Re: Gobolinux 016 Final question

On 22 November 2016 at 14:33, Lucas C. Villa Real <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 22, 2016 at 2:11 PM, Trans <[email protected]> wrote:
>> What file manger did you guys decide on?
>
> CoreUtils. :)

Expanding on Lucas' fun (but correct ;) ) answer: we decided we will
not bundle a file manager in GoboLinux 016. The feedback we got during
the pre-release stage confirmed to us that this is the right decision.
This is the reasoning:

* We don't have the resources to develop a full modern desktop
experience for end-users. The development of GoboLinux has been
hindered for years by concerns with polishing the desktop UI when the
core system was stable. The development of each release took longer
and longer time because of tweaks in the desktop packages, and the
project was seriously hurt because of this. Most Linux distros
nowadays are essentially "taking an existing distro and developing a
desktop on top of it". On GoboLinux, we develop our own core and our
own OS design ideas, so we'd rather focus on it. The goal of GoboLinux
is a good core design, and not necessarily ease-of-use.

* No, just shipping a "lightweight file manager" does not cut it.
Because once a user has a file manager, they want auto-mounting, then
they want mime-types for apps for contextual menu actions, then
notifications, and before you know it they ask for auto-updates. Trust
us, we've been through all that.

* At this point, GoboLinux is a distribution that can only be used
effectively when the user is proficient with the terminal. Requiring
terminal use is not an "elitist" move, but it does establish the basic
prerequisites. For comparison, Arch Linux doesn't even include an
installer.

* A user who is able to use GoboLinux with a terminal and who wants a
graphical file manager, can easily compile one.

Sorry for the disappointing answer, but I think it's informative to
make our design goals clear.

-- Hisham
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