Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2000 06:53:37 -0800 (PST) From: Jamie Bowden <ragnar@sysabend.org> To: Damien Tougas <damien@tougas.net> Cc: Terry Lambert <tlambert@primenet.com>, freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: GUIs are flawed Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.10.10002020648460.95542-100000@moo.sysabend.org> In-Reply-To: <20000202005349.A63885@tougas.net>
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On Wed, 2 Feb 2000, Damien Tougas wrote: :On Wed, Feb 02, 2000 at 01:02:54AM +0000, Terry Lambert wrote: :> I also believe that GUIs can be rationally utilized to encapsulate :> UNIX command line functionality; it's not the fault of the GUI :> paradigm that most GUI implementations fail the rationality test, :> it is the fault of their programmers, and of those who rail on :> about the impossibility of rationality in the first place. :I have to say that I totally agree with you on that one. A this point, :it seems like the designers of GUIs do try to implement some sort of :rational scheme, but often it is more at the programming level than it :is at the user level. As a user, I really don't care how the applications :talk to each other, but what I do care about is how I can make them :do what _I_ want. And when I mean "do what I want" I don't mean :change the look of the widgets through some sort of theme package, :I want to actually use programs together to make my job easier. So basically you want a Lego (TM) style GUI. Programs are obects with their own subset of objects (CLI options) that can be pieced together and then assembled into a greater whole (effectively pipes and redirects). Yes it could be done, and yes it could match CLI functionality and power without being the current mess of obfuscated nested menus. It would still be slower to use, though I personally don't think that would be a huge factor. Jamie Bowden -- "Of course, that's sort of like asking how other than Marketing, Microsoft is different from any other software company..." Kenneth G. Cavness To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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