I think we need a discussion
These are a few thoughts that have been fermenting in my mind, but I view
this email as only a possible set of discussion topics. Anyway, I feel
better having said this.
I am a long time user of UNIX/Linux distributions: Slackware, RedHat,
Fedora, Suse and Ubuntu. I am of the opinion that Linux may be at or close
to a crossroad moving from a computing genre in which the users and
developers make cooperative decisions on alternative development paths to
one in which changes are imposed by developers. In my view this represents
A move from an open computing environment to a closed (or more closed) one.
For me it is not just that the Gnome2 environment is being replaced with a
new version, it is that this new version, Gnome3, was seemingly developed
without much consideration of how the former version, Gnome2, was being used
and then imposed on users.
If I am off base here I am confident that this forum will point out the nature and extent
of the perceived errors.
I have long hoped for a future in which the UNIX/Linux computing environment
would become a more significant player in the desktop world of user
currently stuck with Microsoft Windows. But what seems to be happening is
that the user interfaces (UI) being developed being developed for the Linux
future are trending towards UI in Microsoft Windows.
What this seems to imply is that in the future the mainline Linux UI will be
characterized features imposed, and by lack of flexibility. This lack of
flexibility means that users are presented with a computing environment with
features thought desirable by developers and which provide little or no way
for users to modify their computing environment in ways that meet their
needs and preferences.
I suspect without knowing that this is someones idea of how to turn a profit
by moving Linux to more profitable place on corporate desktops. I am not
directing this criticism solely at the Gnome3 developers or the RedHat role
in the Fedora background. One need only look at the Unity desktop with
which Canonical is trying to replace its version of the Gnome desktop. It
seems to suffer some of the same inflexibility and misfeatures as I see with
Gnome3.
I say a pox on both these developments. At least in Ubuntu you have the
option of selecting the "classical" (Gnome2 or Gnome2 like) desktop on log
in. Having started an experiment with Ubuntu on a laptop to see if Windows
users might find it more usable than Fedora, I have now converted my laptops
to Ubuntu while waiting to see if there is anything left of the flexibility
and utility I used to see in the UNIX/Linux UI. If not, I despair.
As a footnote: I have observed over my decades using and developing
computing environments to replace a manual system or formerly use software
which users had used, any number of developed systems that were unused
because the people using them were not consulted about the new system.
There any number of expensive developments in the Government that have
failed because developers failed to consider the actual job to be supported
by software. The recent failed (or failing) computing system being
developed for the FBI. The beauty of Federal Government computing projects
is that their failures make news. I suspect business entities are more
successful at concealing the failures. he bottom line is that in he absence
of consultation with users s/w developers are not very good at meeting the
needs of users
As a country is the US becoming incompetent? The aforementioned s/w
development failures, NASA sending the Hubble up without checking the
collimation of the telescope first, the poor performance of our schools and
the failure to produce the scientists and engineers we need now. This does
not seem to be an exhaustive list of problems we face.
dlg
David L. Gehrt Land Line: 805.541.2390
1865 Wilding Lane Cell Phone: 805.704.5890
San Luis Obispo, CA 93401-3044 Internet: dlg(a)inanity.net