5 ms·
> Is there no such thing as a `problem solved, let's not touch it again' in the FOSS world ? Is there such a thing in the closed-source world? Because Windows
by cbd1984 11y ago
> Is there no such thing as a `problem solved, let's not touch it again' in the FOSS world ?
Is there such a thing in the closed-source world?
Because Windows 1... err, Windows 3 (now with tiling windows!), uhhh... Windows 95 (now semi-3D!) uhhh... Metro! That's it!... is certainly a case study in how nothing changes and UI is a solved problem, right?
Oh, and I've used WindowMaker across multiple distros, from Red Hat (pre Fedora) through Slackware and now Ubuntu. (Yes, Ubuntu without Unity. Shock and horror and "Can such things be?!?!" line starts on the left.)
- vezzy-fnord 11y agoDesktop UI has barely budged since WIMP became the dominant paradigm in the 80s. There have always been alternatives (Oberon, rio, Cedar, zoomable UIs, etc.), but they've never had any widespread adoption. As of more recent, there have been attempts by various parties (Microsoft, GNOME, Canonical...) to create these tablet-centric, opaque but outwardly simple UIs that are positioned as being groundbreaking and challenging norms, but in reality are some subset of WIMP with certain properties being given more weight than others (e.g. menus and icons over windows and pointers), but with little in the way of any true improvements in discoverability and interaction. Nothing like how all the text on screen is programmable, like in Oberon. That's groundbreaking. Because the desktop shell is what most people ever see, it's a decent proxy for programmers to use providing an illusion of change and progress.
- zxcvcxz 11y agoWell I think GNOME shell is the best desktop experience I've ever had in my life. Pretty sure it's not an illusion.
- WorldWideWayne 11y agoThey took too many OS X anti-patterns such as the ever-present menu bar, for my taste.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- cbd1984 11y agoYou're glossing over a lot of details, and details are what most of usability comes down to.
- amyjess 11y agoHonestly, this is one area I don't really want change. Windows 95 nailed the desktop perfectly, and any attempt to significantly depart from its UI feels like a step backwards. Even Windows 98, with its webby bastardization of Explorer, wasn't as good as Windows 95. I like KDE because I can use it as "Windows 95 with pretty graphical effects", and that's exactly what I want.
- sigzero 11y agoWow WindowMaker! That brings back memories. I could never choose between GNUStep and WindowMaker.