I'd have to go with the Oracle of Cringely on this one -
something needs to be 10x better to overcome customer
inertia (though I think 10x is perhaps a bit high).  People
switched to CDs because they were loads better than LPs;
they sounded better (except at the real hi-fi end), were
tougher, didn't wear out, were portable, and I didn't have
to throw anything out to use them.

A linux GUI is different, probably because one of the
assertions that the auther makes (that Windows is ultimately
disposable) is wrong (IMHO of course).  Changing OS requires
hours of time for installation, tweaking and configuring to
get things just as I like (not necessarily the to be the
*same* as Windows, just having the right bookmarks
available, etc).  I can dual boot and make it harder to work
freely between all my apps, or I can go 100% Linux and throw
away my investment in apps (and in knowing how Windows
works, however defective that might be).

I agree with the point the author is trying to make, and I
think trying to be the same as Windows instead of
inventively solving user's problems is an issue that affects
many Open Source projects.  If Linux gave me a human face I
could relate to, a friendly GNU/HAL, that would be well
worth.  But that would also be 10x better, therefore
Cringely applies :)

Cheers, Paul

----

> From: Bob Tanner <tanner at real-time.com>
> <a
href="http://mail.harris.net//jump/http://www.protocopy.com/osgui.html">http://www.protocopy.com/osgui.html</a>
> 
> The above is a good read.
> 
> I've heard both the GNOME and KDE camps say they mimic MS
> GUI to easy the
> transition from MS to Linux.
> 
> The above article makes a great statement, IMHO:
> 
> &quot;... If the product is better, it does not matter how
> different it is. That's
> why many of us threw out hundreds of dollars of records and
> diamond needles the
> day CD's came out. ... &quot;