Re: End of the past... things to come...

[sopwith redhat com (Elliot Lee)]

On 1 Jun 1999 18:04:32 -0400, Tom Gilbert
<gilbertt@tomgilbert.freeserve.co.uk> wrote:

>I'll tell you another thing too. They'd sell enough copies to take over
>the world. Companies want ease of setup and use, and RH are thinking like
>a sensible commercial company when they steer towards setups involving
>*less* configuration options.

I hate to continue threads like this, especially when they arise out of
misunderstandings rather than hard facts.

However, allow me to rant slightly:

It's funny how people can think that "Red Hat wants simpler, less
configuration options, etc." when the development of the GNOME control center
(architecture and interface for accessing configuration settings) was paid
for by RH (jrb@redhat.com is the author of gnomecc and many of the capplets,
and yours truly even managed to write one :-)

A goal of GNOME is definitely to make things simpler for new users. It was
that way before RH even started to help out with GNOME development, and that
goal will continue to be one of the primary foci of the project. If the GNOME
desktop does not meet the needs of computer neophytes who want a simple
desktop, it will fail.

Another goal of GNOME is complete configurability. It was that way before RH
even started to help out with GNOME development, and that goal will continue
to be one of the primary foci of the project. If the GNOME desktop does not
meet the needs of advanced computer users who want total control, it will
fail.

The two goals are not contradictory.

GNOME hackers, talented as they may be, are not mind readers. That's why you
have to bring up any missing configuration items. Are there any specific
configuration options that you want and need help writing? gnome-devel-list
is there for that purpose.

As far as Red Hat including E in the distribution, it's a window manager that
many people like and find useful, so there is no reason it would get any less
consideration than other wm's for inclusion in the distribution. Just because
it is more configurable doesn't make it less desirable.

Hope this helps,
-- Elliot
No, this is not Red Hat speaking to you. Please let me speak for myself only.