Overly Chatty Penguins

The Ready Room => Off Topic => Topic started by: Niteowl on January 31, 2005, 04:39:32 PM

Title: Something I've long suspected
Post by: Niteowl on January 31, 2005, 04:39:32 PM

What do y'all think? Open Source Software really does seem to consistently push out some ATROCIOUS UI. The only OSS that I know of that isn't complete crap to work with is Firefox and T-bird. Are there any OSS that's acutally somewhat easy to learn/use?

Photoshop>Gimp
IntelliJ>Eclipse
Invision>phpBB

Title: Something I've long suspected
Post by: SwiftSpear on January 31, 2005, 05:25:32 PM

not exactly one of the mysteries of the universe there, OSSers just prioritize functionality over ease of use and learning curve, where as commercial developers usually of do the opposite, and then support functionality after the fact.

Title: Something I've long suspected
Post by: DruBo on January 31, 2005, 06:51:41 PM

GAIM has a good interface.

And there's lots of non-ported linux software with excellent interfaces.

There's also a lot of crap, but there's a lot of crap windows software too.

Title: Something I've long suspected
Post by: Nuketheplace on January 31, 2005, 08:16:07 PM

I have 2 words for you Open Office (http://www.openoffice.org/).  I love it, I don't think I'll go back to using word.

Title: Something I've long suspected
Post by: BobTheJanitor on January 31, 2005, 08:49:05 PM

Tis just the nature of the beast I think. You have to look at the reason why people who write these programs do what they do. Commercial developers write to make money. You make money by being as attractive as possible to the greatest number of people. And the fact is that a majority of the people in the world care more about things like ease of use and pretty interfaces than about powerful functionality.

On the other hand, open source developers are writing code for themselves and no one else. The oss mantra is pretty much 'this is what I like, and if you wanna mess around with it too, feel free'. There's nothing wrong with either of these approaches, and comparing them is an exercise in futility, because they're just not even working in the same worlds. This is why the hordes of sweaty geeks posting on slashdot "Micro$oft sucks! Linux will rule the world!" need to put up or shut up. Sure linux et al. are attractive to a limited segment of technical people, but without a lot of polish and simplification of basic functions, it's not going to ever amount to anything that the huge mom and pop and granny segment are going to use. And the very nature of open source software means that there can't ever be a monetary reward, and thus no reason to shine up the software to attract mom and pop. Oh what a painful and twisted world we live in!

Title: Something I've long suspected
Post by: Black Mage on February 01, 2005, 08:50:08 AM

can't hurt to try (http://lainos.sourceforge.net/about.php)

Title: Something I've long suspected
Post by: devicenull on February 01, 2005, 09:28:51 AM

I like phpbb's interface better then invisions, and gimp is a bit better then photoshop.. but the interface really doesn't matter to me too much.. I much prefer a commandline over a nice gui ;)

You can't beat openoffice.org though.


Nuke>

Quote

   7.  Why should we say "OpenOffice.org" instead of simply "OpenOffice"?

      The trademark for "OpenOffice" belongs to someone else. Therefore we must use "OpenOffice.org" when referring to this open source project and its software.

Right out of the FAQ ;)

Title: Something I've long suspected
Post by: Fewlio on February 01, 2005, 09:01:43 PM

Quote

but without a lot of polish and simplification of basic functions, it's not going to ever amount to anything that the huge mom and pop and granny segment are going to use.

[snapback]39704[/snapback]

Then why does Apple have such a small userbase? I mean, Windows is tough because the simplification of everything makes it MORE complicated, while Macs have everything just sitting right in front of you with a big pretty button.

Title: Something I've long suspected
Post by: Niteowl on February 02, 2005, 09:59:24 AM

Quote

Quote

but without a lot of polish and simplification of basic functions, it's not going to ever amount to anything that the huge mom and pop and granny segment are going to use.

[snapback]39704[/snapback]

Then why does Apple have such a small userbase? I mean, Windows is tough because the simplification of everything makes it MORE complicated, while Macs have everything just sitting right in front of you with a big pretty button.

[snapback]39775[/snapback]

Two words babay:

Game z0rs.

Title: Something I've long suspected
Post by: Isamil on February 02, 2005, 02:34:54 PM

I hate the phbBB interface.