On Fri, 07 Oct 2011 21:04:59 +0200, Konstantin Tokarev <[email protected]> wrote:
> BTW, some people still use KDE 2 (OpenSUSE still packages it), and find > it more > usable than, say, KDE 4. Seems like changes are driven by "trends", not > regular user needs... Hmm, let's consider this. Regular user needs can largely be met using a console and a text editor (sending mails, typing documents, reading news). KDE2 may be usable, but looks clunky (although may have looked slick fourteen years ago). You may have overlooked the fact that yesterday half the world was mourning over a man who was basically pedantic about things not looking clunky. The large audience no longer accepts clunkiness in your user interfaces. Would you prefer a handset that looks like a fridge and takes a hammer to actually dial a number? A TV that's twice as large as the actual screen requires? Would you prefer a car that looks and drives like a T-ford? A T-Ford is usable, why then doesn't anyone drive it? Of course user interfaces are driven by trends. Everything is driven by trends. Hybrid engines are the trend today. Do regular users actually need hybrid engines? Not really. Petrol engines meet the need, but hybrid engines meet the need and come with some extra niceness. It is niceness that people want -- it is niceness that sells your product. Oh and function. Making a product is always a cooperation between wants and needs. If you have two systems that do the same thing equally well, the users are probably going to look for the one that looks nicest. Just because some people enjoy driving VW Beetles or 2-Cheveaux doesn't mean technology should stand still and everyone should be driving those cars. It's as simple as that. If you stand still while everyone keeps running, you're going to have to do the work twice as fast. If you know where the ball is going to be, you don't have to run (I think that one belongs to Johan Cruyff). Cheers, Frans _______________________________________________ Qt5-feedback mailing list [email protected] http://lists.qt.nokia.com/mailman/listinfo/qt5-feedback
