I second Zhang Weiwu's plea for some information on how Etoile is going to revolutionize the way we look at computers. I first heard about Etoile on FLOSS Weekly and the possibilities that this project presented were staggering to me. I instantly felt the project was something I'd be interested in being a part of. The problem is I'm a graphic and web designer, not a C/Obj-C programmer (though I am learning, and it's been going well). I think you could get a lot of public interest, as Zhang Weiwu mentioned, if "workflows" could be presented that would make for more efficient use of one's time on a computer. But, then, as Zhang also mentioned, if you look at the screenshot of Etoile, it just looks like a purple version of GNOME. I don't know if this is because the work thus far has been "behind the scenes" type work, the code foundation to support such revolutionary concepts for using a computer. In any event, I'd love to see some more stuff come out of Etoile geared more towards the end user, why this project will make their lives, easier, or perhaps better.
Sincerely, Zach LeBar On May 3, 2009, at 12:03 PM, Zhang Weiwu wrote: > Introduction to etolie project says: > > allow users to create their own workflow by reshaping or > recombining > provided Services (aka Applications), Components etc. > > This is in fact very attractive idea, but I really consider it a great > challenge to implement nicely. I read a lot of introduction and > articles > on etoile website, but found very little information on how this (ease > of adapting workflow) was done or designed. The screenshot also > doesn't > seems obviously demonstrating this. > > The ability of adapting a workflow is best explained with scenarios. > Say: > > * A photographer might need to import photos from cameras, pick > images in the first round, crop and retouch (brightness etc) in > the second round, print or make DVD of the result etc. This could > be a daily task. It involve multiple services: image viewer, > image > browser, retouching software, album manager with version control > feature, DVD burner, printer monitor (for spool). How he can > improve workflow by customizing, reshaping or recombining > services? > * A web designer might need to regularly update a website. She gets > latest content as email attachment from customer, opens it and > copy & paste it without format, add HTML tags to it and preview, > run the update on local web server, retouch images, check for > dead > links and validate web-pages, commit the change to svn in chunks, > finally ends her day's job by synchronizing the result to the > productional website. During the whole process she uses a mind > mapping software for keeping overview of the todo list of the > project and keep planning for the future things to do to the > website. She uses a lot of software, How can she optimize her > workflow? She would use software like gimp, kompozer (for working > with HTML tables), jedit for working with HTML/CSS, thunderbird, > rapidsvn, unison (for sync result to the productional server), > openoffice (for reading original documents from customers), > freemind, multiple browsers for testing (opera, firefox, > konqueror > for webkit etc) and even accounting software to account her time > on the project. How can she customizing, reshaping or recombining > services? > > I know etoile probably could not deliver everything needed now to > optimize these workflows, especially when most software are not > based on > GNUStep for users to integrate. But if the project can present the > public an "image", that how things gonna be, it would bring a lot of > interest from people to the project, creating community that make this > happen. Thus if we have clear ideas how we gonna do, how the > difference > users would feel if they start to use etoile (with example scenario > like > I gave above), then we gain support. How do you think? > > And can you paint a picture based on some scenario how Etoile > evolves to be? > > Thanks > Zhang Weiwu > Beijing, China. > > _______________________________________________ > Etoile-discuss mailing list > [email protected] > https://mail.gna.org/listinfo/etoile-discuss _______________________________________________ Etoile-discuss mailing list [email protected] https://mail.gna.org/listinfo/etoile-discuss
