On Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 4:08 PM, David L. Gehrt <dlg@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > These are a few thoughts that have been fermenting in my mind, but I view > this email as only a possible set of discussion topics. Anyway, I feel > better having said this. > > I am a long time user of UNIX/Linux distributions: Slackware, RedHat, > Fedora, Suse and Ubuntu. I am of the opinion that Linux may be at or close > to a crossroad moving from a computing genre in which the users and > developers make cooperative decisions on alternative development paths to > one in which changes are imposed by developers. In my view this represents > A move from an open computing environment to a closed (or more closed) one. > > For me it is not just that the Gnome2 environment is being replaced with a > new version, it is that this new version, Gnome3, was seemingly developed > without much consideration of how the former version, Gnome2, was being used > and then imposed on users. > > If I am off base here I am confident that this forum will point out the nature and extent of the perceived errors. > > I have long hoped for a future in which the UNIX/Linux computing environment > would become a more significant player in the desktop world of user > currently stuck with Microsoft Windows. But what seems to be happening is > that the user interfaces (UI) being developed being developed for the Linux > future are trending towards UI in Microsoft Windows. > > What this seems to imply is that in the future the mainline Linux UI will be > characterized features imposed, and by lack of flexibility. This lack of > flexibility means that users are presented with a computing environment with > features thought desirable by developers and which provide little or no way > for users to modify their computing environment in ways that meet their > needs and preferences. > > I suspect without knowing that this is someones idea of how to turn a profit > by moving Linux to more profitable place on corporate desktops. I am not > directing this criticism solely at the Gnome3 developers or the RedHat role > in the Fedora background. One need only look at the Unity desktop with > which Canonical is trying to replace its version of the Gnome desktop. It > seems to suffer some of the same inflexibility and misfeatures as I see with > Gnome3. > > I say a pox on both these developments. At least in Ubuntu you have the > option of selecting the "classical" (Gnome2 or Gnome2 like) desktop on log > in. Having started an experiment with Ubuntu on a laptop to see if Windows > users might find it more usable than Fedora, I have now converted my laptops > to Ubuntu while waiting to see if there is anything left of the flexibility > and utility I used to see in the UNIX/Linux UI. If not, I despair. > > As a footnote: I have observed over my decades using and developing > computing environments to replace a manual system or formerly use software > which users had used, any number of developed systems that were unused > because the people using them were not consulted about the new system. > > There any number of expensive developments in the Government that have > failed because developers failed to consider the actual job to be supported > by software. The recent failed (or failing) computing system being > developed for the FBI. The beauty of Federal Government computing projects > is that their failures make news. I suspect business entities are more > successful at concealing the failures. he bottom line is that in he absence > of consultation with users s/w developers are not very good at meeting the > needs of users > > As a country is the US becoming incompetent? The aforementioned s/w > development failures, NASA sending the Hubble up without checking the > collimation of the telescope first, the poor performance of our schools and > the failure to produce the scientists and engineers we need now. This does > not seem to be an exhaustive list of problems we face. > There is absolutely nothing new in any of your complaints. Hardware and software developers have been arbitrarily imposing inexplicable and often incomprehensible changes on users for as long as I have been using computers, which is a very long time. All large enterprises: commercial, non-commercial, government, and non-government are beset by the basic design flaw that no one has figured out how to do them without involving fallible human beings. There have always been competent and incompetent people in every profession that ever existed. The world of Linux has been haggling over user interfaces ever since there were user interfaces in Linux to haggle over. On the whole, Fedora is a pretty good deal, and there are lots of other choices out there. Robert. -- users mailing list users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
