Re: tlug: Fw: Could Linux Kill NT?

[Manuel Chakravarty <chak@example.com>]

Chiew Farn Chung <cfchung@example.com> wrote,

> > What is needed are detailed guidelines how a Linux GUI has
> > to look-and-feel.
> 
> Actually I'd resent that. The reason I stuck stubbornly with Linux is
> because no one could force me with a certain set of "look-and-feel", and
> I could customize my own workspace to the limit of my imagination and
> whatever is most productive for me. I hate NT's GUI since it's so
> uncustomizable but then again there's basically nothing much that I can
> do about it. The job I got is to develop NT/95 apps.

Please don't cite me out of context!  Before the sentence
that you cited, I wrote

  The great thing about Linux et al. is that you can configure
  and adapt everything.  So for me a Linux GUI would allow you
  to configure it (and be by default configured) to have a
  standard look-and-feel, which fits in a business
  enviironment.  Still, it should allow you to change the look 
  (and feel?) in a way that is largely transparent to the
  application. 

Of course, we don't want to give up the customizability (is
that acceptable English?).  Nevertheless, there should be a
*common default* look-and-feel.  This is important for the
`masses' and it is quite convenient when you start to use a
new application and have some key bindings and menu
organization etc that you find familiar (even for the hacker 
type of user).

Ideally the mechanisms that allow the customization should
be part of the guidelines, which makes customization easier
and ensures that a new application won't be upset when
started in the environment of Joe Hacker.  This might be the 
killer feature, where a Linux GUI could exceed Win et al.

Manuel
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