number-one operating system to support every single piece of hardware out there? It's just impossible simply because you're not already number one.
Slashdot Mirror
So what font do you suggest?
Malicious contributors? In every open source project I know, contributions are reviewed before they get applied.
He does have the right to complain. Slashdotters are whining all the time about how BSD is freeer than the GPL and how everything must be BSD. If you don't BSD your software, the Slashdotters will flame you down.
"Problem for MS is that if focus shifts from the OS to the web (Google will run on any OS), then they quickly become irrelevant. Companies will write web apps instead of regular apps. Ties loosen."
I wouldn't be so sure about that. Just look at all the banking sites that require IE. Look at all the businesses that have internal websites that heavily make use of ActiveX. Heck, look at all those companies that write tons of Java apps that only run in the Microsoft Java VM!!
"People use newsgroup readers to view each others' content every day."
But do mom, dad and grandma use it? That's the whole point!
"I think you must not know what Usenet is. Look it up."
You expect everybody to use a newsgroup reader to view your content? Are you serious?
It's based on the MacOS X UI guide. MacOS X is Good, therebefore the GIG must also be Good.
Except the "usability" rants get modded up to +5 Insightful, while the power user rants either get modded down, or get flamed down by "your attitude is exactly what I'm talking about"-zealots.
Well, isn't that exactly what Slashdotters want? In every single Linux article you see Slashdotters whine about "Linux will NEVER be ready for the desktop until grandma can use it!"
So GNOME applied many usability studies for grandma-type people. And now the Slashdotters whine again. Some people even blatantly deny the existance of those usability studies and continue to whine about how unusable GNOME is.
"There's a big difference between bundled functionality and usability."
So? The average user doesn't care whether they're actually different. Them them, it's the same thing.
"This is exactly the mindset that I feel has been holding back linux usability work to date."
Grand statement with no further proof or arguments.
"Unless the Linux interface dupicates another OS *exactly*"
You mean this? Been there, done that.
Concerned corporate managers are supposed to sign a $70.000 contract with RedHat or other commercial Linux distributors, not downloading random tarballs from Slashdot-linked sites.
"Why can't OSS just pick a name and stick to it?"
You seem to have totally forgotten why Firefox changed their name in the first place.
Phoenix -> Firebird was because Phoenix (the BIOS maker) asked them to.
Firebird -> Firefox was because the name conflicts with Firebird the database.
What? Do you think they change name just for fun?
It doens't matter whether it's fair, consumers couldn't care less.
"Exactly, it installs an operating system which I can customise to my hearts content and enough applications for me to run the computer and start downloading/installing other applications I use."
The average user doesn't care about your geeky OS/app seperation. They want a system that's as complete as possible. Linux provides a much better price/value ratio.
"And you promise not to cry foul or complain when Microsoft include a version of every single application type included in a "standard" Linux distro including their own version of OpenOffice?"
No. Microsoft is a convicted monopolist, Linux is not. Microsoft cannot bundle everything because it has a monopoly, Linux can because it doesn't.
It doesn't matter what's "fair", it's the law. And the average user couldn't care less why MS doesn't bundle more apps. Linux can provide them with more apps out-of-the-box, Windows can't. It's as simple as that.
Yes, here's a newsflash for you: most *desktop home users* boot their computer every day!
My computer is in my room and I don't want to hear the noise when I'm sleeping.
Does anybody know more about the improved boot time in Fedora? How quickly does it boot compared to FC 1/2/3 and an average (not freshly installed) Windows XP?
"You're underestimating the force of inertia. Many XMMS users are former Winamp users. For them the idea of using a different interface, even though there are superior ones out there, is frightening."
Then Beep is the perfect player for them. It's basically XMMS ported to GTK 2.
"You're forgotting all those people who still use that godawful crap that is XMMS."
If they all agree that it's "crap" then why don't they use Rythmbox or Beep or whatever?
"Oh, and MPlayer's awful GUI"
I don't even use the GUI. All I care about is the video. Using the keyboard arrow keys to fast forward is much, much easier and more convenient than using the mouse.
But no excuse here either. You can use Totem.
"Why does GNOME have this spatial paradigm as opposed to the more popular navigation paradigm?"
Because professional usability studies showed that spatial is more usable. They switched to spatial exactly *because* they listened to advise by usability experts.
Now... weren't you Slashdotters ranting about open source developers not listening to usability experts? And when they *do* listen, they're somehow being elitist bastards?
"Why so I have to totally reformat my hard drive to install debian or ubuntu?"
Dunno about Debian not Ubuntu certainly does not. I've been told on IRC that Ubuntu must format your hard drive, but that turned out to be false. You can install to an existing partition without formatting.
You may also want to ask: why do I have to totally reformat the partition when installing Windows? Why does Windows refuse to continue unless I try to install it on the first partition?
"We should be able to plug a mouse into a port on a Linux machine and expect it to work."
I have a 3 button USB mouse with scroll wheel. I installed Fedora 1 two years ago - and the mouse worked, out-of-the-box. That's right - no fiddling with magic commands, no editing ASCII files, no clicking on buttons in obscure configuration dialog. It Just Worked(tm).
"Ditto sound."
VIA AC97 on-board sound chip. I installed Fedora 1 two years ago. Sound worked out-of-the-box. No magic commands, no editing config files - it Just Worked(tm).
Are you sure you aren't using RedHat 5?
"And, what's with that stupid business of distributions shipping muted ALSA drivers? That makes no sense at all."
Agreed, but... which distributions do that? I don't know a single distribution with sound muted by default. At least the most popular desktop-oriented ones don't. And if you're serious about using Linux on the desktop, why would you use an impopular/non-desktop distribution anyway?
"There is xterm, which is not necesserily fontconfig. Emacs, but I am not going there."
.ttf files in ~/.fonts, and that's it! No magic commands, no configuration files - it Just Works(tm).
Xterm is ancient legacy software and was written before fontconfig was invented. You can't blame one for not using the wheel when it hadn't been invented yet, can you? All modern terminals use fontconfig.
Emacs - ditto.
"Some apps see certain fonts, others do not, do not know why."
The reason is because they were written because fontconfig is invented. Again - you can't use the wheel until it has been invented. Upgrade to modern software. Practically all modern applications use fontconfig, the single unified font system.
Similarly, Windows 3.1 applications don't use the Windows 95/98/XP file dialog. The solution is the same: use modern applications.
"Mozilla is a big violator in the last one."
Mozilla has used fontconfig for years, ever since the GTK 2 port became the default.
"But that is not the issue that I am referring to. My issue comes with font management itself. I still have no clue which command needs to run to properly make all the fonts work."
Then let me tell you how easy it is: you don't run magic commands. You drop
"There is also not a standard way to force the use of antialiasing in some apps."
?
I don't understand this. Virtually all modern Linux distributions have anti-aliasing setup out-of-the-box, with no need for additional configuration whatsoever.
It seems the problem here is not that the problem hasn't been fixed - it's just that you're stuck to the past and aren't aware of the new, better, easier, unified font system.
Two years? How about tomorrow, when FC4 is released with dmix correctly setup out-of-the-box?
And sound mixing has worked for me since 2003. I setup Alsa and sound mixing Just Worked(tm), no messing with dmix or whatever.
Many apps try to use very different systems to get the fonts? Really?
Uhm... let's see:
- GTK 2: fontconfig
- QT 2 and 3: fontconfig
- Mozilla/Firefox: fontconfig
- OpenOffice: fontconfig
The two major toolkits are already using fontconfig, and have been for almost two years now.
What's that you say? "Motif"? "Other toolkits"? Come on, this is 2005. Apps using any other toolkits are... what? 1% of the total number of available applications?
So, where is the problem you're talking about?
3 button wheel USB mouse? I have exactly that, and it was correctly setup out-of-the-box on Fedora Core 1, a distro from 2003.
PC hardware is very, very, very diverse. Can you really expect a not-number-one operating system to support every single piece of hardware out there? It's just impossible simply because you're not already number one.