Is Linus starting something...?

[Gowator]

Well, it gathered over 1000 comments on a day to a holy flame-feast a lá carde.

 

Personally I don't give a ¤&¤"/ what Linus say. Every time that man says something he insults, swearing and makes a riot gang look like a royal supper for the queen.

 

If he for once used some diplomacy to express his views he could get far....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yep but he's an engineer and not blessed with great social skills in some areas but equally brilliant in others. Like I said earlier he's just a guy. If we put him on pedastals and he doesn't measure up then only we are to blame.

[Aomighty]

Besides being entitled to his views, it's not like he posted it loud and clear on slashdot for all to hear or something. He was on a Gnome developer's mailing list, for crying out loud! He didn't exactly shout it to the world. Personally, I wish it never would've been slashdotted, after all, what did they think would happen if they put it up? :)

 

It's also important to note that he posted it on the Gnome mailing list, not the KDE one. I'm guessing it was in more in a tone of hoping they'd improve rather than needless bashing. Linus has a history of a harsh temper at first, but he cools down later (Linux is obselete!!!).

[polemicz]

Linus has always disliked Gnome and let it be known that he thinks KDE is superior. The tone in his piece on the Gnome board is very petty and in poor taste. He could have said what he doesn't like about the print menu and left it at that, but he childishly had to put in that bit about just using KDE. Personally I have tried Gnome, but have never been able to like it, so I continue to use KDE and from time to time login to Gnome.

[tyme]

Besides being entitled to his views, it's not like he posted it loud and clear on slashdot for all to hear or something. He was on a Gnome developer's mailing list, for crying out loud! He didn't exactly shout it to the world. Personally, I wish it never would've been slashdotted, after all, what did they think would happen if they put it up? :)

That's what slashdoters like. It's their soap opera.

 

It's also important to note that he posted it on the Gnome mailing list, not the KDE one. I'm guessing it was in more in a tone of hoping they'd improve rather than needless bashing. Linus has a history of a harsh temper at first, but he cools down later (Linux is obselete!!!).

theres a difference between constructive criticism and flat out bashing. If you read his tone and what he said, it was flat out bashing - he basically told them GNOME was crap and people shouldn't even use it. "Please, just tell people to use KDE." - not constructive criticism ;)

[Aomighty]

It must suck to be famous. It seems you're never allowed to have any off-days, because there's always someone waiting to pounce on you :).

 

Maybe you're right about his tone, I just don't know :).

[ianw1974]

And when you do have an off-day, because everyone knows you, they just think "to$$er" :P

[uralmasha]

theres a difference between constructive criticism and flat out bashing.  If you read his tone and what he said, it was flat out bashing - he basically told them GNOME was crap and people shouldn't even use it.  "Please, just tell people to use KDE." - not constructive criticism ;)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Well I read the further discussion on that list. Linus Torvalds does give a ton of constructive criticism down the thread. In the light of that whole discussion (printing dialogues in Gnome), L.T. is darn right.

[tyme]

It must suck to be famous. It seems you're never allowed to have any off-days, because there's always someone waiting to pounce on you :).

 

Maybe you're right about his tone, I just don't know :).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hey, I get pounced on everyday by my friends (no, not like that) for the things I say that are wrong. Being famous just means there's more people to do it, but it shouldn't be anything new :P

[arctic]

]If you think your users are idiots, only idiots will

use it.

Okay, so be it, Then I am an idiot. :P

 

Honestly, Linus is allowed to express his opinion like anyone else and he has preferences like anyone else. Now I am a Gnome user, but I do not see a reason to start a flamewar due to his preference of KDE and his criticism of Gnome. Why? Because he is right to a certain degree. Lately, Gnome-devs tend to make Gnome over simplistic, ripping one feature and another feature out of the Desktop. Last victim was the right-click -> terminal launch option in the menu. It can be restored but... why did they do it? Because the CLI could confuse users. That's bullsh**** imho. Everyone I know (and who made his opinion known) complained lately because of these changes. If the Gnome-team continues the path they are taking now, I can just as easily use IceWM. Reduced options that don't confuse users. Baaaahhhh....!

 

I hope the Gnome-devs wake up a bit and start thinking about improving Gnome without ripping everything out of it.

 

Just my two cents.

[fangbite]

The thing I wonder why people haven't mentioned is all of those other wms that were just tossed to the wayside. "Just tell people to use KDE". What about XFCE, IceWM, Blackbox etc (ok, so at least Linus didn't call them crap)? Personally, I prefer KDE because its very familar to me (raised on winblows) and I like what customizability it has. Linus was a bit childish with the comments imho, but he has every right to say what he wants. Thats what free speech is all about.

[tyme]

GNOME and KDE are the two main desktop environments, and really are the only ones taken seriously as a desktop solution. WM's are just that, WM's - not really solutions for the general desktop user ;)

[Darkelve]

The problem is he's an expert on hacking but not on usability. Because of his icon status people are taking his comments too seriously. Because he is an authority.

 

But they forget he is not an authority on this field. Important thing is that they get people knowledgeable on usability working on this, which is what both KDE and Gnome are already doing.

Edited December 16, 2005 by Darkelve

[Reiver_Fluffi]

The problem is he's an expert on hacking but not on usability. Because of his icon status people are taking his comments too seriously. Because he is an authority.

 

But they forget he is not an authority on this field. Important thing is that they get people knowledgeable on usability working on this, which is what both KDE and Gnome are already doing.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

That's more or less what I was thinking, what I said just didn't tie up.

 

(Yes i'm back, couldn't resist ;) )

[solarian]

I've been checking out Gnome from time to time and it has now been so simplified that it has lost its' usability for me.

KDE and Fluxbox are my two favourite ones - taking in mind usability and aesthetics.

[Gowator]

I've been checking out Gnome from time to time and it has now been so simplified that it has lost its' usability for me.

KDE and Fluxbox are my two favourite ones - taking in mind usability and aesthetics.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Im in this camp. The learning curve for gnome is sinusoidal ... it starts off simple but as soon as you wanna do something personal with it ... its super complex. (Reminding me of Windows)

KDE on the other hand is a more linear complexity that increases as you dig deeper.

 

I guess if you used Gnome all through from 0.X its less complex than it may seem but compared to giving it a noobie to linux its much more complex to get from just using to customizing.