On Mon, Jul 14, 2008 at 10:18 PM, Harish Mallipeddi < [EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > Part of the problem with Opensource software vs. Apple software is that the > Opensource community doesn't have the right people. Apple has UI Interaction > engineers, designers, etc because they hired them to do that job > specifically and this really shows in their UI. Most KDE apps look like the > UI was "designed" (more like "assembled" rather than "designed") by the > developer strictly as a one-to-one mapping between the underlying feature > and one UI widget. That sucks! The Opensource community predominantly has > hard-core programmers who don't care a lot about these "soft" elements which > is what is required to create great consumer facing apps. > predominantly, yes. Although the exact percentage i wouldnt know... Certain projects shine out as being particularly good in the UI department. Enlightenment, for example. Although u may differ in ur opinion. I was a long-time Linux user - used Linux pretty much throughout my time at > NUS. I switched to a Mac about an year back. Bought an iPhone (1st gen) when > it came out. Frankly I would have done this much earlier but I didn't have > money to do so as a student :) > I would have considered switching myself (and did for one time considering switch my main machine (server-wise is a different story, of course!) due to work issues ;)). But after dealing with unexplainable suspend-resume problems, and silly lock-ups that could only be solved by a hard reboot.. I realized that i still like the idea of total control and visiblity better :) Now one may argue about the practicality of that last point, but trust me - between me and the open source world.. I think we're getting there. > Linux on a desktop is not that far-fetched. But one thing seriously led me > to switch to a Mac - configuring dual-screens and getting that setup to work > without restarting KDE/GNOME in Linux is a hassle. Cummulatively, I think > I've wasted 2 weeks of my life doing just that. The same thing is true with > Linux on a phone. I had the Qtopia GreenPhone with me for a while. The phone > had the most hideous UI ever. Compiling custom kernels was cool and all, but > it wasn't useable as a regular phone! > :) yeah, i can empathize. Now about that phone... you *had* it with you, so u dont have it anymore? > Linux and Opensource software will never get to the Apple standards unless > designers, interaction engineers join us. Maybe companies like Redhat or > SuSE can help out here by hiring them initially. But they probably won't > because they care more about their server market because that's where their > money is. > > So until then, I would give up my principles and whore myself to Apple. > Thank you. > hm. Nice summary, btw, Ray. I think u more or less summarized the opensource-and-freedom-aware person who switches to the mac. -jf -- In the meantime, here is your PSA: "It's so hard to write a graphics driver that open-sourcing it would not help." -- Andrew Fear, Software Product Manager, NVIDIA Corporation http://kerneltrap.org/node/7228
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