Re: focus! (was Re: Focusing on innovation re: mono, python et al)

[Rich Burridge <Rich Burridge Sun COM>]

Dan Winship wrote:
> Rich Burridge wrote:
>   
> > I've seen GNOME steadily improve over the last few years, but it still
> > doesn't have a cohesive wholeness to it. One of the problems in this
> > respect is that different distros customize GNOME as they see fit.
> >     
>
> That's totally backwards. GNOME doesn't have a cohesive wholeness
> because *it's not a cohesive whole*. It's a part. The distros *need* to
> make changes to integrate GNOME with the rest of the distro and *make* a
> cohesive whole.
>   

Fair enough. This is the Novell desktop (based on GNOME). I'm sure I 
could dig
up some comments on the Sun JDS (based on GNOME) desktop too. My concern
here is that each of these desktops will have a different look&feel that 
goes beyond
what the "GNOME desktop" provides. A user that is used to one, won't 
necessarily
be automatically "at home" on the other. Other distro's provide their 
own look&feel
which will be different again.

One of the things I like about the Mac OS X desktop (and Windows Xp desktop
for that matter), is that all applications provided by the vendor have a 
consistent
look&feel. If I'm familiar with one application on that platform, then I 
can apply
that knowledge as I'm learning a new one. This isn't true of all 
applications
on the various GNOME desktops.

What I'd like to see is more "cohesive wholeness" bought done to the common
denominator. The underlying "GNOME desktop" that all these distros 
start  from.