Re: [Ayatana] Need ability to close windows from within "Spread Mode" (super+W)

[Chad Linton <cmlinton@xxxxxxxxx>]

look at Unix interfaces from the past they have been not pretty but
functional back in the good old days we had XWM and applications written
different toolkits but they did not get in the users way and did not bog
the system.

When given the idea of 'small is beautiful' - I'd also say small is easy to use.

I keep going back to Enlightenment, and to WindowMaker - because they are small and simple, and easy to use.  Which is ironic, because windowmaker is outdated in terms of looking shiny, and Enlightenment at one time, was known for being a pig and clunky, though it was beautiful visually.  Now enlightenment is amazing - it is simple and fast, and beautiful.

When confronted with Unity for the first time, I thought 'This sure looks neat' but then became baffled at the inconsistency of it'.  Compared to older window managers, I find it extremely convoluted to get simple tasks done.  It has so much going for it but is grossly inconsistent.  

 

and things went well this way until recently (I still think it's the
result of Generation Y) but someone decided that Unix like operating
systems needed compositing and 3D effects and we got Compiz than Beryl
and than Compiz again  This Hackish at best window manager was tossed on
top of rapidly bloating desktop environments. and all of the sudden we
started to see Things Bogging the system heavily and getting in the
users way.

Though it may be hackish, I think compositing plays a heavy role in user adoption - it ads sex appeal to the interface. From what I understand, it has some useful benefits as well, like preventing one hung window from jamming the whole interface.

-Chad