On 23/04/2008, Timeout <wineforum-user@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > David Gerard wrote: > > That said, Microsoft in fact work to the maxim that graphic design and > > interface polish - "fit and finish" - are of *towering* importance, > > because if it looks slick then users believe it is slick, however > > badly it may actually work. > I don't think so. All People I know in my family have XP although some had their computer delivered with Vista. If they don't get what they want, it's regardless how it looks like. For my mother for instance, she would need a PC with switching on and 4 buttons: Internet, Photo, Office and E-Mail. > To set up the polish you have to know how to use a computer. Even Windows as it is is too much for her. But then, see Mac OS X. It has the slick polish *and* the robust functionality. > > The polish thing is in fact *really quite important* for Wine and > > getting people off Windows and onto ... anything else, really. Look at > > the fantastic response Compiz gets, luring people to Ubuntu by sheer > > power of bling - and that's still a crappy beta! > I beg to differ. It took me months to get the printer, the video card, the keyboard, the router etc working properly on a not configured PC. When switching to Linux you have to be prepared to learn. Computers are stupid, annoying and don't work ... and I speak as a professional of decades' experience. That's actually a *really bad* thing. Users should be able to do stuff without messing around with crap. Mind you, I think Ubuntu beats Windows for out-of-the-box usability ... on decently supported hardware. In the server world, no-one sells an x86 server without good Linux drivers - doing so would be business suicide. Desktops aren't there yet, but Dell is pressuring its suppliers to have good Linux drivers for components. And Wine on Linux is already a better Windows than Vista. I think we're wandering off topic here :-) My point is, it's harder than it should be now, but the example of Mac OS X proves it's possible to do much, much better on usability than Windows or Linux do now. And a bit of polish in Wine will reduce the grating on users' nerves. - d.
