Charlie M. wrote:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1
October 4, 2003 09:46 am, Rolf Pedersen wrote: [..]
I don't know how the menu item, FM Super User mode, will be resolved but you can always press alt-F2 and type in kdesu "konqueror" to run konqueror as root, after supplying the root password, or kdesu "anything" to run anything as root. At least, kdebase must be installed as kdesu is part of that.
Rolf
Thanks for stating the blatantly obvious when the merely obvious would suffice. (-:
Rolf, I know how to work around it, you know how to do it, what does Mr./Mrs./Ms. J. Sixpack do when s/he's told to use that utility and it ain't there? You can explain until you're blue but the average user is just going to see it as confirmation of; and detractors will use it as more fuel for, the "Linux is too hard!" FUD fire.
In my opinion it's just another example of my stated objection to developers having *anything* to do with deciding user interfaces or GUI functionality. The so called "ergonomics" of a distribution. The distance between the species is far too great.
A desktop manager is the ultimate in GUI functionality and 99% of what a newbie will base their opinions of a distribution on are rooted in that. Since in this case it is lacking a few expected functions that opinion will probably be rather low for 9.2.
"Uber-geek workarounds," or even regular geek workarounds, are not the correct direction to push the desktop managers. _Any_ desktop manager.
It's a sad state of affairs IMHO.
Charlie
Well, that's not exactly how I see it. Having never used the menu item for File Manager Super User mode, I can see where someone else might have more of an attachment to it. There are other expected behaviors, such as being able to decline installation of a bootloader at install when I simply want to add an entry to an existing bootloader, that have caused me more personal discomfiture when they have disappeared.
However, my overall perception is that virtually all the software in the distro is in a fairly rapid state of flux, as there is plenty of room for improvement, and further demands are placed on developers by the evolution of hardware. Having tried gentoo, debian, slackware, suse, et al, I appreciate the work that Mandrake have done to produce and maintain this, relatively, easy to use distribution out of thousands of disparate and changing softwares.
One of the strengths of Linux is the variety of choices it provides. Considering that change is inevitable in such an environment, it is better to concentrate on the power and flexibility of choice than get stuck on how things used to work. For someone who doesn't even know where the menu is, for example, it is almost easier to describe how to use alt-F2 than how to get to Applications > File Tools > File Manager-Super User Mode.
The changes can cause some stress but I don't think that is, necessarily, the developers' fault. A user's expectations have much to do with stress and, as long as the functionality is attainable, education about choices and sensible expectations can go a lot further to reduce stress than trying to change what are, in many cases, pragmatic consequences of development.
Like I said, different procedures are going to have a different
importance to different people. It's easy to be cool about something not being there anymore when you have never used it and I don't know for a fact that su mode won't be there when 9.2 comes out. Maybe it was just an oversight. There are probably not sufficient personnel, at present, for there to be a separate "ergonomics" department ( http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=mandrake-cooker&m=105661890523522&w=2 ) so I think they are doing the best they can with what they have. At any rate, changes are going to happen, some way of doing something or another will disappear for someone or another, and it's best to be flexible.
Rolf
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
