[Discuss] Linux desktop consistency

[gaf at blu.org (Jerry Feldman)]

On 02/11/2012 09:13 AM, Richard Pieri wrote:
> On Feb 11, 2012, at 2:16 AM, Tom Metro wrote:
>> I'm not doubting this is the case, but can you give a few examples?
>> Are the differences largely superficial?
> I thought I did.  Put Debian GNOME, Red Hat GNOME and Ubuntu GNOME side by side and see for yourself.
>
>
>> Sure, it would be nice if the top 2 or 3 desktop Linux distributions had
>> consistent UIs, but really is this something that has a practical impact
>> on usability, if the largest percentage of new users being exposed to
>> Linux are only having to deal with one distribution, and with a
>> substantial probability that it will be Ubuntu?
> This is the same argument that Google uses to rationalize the fragmentation of Android UIs across many vendors' products.  I see it as nothing more than a slippery slope, because the changes are made for branding rather than usability, and that's just wrong for user interfaces.
>
> FWIW, I can counter that myself: HTC applies Sense to all of its products so that all of its products have the same UI regardless of the OS underneath.  This is a good UI model to follow, at least for those who stick to HTC products.
>
> It's a big, complicated mess.  Maybe either GNOME 3 or Unity is the solution.  I don't know.  I don't see it but that's just my opinion.
>
And Motorola puts MotoBlur on. The issue here is that each vendor
(Adroid or Linux) has a tendency to differentiate. This is what happened
in the Unix community. In some cases teh engineers get involved and
"improve" things, and in other cases the marketing or product management
people get involved.

-- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Boston Linux and Unix
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