Peter Schuller wrote:
>It's a dead end. Complain - and you are told to fix it.
>Fix it, and no one does anything with the fix.

Really? Then how do you account for over 1300 change sets have been folded
into Squeak since 3.0?

Quite a few small (but attractive) UI improvements have been added to the
official release since 3.0. An incremental/evolutionary approach has a
greater chance of acceptance than a major overhaul. Many of us care about
backwards-compatibility and stability.

How long did it take Microsoft, with its abundant financial resources, to
create a graphical user interface on top of DOS that rivaled Macintosh?
Check it out here (or search the Internet for "Windows 1.0"):

http://members.fortunecity.com/pcmuseum/windows.htm

The answer: about 14 years from Interface Manager (1981) to the release of
Windows 95.

And Squeak isn't a shrink-wrapped operating system. It's a developer's tool.
It's a place for OO exploration. It's free. You have full access to the
source code, enabling you to change anything you don't like. What more do
you want?

Squeak is evolving. Personally, I think it's evolving faster than some
vendors are capable of.

Chris Becker


-----Original Message-----
From:	squeak-dev-admin at lists.squeakfoundation.org
[mailto:squeak-dev-admin at lists.squeakfoundation.org] On Behalf Of Peter
Schuller
Sent:	Sunday, July 07, 2002 6:26 PM
To:	squeak-dev at lists.squeakfoundation.org
Subject:	Re: Improving the aesthetics and usability of Squeak

> There are no vendors here to complain to. Please organize an effort
> to make Squeak look better if that is what you think it needs .... It
> has all the tools to do so ....

This ties into the issue I recently brought up, regarding the acceptance
of changes.

Looking around the Wiki, there *are* nice "modern looking" skins/themes
for Squeak (such as the one at http://minnow.cc.gatech.edu/squeak/1231
in which there are also AA fonts). VERY nice IMO. Should give a pretty
decent first impression.

But nothing of the sort is in the default official image (correct me if
I'm wrong), and certainly not enabled by default.

So suppose someone with good UI skills (meaning not me, having zero
artistic skills) comes up with a suggestion - what are the chances of it
even being accepted into the official Squeak release?

It's a dead end. Complain - and you are told to fix it. Fix it, and no
one does anything with the fix.

I apologize if I sound overly critical, but as Johan pointed out, first
impressions is very important (I've had multiple people be turned off
immediately by the look of Squeak out-of-the-box), and it seems to be
that there's some of that changes acceptance problem in the works here
too. I like Squeak; I'd love for it to succeed. I'm "complaining" now in
an effort to offer constructive criticism.

--
/ Peter Schuller, InfiDyne Technologies HB

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