There is something that I have had to learn to deal with in my day to day and I still have not quite gotten used to it, and that is that it bothers me a lot that a person with a certain power believes that everyone has to think (or think) like her.
On why Gnome not include the tool gnome-tweak-tools by default there has been a lot of speculation, but today I meet an article which explains the real reasons for this decision. The author makes his opinion very clear, which I share 100%:
First of all, I blame Gnome for one reason and one reason only. The Gnome Foundation lacks in communicating with the public through a way that cannot be ignored. When Gnome claims something, it should immediately sound like the last person on Earth. Instead of Gnome, the biggest things stay hidden on the mailing lists or Planets.
That is, when in Gnome Important changes occur, only some people find out through the mailing lists, because they do not have an official means in which to transmit these communications, and where their users can issue their criteria of agreeing or not.
This is not new, we already saw it in yesterday's post about the changes in Nautilus and to tell the truth, I had never paid attention to this facet that does not bother to hide Gnome Foundation. Now, let's go back to the initial topic, what really bothers me about all this, for which I recommend reading (even if it's in English) Article Where did I get all this information from, since it explains the history of where all this comes from that I show you now:
Following this lead Gnome developer Andreas Nilsson posts a slightly strange link (islinuxaboutchoice.com) which leads to an old discussion on the Fedora mailing lists. If you are lazy to read, Adam Jackon a little similar situation, what features should be included by default (around juju) concludes:
"But the string of logic for" Linux is about choosing "to" send everything and letting the user choose how they want their sound not to work "starts with fallacy and ends with disaster."
Nilsson's comment was not very helpful, which makes his point of view clear, but does not explain why. Luckily, what Nilsson doesn't do, Allan does. I think this is the first time that someone from Gnome explained the reasons for not including a default theme customization option in public.
Allan Day says:
“System Settings already offers background selection. The color settings could be an advantage - we were going to need to discuss how it would fit into the overall design of the system setup. However, I am totally against customizing gtk / shell / pointer as well as extensions. Some of the reasons for this (this is not exhaustive): «
- It makes it more difficult for third party application developers to orient our platform.
- User experience degrades - most alternative themes are of relatively poor quality. We don't have the resources to make a good set of high-quality themes
- The default themes are not just a matter of aesthetics - they are designed to convey the desired user experience.
- The default themes are designed to work in combination with each other - the shell theme and the gtk theme have been designed with each other in mind.
- The extensions are essentially incompatible. Putting them in the system settings says 'these are supported as part of the system'.
- We already have a website for installing extensions - this is better than what they are proposing for extensions here.
and Allan continues:
These are all reasons why these things shouldn't be a part of the default system. They could be a part of the adjustment tool.
Just because some customization is desirable doesn't mean that everything should be customizable (I totally disagree with Maslow on the theoretical ground, I should add). This is not to say that additional forms of customization cannot be evaluated, of course. A screensaver with a photo gallery is a possibility that has been discussed, for example. «
Apparently Allan has not been around Deviantart, because there are many topics gtk and to Gnome Shell that have much more quality than the one that comes by default. It would also be interesting to ask why a customization tool Gnome it would degrade the user experience. And finally, I would like to ask you a few questions:
- How many people have told you that you are right in all the arguments you offer?
- Do most users actually think that, or only developers?
- If you don't have a team in charge of the design and accessibility of the theme, why don't you ask for help?
- If the extensions are incompatible between versions, whose fault is it really, the extension developers, or the Gnome they didn't just create a standard?
- Don't you think that if third-party application developers spend work integrating with Gnome, it is for the simple fact that they have not provided a clearer documentation or API?
- And finally, why don't you consult with the users of Gnome that in the end, they are the most affected with every change they can make? Or are they following the philosophy of Apple ?
Anyway, I'm taking ill will to this project that is not healthy at all. Hopefully and they realize that their truth, their motives, their reasons, are not absolute. I hope you remember that not everyone uses a tablet, but above all, that nobody uses Gnome on a tablet. But most importantly, hopefully they will agree that in the end, they develop for millions of users who do not have to agree with their decisions.