Re: GNOME Usability Improvements - Fix the window manager!

[Michael Fulbright <msf redhat com>]

On Mon, Aug 02, 1999 at 08:49:58AM -0700, Matt Craun wrote:
> Your asking for alot more trouble
> than you realize by saying that maybe there should be a window's manager for
> gnome.  Once a manager is created for gnome, new users will assume that is
> the only one out there for gnome. You ended up with the debate over wheither
> this one is better than that one, which will bring a limit in the minds of
> those new users to the plethora of options available. You then begin to
> start a nasty dialog that would end result in dividing the community as a
> whole. What should be the issue here is improving gnome to do what desktop
> software has never gone before. If a team needs to be constructed to do this
> then great, do it. 

How is this different than what we have now?  A new user doesn't usually
even know (or care to know) what a window manager is.  When they run GNOME
the first time there will be some window manager running.  They are just
as likely to think that is the only option available if that window manger
is Enlightenment, 9wm, twm, ctwm, etc as if it were a window manager that
was actually engineered to work more closely with GNOME than any legacy
window manager. I think you are both overestimating how much most people
care about things like window managers and simultaneously understimating
their ability to discover that there are other options available if they
choose to try them out.  From people I know who run windows help desk I 
have yet to here them having problems with the fact windows only has
one "window manager".  The class of problems that you have to worry about
for new users are things like "How do I format a floppy?" and "How do I
get these files onto Bob's machine?".  We don't do either of these well
w/o a MIS person around unfortunately.

I want to transcend above the holy war of which window manager is best and
simply give users a good solid starting point that will just work.  If they
are motivated I'm sure they'll hear all about the other options from
their friends/coworkers/slashdot and will try them, thanks to the fact we are 
going to have a nice GNOME/KDE window manager spec.

Michael Fulbright
drmike@redhat.com
Director - Red Hat Advanced Development Labs