[clug-talk] Things I hate about the Gnome interface

[Mike Bougie]

exactly why I switched to KDE. I so not like being thought of as a dumb-user.


On 1/19/06, Gustin Johnson <gustin at echostar.ca> wrote:
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> Disclaimer: I am tired and frustrated so I have little patience.  I also
> know that there is a flamewar between Gnome and KDE right now, so
> ranting about Gnome is probably not a good idea.
>
> I like thunderbird and firefox.  I do not like using them.
> Specifically, how they handle file types and saving files.  Why can I
> not associate kpdf with pdf files?  Thunderbird lets me change this
> every time I want to open a PDF but it will not let me change the
> default away from kghostview. It also forces me to browse to a program
> location, and on a debian box, /usr/bin takes a while to refresh (I now
> create symlinks to often used programs in ~/bin).  Why can I not simply
> type the path to the program I want to use?
>
> When saving files in firefox, I have 3 choices, ~/, ~/Desktop, or the
> last place I saved a similar file.  Same limitations as thunderbird
> (must browse and select program with the mouse, which is nasty when
> everything is in /usr/bin), or adding extra clicks if I want to save to
> a different folder.
>
> The file browser that ships with Gnome has successfully rolled the clock
> back 10 years in usability.  Every time you open a folder it opens it in
> a new window.  At least windows 95 made this easy to change.
>
> So, in summary, using gnome and gnome like apps reminds me of my
> experiences with windows 3.x and 95.
>
> I am sure that the Gnome folks have good reasons for their interface
> choices, I just happen to think that they are wrong.  Apparently I am
> not the only one.
>
> One of my favorite quotes is by Mango Parfait of TUX Magazine:
>
> *" Hint to GNOME developers: some of GNOME is okay, but most of it works
> like you hate users. Some of GNOME runs like you think users are too stupid
> to wipe themselves. What do you do for these users? You do not make GNOME
> easy. You just take away their toilet paper and force users to wipe
> themselves your way. Some of GNOME runs like you want users to suffer. The
> file open and save dialog is worse than bamboo shoots under fingernails.
> Better to call Nautilus an attack from space invaders than a spacial file
> manager. Here is my advice. Make your monkey-brain environment a
> configuration option if you want to keep using GNOME your way. The rest of
> us are not monkeys. Give us a default desktop for humans. If you keep having
> no clue, less and less people will use GNOME, and the only GNOME users will
> be monkey-brain GNOME developers. "
>
>
> Gnome for me is like microsoft, they 70 odd percent that they get right
> they really get right (Kerberos made easy, who would have thought), but
> the stuff they get wrong is so horribly wrong, that it makes computing a
> painful experience.  Many thanks go out to the KDE developers who's work
> reminds me that using my computer should be fun *and* productive.
>
>
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