[CS-FSLUG] Re: [Foss-cafe] NI: OfB.biz: I GNU It!

[Robert W.]

On 07/23/2005 08:44:35 PM, tbutler at ofb.biz wrote:
> Want to know what really changed my mind? I decided I was working for  
> the computer, rather than the computer working for me. When I  
> realized I had lost all the joy of working on computers, KDE lost its  
> appeal. I realized I wanted to get my work done and have time to work  
> on some creative writing or read a book... While, for the moment, I'm  
> a IT guy, I'd like to move on, and when I do, I'd like to quit fixing  
> computers and spend my time just using them. A start is finding a  
> system that doesn't require tweaking and repairing.

Darn entropy. It keeps breaking everything :)

Seriously though, what else would you expect? My car requires tweaking  
(new gas every two weeks). More often than I like, it needs repair too.  
I think Aaron found the real issue with his offer for adminning. The  
work won't go away. The change occurs in who does the work.

> See, here's the Mac philosophy. I think it is one that Firefox and  
> GNOME are trying to learn: A computer is a tool; a tool should help  
> me get other stuff done. If I buy a screwdriver and spend more time  
> tweaking it and fixing it than screwing in screws, I'd feel, well,  
> screwed. When I would install KDE, I had a multi-hour regmine in  
> which I would fix ugly toolbars, take away useless icons, etc., etc.  
> It was stupid. In OS X, I can tweak stuff, but everything looks good
> and works fine right of the box. I found the same to be true for me  
> in GNOME, to a somewhat lesser extent.

I do software development for a living. Our's is a niche market, so my  
company is behind in the technology curve. This last year I got the  
chance to research the Rational Unified Process for developing  
software. That process stresses "Use Cases". You start every piece of  
software by asking users "what do you want to do".

It's the same idea Tim expressed: the computer is a tool for some other  
goal. When software authors try to meet our goals, the software feels  
better. When the goals are different, you get this feeling that it's  
just not quite right.

-- 
Robert W.
robertwo at insightbb.com

And the LORD said... "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I
will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." -- Exodus 33:19b