Re: window-in-window MDI

[Tom Gilbert <gilbertt btinternet com>]

* Mo McKinlay (mmckinlay@labs.interopen.org) wrote:
> 
> # I think the main point is that it says "as far as GNOME is concerned,
> # WIW MDI is okay". GNOME is about creating a consistant desktop
> # environment, so this seems a contrary option.
> 
> I don't think this is the point at all; I think the point is "most of us
> don't like it, but you might - use it, don't use it, it's up to you". I
> don't really see how offering a choice about whether the user enables WiW
> or not is contary to the consistent desktop environment goal - certainly
> less so than letting the user choose which window manager they want to
> use. If GNOME offers this kind of wide reaching choice, then why is this
> small and unobtrusive (when disabled) option being chastised so? It seems
> to me that everybody is making a mountain out of a molehill.
> 
> # I can't wait to see the first "WIW MDI mode recommended for best
> # performance" app ;)
> 
> And that definitely *isn't* the point: in the same way that you won't get
> any apps which say "WindowMaker recommended for best performance" - okay,
> you might, but it would be really really really BAD. ;>

Look. It's not about what I think about WIW MDI. I never actually
mentioned my own feelings on the matter.

The *entire* IT industry is moving away from it because it is
fundamentally flawed. Under X it is even *more* flawed, because it
breaks fundamental app/wm/X interactions, and adds even *more*
confusion for users.

Like I say, why add an "Ugly interface" option to the settings dialog.
If a number of users wanted bright pink text on bright green
backgrounds, would you write the patch?

Why should we:
o write the code
o bugfix the code
o *maintain* the code into the future (this would have to be supported
  for the lifetime of GNOME
when all are agreed it is a fundamentally flawed concept?

Just remember that people ask for stuff all the time. Just last month,
people at my company pestered the absolute *hell* out of me to add a
feature "they couldn't live without" to an application I wrote for
them. I told them it was a flawed concept, but they couldn't see it.
So I spent a week writing it. They played with it for an hour or so,
and agreed it was bad, and toggled it off instantly, never to be seen
again.

For me, just a wasted week or so. For GNOME, it would have to be
supported and maintained, not to mention defended when people
criticise our inclusion of a flawed interface design.

Why? There's more than enough other work that needs doing =)

Tom.
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