unity-design team mailing list archive

[Mark Shuttleworth <mark@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On 15/05/10 07:47, SorinN wrote:
> On the topic of double click or single click - the user should choose
> not others. Open Source should not became a prison.
>   

Imagine if we presented choices to a new user, for all the options
available to them. The install would take hours (choosing between all
the different browsers and graphics apps and chat apps alone) and most
people would not complete the process. The first login you'd have to
choose a wallpaper, configure all the possibilities (where do you want
your panels, and what do you want on them?).

By definition, open source cannot be a prison, because you have the
right to make changes no matter what anyone else, including me, thinks.
But forcing everyone to make all the choices you *and everyone else*
might make, would be another kind of prison, and we're not going to put
people through that.

On this list, we try to identify the simplest, best options for the
average new user, and design for that case. There will always be use
cases that we don't address, but for those users we can be reassured
that open source presents them with many different ways to get those
specific things done. We want an interface that is light, clean, and
useful. The more options and questions and choices we present to the
user, the less they will want to know about *any* of them.

Mark

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