Nicolas Mailhot wrote:
What's specious the way all those changes are never backed by real user studies but by "we think best" and "you're not the user we want" arguments. I (and probably others) would not mind it as much if simplifier proponents spent their energy explaining with real use-cases why their changes are good instead of devoting their energies to convince their users they are retards that can not understand what's good for them.
You hit it on the nose right there. GNOME's past behavior has earned them the extreme distrust of a very large portion of their users. As such, any move that further inconveniences the already alienated userbase is met with a knee-jerk reaction of outrage. It's not just the changes they made; it's the perceived "shut up, you're stupid" response that the users felt they were met with when they disagreed.
Many of the decisions that come into question fall into a particular category. There's two major reasons why an interface might be easy to use: It can be naturally intuitive, or it can be what you're used to. I could build a clock where the hands rotate counter-clockwise, and my design may truly even be more naturally intuitive than the norm. But users will still find it confusing because they're so used to something that's different.
GNOME's more controversial decisions have been similar to, say, using the Dvorak keyboard layout by default. You can cite all sorts of studies about how it's faster and decreases the probability of a repetitive stress injury. You can even say that QWERTY is still available for the minority who want to use it. And besides, people who use QWERTY keyboards aren't the target audience anyway.
The fact remains that sometimes, the "better option" isn't the best decision. It's a judgment call--there's often good reasoning for either side. But what frustrates the user is the illogically uncompromising fervor with which the developers defend their position. It's very... RMS.
I personally think that removing the terminal from the context menu is the correct thing to do (it should have stayed on the panel with the other launchers--and it sure as hell better go back). Still, my initial reaction was mild outrage--it felt like yet another personal attack against me. Another "you don't belong here" message from GNOME. I certainly understand why others were angry.
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