Peter Rundle wrote:
When I first saw Nautilus a thought it was going to be a really neat
piece of gear, but I'm so disappointed with it. I just find it unusable
and the end users don't like it either.
What my users want is a simple tool to browse their local disk, and
those of other PC's on the local lan, and then either open files by
double click or move/copy by drag and drop. Forget the skins, forget the
fancy colours and image backgrounds and other stuff, lets just do the
basics well and simply.
Ahhh yes....I've found opening files by double-click doesn't work in
that scenario with nautilus either. Usually got to copy the files
locally, then open, edit, save and recopy them back - a real fiddle
especially if you have to do it often. Like you said, I sometimes wish
software would just do the simple basics well, and worry about pretty
later. Having said that, pretty does matter to a lot of people (which is
ridiculous really). I've known people to go for less
functionality/usability over pretty.
So far I've got XFe as the file manager and it does a great job except
it isn't smb share aware. xsmbrowser works ok to a degree but again the
layout is not exactly logical and it's not integrated with the file
browser.
Linux on the desktop using terminal server approach, it's a losing
battle with the users I'm afraid. I could of course write my own file /
network explorer, but I don't have the time nor the skill. Sometimes I
think I might just give in to the PC on each desktop mentality. Maybe
not as neat from a technology stand point, but then it's not my design
nor responsibility and it's what most users are used to.
Again, I've had the same experience. I found I was pushing it all uphill
kinda thing.
Good luck...I haven't been able to solve the smb browsing problem yet
either.....
Fil
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