I think we need a discussion

[David L. Gehrt]

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 at inanity.net