[OT] compiz and other unproductive candy

[adam at sollentunaholm.se]

> Op Thursday 12 June 2008 09:15:10 schreef Cedric Cellier:
>> -[ Wed, Jun 11, 2008 at 04:13:19PM +0100, Andy Powell ]----
>>
>> > > And better yet for productivity, at least for a developper : do not
>> use
>> > > any "workspace" that require management. :-)
>> >
>> > Sorry, but that just doesn't make sense at all. If I'm doing web
>> > development I'll open multiple windows, a browser a couple of shells,
>> if
>> > I'm doing c work I'll have a couple of shells, possibly glade
>> running...
>> > these are all tools of the trade and compiz allows good clean
>> management
>> > of those windows which can be spread over however many faces on your
>> > 'cube' you decide to have.
>>
>> Stop kidding yourself. All these things are not computing but plain
>> entertainment.
>>
>> Ken Thompson, who once punched the first Unix in a month, is believed to
>> have said that "one don't need to see the state of a file when editing
>> it" (refering to full screen editors).
>>
>> I don't mean that no graphics is usefull, but there sure is something
>> rotten in here. That is entertainment that drives UI, not usefullness
>> (except in some degree what comes from Apple).
>>
>> Friendly,
>
> A little entertainment while working doesn't hurt me. Why do offices have
> pictures on the wall? They aren't necessary either, but they improve the
> atmosphere, and they improve the productivity. Why else would employers
> put
> these pictures there?
>
> And is OM wants to sell phones to other people than Ken Tompson and other
> geeks, they will need a nice UI. I've seen a statement somewhere on the OM
> site that they hoped GTA2 would be bought by our parents... These are
> people
> who would happily invest some electricity in the rendering of a UI. So I
> think it's in everyones interest that OM is standard supplied with a nice
> UI.
> That would make the OM profitable and only than they will be able to make
> GTA3 to GTAxx. Geeks who don't need/want the nice UI can always switch it
> off. That's the beauty of Linux. Just press CTRL-AT-F1 and you're rid of
> KDE/GNOME/Fluxbox... I don't think it would be any harder on the OM.
>
> Peter
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I agree with Andy and Peter without actually having tried compiz.

Isn't a good design when something looks awesome but still retains it
usefulness?

One should ofc aim for both, even when the biggest market are shell-geek
developers. The developers and powerusers can easily (pretty) turn off
nifty graphics whereas a consumer will expect it from the beginning.

And when we see regular people holding OM phones in their hands, we know
we've spread the OSS philosophy, if only a little seed, it might be the
spark to set a revolution in motion.

That's what we all want, no?