On Sun, Sep 18, 2011 at 08:41:38AM -0500, Michael Ekstrand wrote:
Polls only go so far. Users often don't know what they want, or think they want X and really want Y (or would have their actual needs better met by Y). It's the user experience designer's job to sift through that and give them what they need to do their work, which is not necessarily what the users would tell you they need/want if you ask them.
Polls (or, better yet, interviews) can be a valuable tool in figuring out what to build & how to build it, but they are just one input point. Further, a visionary designer can come up with good solutions that the people polled couldn't have imagined and therefore couldn't have said they wanted.
I don't know that the Gnome designers and developers have achieved Steve Jobs quality-of-vision when it comes to user experience design. But they're trying a bold new concept (and yes it's new - Gnome Shell predates both Metro and OSX Lion Dashboard), and that can pay off.
All this to say, I think this idea of "polling the users" is very misguided. Should more user input have been sought? Probably. But let's stop talking about nonsense ways to get it.
For those saying "if people liked it, we'd hear", let me add my voice: I find Gnome 3 to be a very fluid and productive experience on my laptop.
I agree completely.
I was going to post a counter message adressing these anti Gnome 3 rants but shall refrain from doing so as it is next to impossible to influence Linux zealots of any persuasion.
So I will hereby come out of the closet and let myself be "heard" as Gnome 3 lover.
I too find Gnome 3 a fluid and productive experience on my laptop and a slightly less fluid but still productive experience on my desktop.
In the name of all Gnome 3 afficionados I would suggest changing the title of this thread to: 'Gnome 3 is an acceptable substitute for Gnome 2'.
(This is not to say that I am uncritical of Gnome 3 or an admirer of the attitude of some of the Gnome developers)
Alexander