I think we need a discussion

[Robert Myers]

On Mon, Aug 29, 2011 at 4:08 PM, David L. Gehrt <dlg at inanity.net> wrote:
> 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.
>

There is absolutely nothing new in any of your complaints.  Hardware
and software developers have been arbitrarily imposing inexplicable
and often incomprehensible changes on users for as long as I have been
using computers, which is a very long time.

All large enterprises: commercial, non-commercial, government, and
non-government are beset by the basic design flaw that no one has
figured out how to do them without involving fallible human beings.

There have always been competent and incompetent people in every
profession that ever existed.

The world of Linux has been haggling over user interfaces ever since
there were user interfaces in Linux to haggle over.

On the whole, Fedora is a pretty good deal, and there are lots of
other choices out there.

Robert.