[Novalug] Community contribution

Jay Hart jhart@kevla.org
Tue Jan 22 11:19:21 EST 2008


Ted,

I agree with your points, but I think you missed my point about Apple.

Its not about how much market share they have , or haven't got, its their
design principles.  Would you, or most people on this list, agree that their
interfaces are very USER friendly, and for the most part easy to use??  I've
never looked at the iPhone, but from what I;ve read the interface is extremely
user friendly, intuitive, and build from the users perspective.

Jay

> Jay wrote:
>> WHat I'm saying is that we, as a community, must take the attitube
>> and appraoch that has served Apple so well:
>> ...
>> I think the community is doing better, but there needs to be a shift
>> (if it hasn't already occured) from what a developer wants, to what
>> the end user wants. And, the interface must be intuitive to use for
>> the end user.
>
> Two observations:
>
> 1. How well has it served Apple, really? How big is Apple's market
>    share? Is it significantly greater than that of, say, GNU/Linux?
>
> 2. You seem to take for granted that getting everyone to give up
>    Windows and switch to GNU/Linux is, if not "our" highest priority,
>    at least a very high one.
>
> I have no objection to free-riders joining our ranks, especially since
> a few of them will eventually make more useful contributions than
> whining and threatening to go back to Windows if they don't get
> exactly what they want when they want it. But it's certainly not a
> priority for me. I *want* the whiners to go back to Windows and leave
> us alone.
>
> I'm quite happy to focus on those already part of our community.
> Certainly we can improve our user interfaces, but let's not declare
> failure just because something isn't idiot-proof or requires some
> learning.
>
> Ted
>
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