Re: [LAD] User eXperience in Linux Audio

On Tue, Apr 21, 2015 at 08:16:05AM +0200, Thijs van severen wrote: We also need to be aware of the following: * Developers are not necessarily coding nerds who are completely isolated from the daily practice of using software. Most of them on this list are actually users themselves. * If a developer holds some views that go against those of the average user he will have some very good reasons for that. There is *no reason at all* to assume that the average user's ideas are 'the right ones'. Most people prefer unhealthy food with a high salt/fat/sugar content. Never mind if they get diabetes sooner or later. If someone goes against that and produces some healthy food then I don't think that is 'a very wrong attitude' as you put it. * They way typical Windows SW works is not dictated by user interest. If it were no user would ever have any reason to abondon Windows and go for Linux. It is determined entirely by the short-term views of marketeers. There is no reason at all to assume that the same logic should apply to free open source software. * Every time the Linux community adopts some stupid Windows 'standard' for the sole reason that it is 'what users expect', this goes against its own long term interests. If Linux ever becomes the perfect Windows clone then it has destroyed its main reason to exist, which is to be different and better. Regarding splash screens: yes, some apps take a long time to start up. In most cases that is because they have either become bloated themselves, or depend on interaction with bloated desktop environments. That is by itself good reason for concern. Using a splash screen to fix that is at best a bandaid. That doesn't mean that a splash screen is by itself a bad idea - but it certainly is if its only reason to exist is to hide the results of crappy design. Regarding shortcuts for close/quit etc.: they are not always wanted. When I'm recording live I don't want any single key or mouse click to accidentally interfere with that. It's bad enough with e.g. Ardour's GUI - every single pixel of it will do something when clicked on, and the result is not always so benign. I've had a musician dropping his shoulder bag on a cable to a cardbus interface during a live recording. This ripped out the card and destroyed the mechanical card locking system. So having an accidental click or key pushed is not at all such a remote risk. Ciao, -- FA A world of exhaustive, reliable metadata would be an utopia. It's also a pipe-dream, founded on self-delusion, nerd hubris and hysterically inflated market opportunities. (Cory Doctorow)