#
# I wrote this open letter to the Unix world, after reading everything that
went
# on over 'Open letter re Gnome'. Maybe you'll like it, maybe you won't, but
just
# read it before jumping to conclusions.
#
Why do we care so much about what other people use, or think about
what we use?
Take the Vi vs. EMACS debacle: This is a holy war that has been going
on since they were introduced. I personally use Vi (or, rather, a Vi
clone), and have a strong dislike towards the large-do-absolutely-
everything-possible idiology behind EMACS (I know that's not true in
all cases, but most EMACSen are pretty large).
However, do I go out and try to change all of the EMACS users to Vi, or
all of the users of one Vi clone to another? The answer is no. Why should
I? Likes or dislikes are based purely upon personal preference, and
therefore, no one has the right to judge other people, or even other
things, by them.
The same is happening as of late with the GNOME (Gtk+) and KDE (Qt)
desktop environments. One side believes that their desktop environment,
and/or UI toolkit are the best, and that all should use/follow it. The
same is true for the other side as well.
Since I happen to have a dislike
towards the GNU project, or namely, Richard Stallman, my choice in this
matter is KDE/Qt, but I do not use either exclusively. I don't even use
KDE or GNOME, I only have them for the shared libraries, and some of the
useful applications that come with them.
Truth be told, I feel the same way about my command shell. I know that
most of the installed Unix user base is not using gileSHELL, but who
am I to go out and say that my shell is better than BaSH, TCSH, ZSH,
etc?
Maybe I am nuts and should be assimilated unto the masses. Or, maybe I
have a valid point, and people will realize that the Unix world is a
complete hellhole when it comes to openness of software: 'You have the
right to choose what you want to use, but we will try our damndest to
make you use what we made.' To me that sounds a bit Microsoft-ish, but
who am I to be the judge of that?
--gile
--
"Lemon scented ceiling wax, grape floor juice, and muffinloaf. What more do
you need?"
