GTA03 case should incorporate stylus holder

[Stroller]

On 5 Jun 2008, at 18:46, Michael 'Mickey' Lauer wrote:
> On Thursday 05 June 2008 18:04:32 Stroller wrote:
>> On 5 Jun 2008, at 15:38, Ron K. Jeffries wrote:
>>> Can the revised case for GTA03 *please* be designed
>>> to hold a stylus?
>>
>> Nooooooo!
>>
>> Stylii are EVIL!
>>
>> If I can't operate an app with my fingers, then there's no place for
>> that app on my mobile phone!
>
> A stylus is inevitable given a certain combination of application  
> type and
> physical display size.
>
> That doesn't mean that we will not write all our apps finger- 
> compatible (we
> also hate stylii),

I think what you're saying there is that 1st-party apps will be  
finger-compatible, but that "ported" applications are not sure to be  
optimised for finger use.

> _but_ being an open device, we should not lock out people
> who _need_ to have lots of tiny stuff on their screen hence need to  
> operate
> with a stylus.

If the Openmoko dream is a beautiful, consistent interface that  
doesn't need a stylus, then including a slot for one is kinda an  
admission of defeat.

Surely most end-users are - in the long-term future of Openmoko -  
going to use mostly the preinstalled applications, or the "core  
distro" and only add one or two extra applications. Sure, developers  
of those additional apps are going to need stylii, as they compile  
Thunderbird   for ARM architecture and the buttons are really tiny,  
but the aim of applications coming-on-board to Openmoko should surely  
to be finger-capable.

Including a stylus holder just allows developers to say, "oh, fingers  
don't matter".

There are a dozen "smartphones" out there that I can buy now with  
tiny little touchscreens that need a stylus, but these are used only  
by geeks. The majority of people buy still buy phones with a number  
pad and some kind of navigating aid (a tiny wheel, or joystick nub,  
or up-down-left-right arrow buttons). Why is this? Probably because  
people like using their fingers to access their phone. I know this is  
an old, and perhaps divisive, debate, where never the twain will  
meet, but Openmoko has a great opportunity here to make a phone that  
combines power with ease-of-use. Enable anyone to install extra apps  
on their phone, and *anyone* to use it. A fiddly stylus just makes  
the device less accessible.

Stroller.