Re: First Impressions of GNUStep

[MJ Ray]

Raphael Bosshard <whistler@bluewin.ch> wrote:
> I just recently discovered GNUStep, so some of the impressions may be 
> inaccurate or even wrong, but people judge by first impressions. And 

That's fine.  Thanks for your help.  Similarly, my answers are mine
only.

> - Where is the taskbar, dammit? It's quite a change if you are used to 
> Gnome (in my case) or KDE. Heck, even OSX has a "taskbar" these days.
> - Windows covering other windows of the same application. [...]

You should see the little app icons line up along the edge of the screen
as you start them. Clicking them *should* top that apps' window and give
you access to its Windows menu, I believe. Modal windows are evil, IMO.

> The menubar (in my humble conditioned opinion) should stick somewhere 
> where it doesn't interfere with the other application windows. And it 
> should probably be horizontal aligned - it's more desktop-space 
> preserving this way.

But it's so slow to navigate horizontal menus!  Displays are big now, but
I only have one set of wrist tendons.

> - Accessability. There should be more keyboard support, for lists and 
> such stuff. [...]

Agreed.

> - Applications: There are very few native GNUStep-Applications and there 

Not sure about "very few" but probably still not enough.

> - Look and Feel. GNUStep feels and looks like a desktop of the nineties. 
[...]
> Last, but not least: GNUStep is no eye-candy. Really. Maybe a new 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  Feel in the hand of the fondler.
I think we should do this one consistently before starting to mess with it.

> Splitting the GNUStep-Project into two seperate projects (GNUStep 
> Framework and GNUStep Desktop) would be a good idea.

I'm not sure.  I think it's already de facto split roughly along
those lines, between framework and apps, while we look to the likes of
SimplyGNUstep and LinuxSTEP to assemble desktops.

> Questions:
> - How difficult would it be to implement gnome-vfs-like features. Could 
> gnome-vfs even used for stuff like smb/bzip/ftp-browsing?

Put it in the kernel (like lufs or avfs) or use translators.

> - Does GNUStep intent to support freedesktop.org?

I do.  Don't know whether there's a policy yet.

> - Should GNUStep be a unix-hacker only desktop or also a desktop for 
> Uncle Tom?

Evvveryone, but not sacrificing our soul like some have ;-)

-- 
MJR/slef   My Opinion Only and possibly not of any group I know.
      http://mjr.towers.org.uk/   jabber://slef@jabber.at
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       Thought: "Changeset algebra is really difficult."