I've suddenly grown concerned that we'll talk about this and make a decision, and said decision will be done for the "wrong" reason.
I think we have somewhat different ideas of what kinds of experience JDS is delivering to our users. I think it would be better to try to articulate those, and perhaps the menu item naming would then be easier? For instance, I don't just like "Firefox Web Browser" beause I think it reads better. I like it because I like what it appears to reflect about Sun's commitment to the app and the experience it is delivering. David Powell's point about investing time and energy into a nameless app is speaks to the same concern, I think. Just as corporations buy from companies that seem stable and can provide long term support etc. as an individual I tend to invest time and energy into something that looks like it has some substance. It suggests (perhaps wrongly) that Sun has made some commitment to delivering that experience. So, I suppose that in some ways I'm saying here "Show me some commitment to what you are delivering so I feel safe in committing to learning your environment". To me, the world of "Spreadsheet" or "Spreadsheet - StarCalc8" suggest a lack of commitment. Yet, Calum (and perhaps Frank?) have at least implied that there's been a different model underlying some of this design in the past. Perhaps this was a model of absolute non-commitment "We reserve the right to change the apps under these names at any time. We promise some kind of web browser functionality, but not exactly what". Alternately, maybe the model was "You only need one web browser on your computer, and this is the pointer to whatever it is." Or maybe it's an assumption "No one can learn the various names of our apps, so we won't even bother to ask them to". :-) david On Mon, 2006-03-13 at 16:43, Glynn Foster wrote: > Hey, > > On Mon, 2006-03-13 at 14:10 -0800, Frank Ludolph wrote: > > Calum, > > > > Like Sharon I also hate not knowing what web browser, mail app, word > > processor, pdf viewer, etc. will be run from the launch menu. But then I > > don't care to know the name of the on-screen keyboard app or other such > > utilities. Given in that one case I want to know and that in the other > > case I don't, and that I would learn most of the ones I care about > > within a few uses, I wouldn't want choice 1. > > FWIW, and I'm not qualified to speak other than my personal preference, > I quite like this approach. Identify the applications with major brand > awareness, and promote those to 'Name Function' eg. Firefox Web Browser, > Adobe Reader. All the rest get generic names. > > > Glynn > > _______________________________________________ > desktop-discuss mailing list > desktop-discuss at opensolaris.org
