Re: Re: MIME types, again ("Nautilus" ain't the answer)

>> [complaint about how crappy Gnome is]
> ["shut up and fix it"]

Gnome is waaay too big for someone to shut up and fix.  It has a
_huge_ amount of potential, but it is plagued by a bunch of problems
to which the Gnome developers and many users seem oblivious.  The only
thing to do that has a chance in hell of working is to try to make
people aware of the problems, and why they're problems.  Make other
users concerned.  Make "third-party" developers think twice about
buying into the Gnome framework.  If you've tried being polite about
it and everyone's ignored you, then try being rude about it.

Alright, I don't know whether this is the placetime to start being
rude, but it might be worth a shot.  Programmers have emotions too,
and when pushed we'll push back, BUT we do a better job than most of
eventually realising that the asshole _did_ have a point after all...

> > It's still easier than running Windows apps outside of Windows or
> > Mac OS apps outside of Mac OS.
> 
> What does that have to do with anything?  For starters, those are
> different OSes (you can't run any Linux applications on Windows
> anyway, doesn't mean that Linux sucks).  GNOME shouldn't need to
> compare itself to Windows to find something it's better than, now
> should it?

This brings up a couple of interesting points on Gnome vs. Windows:

Each is a fairly extensive set of applications and utilities and
libraries that are designed to work well together, but with an almost
total disregard for whether the system would play nicely with other
systems, or whether the useful pieces of the system could be used
alone.

Unlike MacOS, Windows is (or has been until fairly recently) just a
GUI that runs atop a host OS.  Part of the reason that Windows could
dominate so easily was that Windows provided graphics services.  Under
Linux, X provides graphics services and nothing else, which reduces
the need for vertical markets.

Because it _is_ possible to write applications that will run side by
side with Gnome applications on a Gnome desktop BUT WILL ALSO run
without Gnome (see (2)), it seems that developers should be encouraged
to try to write such applications.  Few people switch to Linux because
"it's just like Windows".  Linux is better!  Let's keep it that way.

I run a few KDE apps, a few Gnome apps, and lots of, um, "legacy" (?!)
apps.  Why?  Because I want to run the app that works the best for me,
and neither of the 2 big desktop environments has all the apps I want.
But any app that is tightly tied to either Gnome or KDE needs to pull
in a huge number of other doodads that I won't use, but that it relies
on because the developers didn't remember the Unix development mantra.

The developer can't anticipate the user's needs.  Make simple, solid
tools, each of which does one thing really well, and let the user mix
and match as needed.

Cheers,
-Ben

-- 
Ben Pearre          http://hebb.mit.edu/~ben       PGP: CFDA6CDA
          Free Music at http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic
Don't let Bush read your email!             http://www.gnupg.org


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