Without tip-toeing around the matter, Linus Torvalds made his preference in the GNOME vs. KDE matter quite clear on the GNOME-usability list: "I personally just encourage people to switch to KDE. This 'users are idiots, and are confused by functionality' mentality of Gnome is a disease. If you think your users are idiots, only idiots will use it. I don't use Gnome, because in striving to be simple, it has long since reached the point where it simply doesn't do what I need it to do. Please, just tell people to use KDE." Also, "Gnome seems to be developed by interface nazis, where consistently the excuse for not doing something is not 'it's too complicated to do', but 'it would confuse users'." Update: More of the discussion here.
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Member since:2005-11-12
Member since:2005-10-06
Member since:2005-07-10
Well, I would tend to disagree with you. Though this has probably been over-analyzed a gazillion times, which is a lot, I believe that his point was that they're dumbing it down in order for complete idiots to be able to use it. Though these are less than diplomatic terms, I guess he's trying to get across is that he's sick of them removing and refusing to implement features that are needed, all in the name of "useability".
Also, would I be correct in saying that you believe that "if gnome is developed for newbies, then you are also a newbie if you like it"? It seems that you are just trying to cry foul just because you disagree with him...
Also, I personally take the term "interface nazi" about as harshly as "soup nazi" or "grammar nazi". I.e. not at all. If you take offense to such phrases, I suggest you stay away from mainstream media, Usenet, Slashdot, OSnews, and any other venue in which discussions are taking place.
Member since:
2005-07-10
I think you need to read those emails again. He's saying that GNOME is treating their users as idiots, not that their developers are idiots. I can't really see why anybody modded you up for that. If they actually read TFA, that is...