The Linus view of GNOME 3.2

[Tim]

Craig White:
> Don't assume that input options remain static or aren't being improved
> upon continually. For example, Ice Cream Sandwich implements continuous
> speech processing including punctuation which represents a real option
> for many.

It's the first thing that springs to mind, as an easy solution.  Until
you watch how businessmen use their gadgets, on the bus, at a cafe on
the street corner, in a meeting...  Voice input has its uses, but lots
of limitations.

>  Likewise, there are 'swipe' type input keyboards which with
> some practice, are usable and reasonable for character entry. Don't
> forget that usage of a QWERTY keyboard actual required learning and
> practice and there are still a large amount of users who simply use 1 or
> 2 finger input having never learned to touch type anyway.

Haven't heard of swipe keyboards, so I went and had a look.  Argh, gawd,
bringing the fun and games of predictive text to all keyboards.  It's
bad enough trying to decipher what some people try to say in plain
English, never mind when the computer has added further scrambling.

True enough that there's plenty of hunt and peck typists, and some of
them are fast.  At least with a normal keyboard you can use normal
fingers.  With mini keyboards, of any type, you're faced with using a
stick, or trying to get the corner of a fingernail to press the one key
that you want to press, and not four keys at the same time.

But, adding a keyboard to a tablet, is getting back to ye olde desktop
problem.  A box, with this cabled to that, half a dozen times over
(keyboard, mouse, screen, printer, modem...), rat's nests are bad enough
on the desk, but haven't to lug it around and set it up with a portable
devices.  :-(

Not to mention a grudging admission that such things are still
necessary, or vital.



> On screen keyboards are reasonable for the younger generation and
> reasonable for short messaging for most and a plethora of options exist
> for extended usage.

Sure, if you feel like bashing your fingertips into a solid piece of
glass...  And being unable to touch type.  They really are up there with
the rest of the unergonomic designs.

>> Touchscreens are all very well for poking at large objects, but not very
>> good for fine detail.  While the mouse is hideous, it still tends to be
>> the most versatile.

> True - I don't do 'fine' detail on my telephone but 'pinch to zoom'
> allows you to access magnifications where even a fat finger can be like
> a needle in many instances.

I've watched my friend doing that.  Just reading one small webpage, and
then clicking on the bits you needed to click on, involved lots of
zooming in and out, and panning around.  Not at all convenient, nor
quick, and out of the question for people without manual dexterity, or
missing some digits.


>> That's all very well, but it's rather ludicrous to try and impose a
>> tablet interface onto a desktop or laptop, and vice versa.  Yet, that
>> see to be the way that various desktops are going (e.g. the current
>> Gnome debacle).  Change doesn't necessarily mean progress.

> It seems obvious to me that there are 2 schools of thought here and
> yours is shared by a few. The other school seems to think that the
> desktop computer is just one of the various forms of computing and that
> other forms will include small form factors (perhaps like Apple's 3.5"
> diagonal iPhone) to relatively small 4-5" to 7-8" and larger.
> 
> Perhaps these small form factors will drop into a laptop type shell
> (like the Motorola Atrix), wirelessly connect to keyboard, mouse and
> display when in an home or office environment, etc.

And, continue to use an inappropriate interface, instead of
transforming?  Because the way things are going, it doesn't look
transforming is going to be the way.  With desktop devices getting
portable device interfaces.

I see the value of portable devices, I see the value of being able to
develop for them on a desktop computer.  I do not see that it's good
thing to destroy a good desktop model to force people into using an
inappropriate one on it, just to be consistent.

> Now I don't know how things are progressing in your neck of the woods in
> Australia but in America, the various tablets are jumping off the
> shelves like hotcakes. Coming on the heels of the successes of the
> netbooks indicates that the public wants extremely portable, relatively
> inexpensive computing devices even if it only does e-mail/web browsing
> and it's not just Gnome who have picked up on the fact that the future
> of computing devices is up for grabs. One only need look at the Windows
> 8 preview and see their Windows Phone 'tiles' interface as the primary
> UI/launcher to see that they are not alone with a redesign of their UI
> with an eye to all possible form factors.

The trouble is that they (various "theys"), don't seem to be designing
UIs to fit different form factors.  They're trying to fit one UI onto
all the devices.

Yes, such gadgets are becoming popular, here.  But they're still a
specialist device, and hardly suitable replacements for a full computer.

-- 
[tim at localhost ~]$ uname -r
2.6.27.25-78.2.56.fc9.i686

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