TommyWillB
Registered
Generally I'd have a strong opinion on something like this, but it seems clear to me that this is a very complex situation that requires some smart, but subtle, solutions.
The kinds of questions this discussion leads me to ask myself are:
1) Are some of the differences between Classic, Carbon, and Coco (especially the latter two) something that will disapear over time or will these two things continue doing things differently for the forseeable future?
2) We are fairly technical people here, so we can comprehend the technical reasons why one programs windows might behave different than anothers. However, I am failry certain this would not pass the "Mom test".
So the question here is this something that needs to be worked out to make it better for Mom, or is this one of those areas in which Mom will need to do some learning and become more sophisticated? (My Mom is awesome. She has come to understand a great deal more complex stuff than I would have ever expected. This gives me great hope that the lowest common denominator bar will rise over time. :-> )
3) One of the things about Linux's Gnome/KDE, OS 9's Kalidescope, and similar things is that the power to customize the look of our machines is something we like. However I don't think many of us consider the subtle differences between just slapping on new interface widgets and actually having control over the subtle ways these widgets act.
IMHO Apple could lead the pack here. They could combine the best parts of UI customization with the added power to also control the human interface metrics strobe mentioned... And Apple is the one company on earth that could do this well and also make it understandable to people who don't know what all of these UI, HI, and other acronyms mean...
Even more Apple could do all of this in such a way that it is part of the OS and something that classic/carbon/coco/java swing and all other developers get "for free". These are complex things and making this easy for developers is just as important as making the end result easy for Mom to use.
Sometimes simplfying questions is good, but I also like digging in to see just how complex they really are. This helps me get a better sense of the larger issues... Sorry if this rambled too much.
The kinds of questions this discussion leads me to ask myself are:
1) Are some of the differences between Classic, Carbon, and Coco (especially the latter two) something that will disapear over time or will these two things continue doing things differently for the forseeable future?
2) We are fairly technical people here, so we can comprehend the technical reasons why one programs windows might behave different than anothers. However, I am failry certain this would not pass the "Mom test".
So the question here is this something that needs to be worked out to make it better for Mom, or is this one of those areas in which Mom will need to do some learning and become more sophisticated? (My Mom is awesome. She has come to understand a great deal more complex stuff than I would have ever expected. This gives me great hope that the lowest common denominator bar will rise over time. :-> )
3) One of the things about Linux's Gnome/KDE, OS 9's Kalidescope, and similar things is that the power to customize the look of our machines is something we like. However I don't think many of us consider the subtle differences between just slapping on new interface widgets and actually having control over the subtle ways these widgets act.
IMHO Apple could lead the pack here. They could combine the best parts of UI customization with the added power to also control the human interface metrics strobe mentioned... And Apple is the one company on earth that could do this well and also make it understandable to people who don't know what all of these UI, HI, and other acronyms mean...
Even more Apple could do all of this in such a way that it is part of the OS and something that classic/carbon/coco/java swing and all other developers get "for free". These are complex things and making this easy for developers is just as important as making the end result easy for Mom to use.
Sometimes simplfying questions is good, but I also like digging in to see just how complex they really are. This helps me get a better sense of the larger issues... Sorry if this rambled too much.