Mainstream . . . (LONG)

[Tony Hammitt]

If the things you are talking about wrt the tape players were possible,
there would be some people who would like it.  Once these kinds of people
get used to the configurability of the interface, sending them back to
the single-purpose buttons will aggravate them.  That's the point I'm
trying to make.

It's OK for there to be development work in dumbing down the interface
for OSS desktops.  Don't expect people who have gotten used to
configurability to suddenly jump to the baby interfaces, if and when they
are created.  Don't expect us to give up our right to advocate
customizable interfaces.  Don't expect us to try to convince neophytes
that dumber is always better, if they ask us what kinds of interfaces we
prefer, we will tell them.  A few will probably try the complicated
interfaces anyway.

Which is a good point.  You mention that the universe is winning by
creating more perfect idiots.  Fine.  It always will; because the
universe is vindictive.  People will always misconfigure their
computers.  It'll be a nice market for support desk staff.  But some of
those people who mess their systems up will be the power users of
tomorrow. Don't take away their chance of learning something by
eliminating their learning curve.  You only learn when you feel confused
then find the answer.

This 'the desktops are too complicated' thread comes up every few years
and I have yet to see it result in a completely dumbed down interface.
I wish the current crop of hopeful designers the best of luck.  Doing
things the elegant way so that clueless newbies can use it flawlessly
takes huge monetary investments because programmers are power users and
they do not see the problems that newbies see.  Apple spent years and
tens of millions of dollars coming up with the MacOS interface.  Focus
groups, market research and test interfaces are tremendously expensive.

I'd rather contribute to the projects that make my own work easier to do.

Later,

	Tony

"Franklin, Joel" wrote:
> 
> > Are you saying that configurability itself, even if unused, will make the
> > OSS desktops less useful?
> There is no such thing as unused configurability. If the option is there,
> someone will mistakenly set it, not know how to set it back, and call me
> whining that their computer doesn't work. (The universe is winning.)
> 
> > Back to your tape recorder analogy, isn't it nice
> > to have a player with auto-reverse rather than being stuck with ejecting
> the
> > tape and flipping it over to play the other side?  I could still do it the
> > other
> > way, but why should I?
> 
> That's a straw man argument. The huge amount of configuration options of a
> PC is nowhere near the limited number of states a tape player can be in.
> Let's make a few sci-fi changes to your tape player and see how you like it.
> (These are all abstractly analogous to things I've seen in Windows - sorry,
> but I've only used the command line and text utilities in Linux).
> --------------------
> When you stare at part of your tape player, the print on that part (FF, REW,
> etc.) becomes larger. If there is no print on that part, or if the print
> size is maxed out, the part itself becomes larger. Shrinking the print or
> the part requires staring at the part backward. Parts not used for 30 days
> shrink. Parts not used for six months migrate to the inside of the player.
> 
> There is only one knob on the front. If you try to twist the volume control
> past 10 (It goes to 11!), it becomes a balance control know. If you twist it
> below 0, it becomes the bass control. To get treble control, you have to
> hold the play button down while turning the knob past ten. Whatever mode the
> knob is in, you must remove the knob from the case (it comes off easily) and
> replace it while saying "Volume" to restore it to a volume control. DO NOT
> SAY "RAGING BULL ELEPHANT" WHEN REPLACING THE KNOB.
> 
> If you look at the base of the player for more than five seconds (but less
> than ten), the unit will go where ever you look next and will stay there
> until you move it again. If you look at the base of the unit for more than
> ten seconds, it will disappear. You make it reappear by staring at the spot
> where it used to be for not more than five seconds.
> 
> The fast forward button makes the tape player accelerate toward its front at
> 25 mph. To make it act more like an old-fashioned cassette player, you must
> open the case desolder the capacitor labeled HKEY_Don't_Attack. Don't
> desolder the resistor below this text or it will double the fast forward
> velocity.
> 
> If you press the rewind button with more than the usual amount of pressure,
> the tape player will enter "reel-to-reel" mode. In this mode, when the
> cassette is finished rewinding, the tape player will increase the motor's
> torque until the tape breaks and begins flapping inside the cassette case,
> just like the reel-to-reel players used to do.
>