Cron/Xwindows

[A Duston]

Brian Kelsay wrote:
> I just read JWZ's rant and I understand his frustration and admire
> him for his willingness to just say what he thinks.  Some of the
> things he had problems with are non issues now.  The programs have
> been fixed/updated and are easier to install or come with the major
> distros or their repositories.   I would like to expand on what you
> and he have to say about themes.

I don't think JWZ is primarily talking about themes, although they do
play into the problem.  The main thing I think he is talking about is
making programs that run in a GUI environment, and making them look
like what they are supposed to be pretending to be.  I'm talking about
CD-players that look like CD-players in the physical world.  The main
problem here is that I as the user of this software can't even begin
to tell the controls of the application apart from the decorations,
and end up having to click the mouse on EVERY damn thing in sight
just to see it if does anything useful or indeed anything at all!  Of
course once I determinewhat is a button, and what is a decoration does
that mean that I will retain that knowledge next time?  NO, IT DOES
NOT!!  I want software that looks like SOFTWARE.  Things in the real
world are the way they are for a reason.  Many times these reasons
don't make sense in the software world, but programmers feel they need
to slavishly emulate the real world, but when they do it actually makes
the software MORE difficult to use, and NOT easier at all.  Give me an
application with menus and dialog boxes any day, and not one that looks
like some object in the real world.

--
Hal