UI (was: Windows NT pricing)

[Christopher Palmer <reid@pconline.com>]

On Thu, 14 Jan 1999, Richard Seymour wrote:

> Agreed from here too. I would add another strength of the Windows
> platform (and Mac as well) is the ability of one centralized
> organization to be able to enforce UI standards. (F1 is always help in
> any MS app, ALT always brings up the menu, etc.) Apple was even more
> able to enforce this.

Yes, yes, and yes again.

> The open source community needs to be able to define some UI standards.

True GNU software complies not only with the GPL but also with a set of UI
standards (don't bother looking on their Web site for documenation of
those standards; that'd be too obvious). But that's only for CLI stuff.

> To the end user these standards result in ease of use and the ability to
> pick up the basics in a new app pretty quickly.

How come no-one but you and I understand this? :P If the developers of X
didn't have their collective crania lodged in their sacra -- about more
than just UI -- Unix/Linux wouldn't have to deal with the "It's too hard
to learn and use" critique, which is all too valid. X is a pile of shit;
I've said it before and I'll say it again: X is a pile of shit. It has
performance issues, security issues, and UI issues. Basically it sucks at
everything it tries to do.

Fortunately, there are alternatives: GGI, Berlin, YAX, Y Windows.
Hopefully people will give up on X (including GNOME, KDE and CDE) and put
their effort into a non-doomed graphics system.

> (Please keep in mind I've been working entirely in text mode until
> recently, and I acknowledge great strides may have been made in the X
> Windows environments). 

I think the UI of Unix' text mode is actually remarkably good. I love it
and use X only for those things which absolutely require a graphical
interface (Web surfing, GIMP, et c.).

> Also I don't mean to impose one UI on everybody, but the UI forking that
> has historically marked the industry when there isn't one leading force
> is one of our weaknesses.

Absolutely. As supposedly mean and nasty it is to 'impose' a standard UI
on users, it's the only way to go. If even Microsoft can figure that
out...

P.S.: X is a pile of shit!!!

_____________________________________________________________________________
Christopher Reid Palmer : reid@pconline.com : www.pconline.com/~reid/