Call to arms! A new GUI for Linux

[Anton Markov]

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Hi everyone,

I too have thought about this problem a lot. After reading the Dark Sun
website and your e-mail, here are some of my comments:

Aaron Vegh wrote:
| Many people have talked about the next generation of graphical user
| interfaces. Mac OS X was supposed to represent a radical departure
| from the desktop metaphor; instead, the underlying technology became
| its distinguishing feature. Microsoft's Longhorn is supposed to be
| "next generation" -- instead, it's looking like 'more of the same.'

I don't know about Windows Longhorn, because I have not been keeping up
with the MS marketing propaganda, but if you watch the video of the
keynote address from the last Apple convention (1h40m), and skip to the
last 25 minutes or so, you will see that OSX Tiger has some of the
features you are describing:

The address is
<http://stream.qtv.apple.com/events/sep/paris_2004/paris_300_100_56.mov>
(the link was extracted from the bad Quicktime/IE only page at:
<http://stream.apple.akadns.net/>).
(The file should play in VLC or MPlayer. If you have problem playing it,
try opening incoming port 554 for multicast.)

The two most impressive features described are the global search and an
easy-to-use system for automating tasks (something like a visual version
of bash scripting). Nothing new, but nevertheless nicely wrapped for new
users.

|
| Meanwhile, the Linux platform is clamouring for the tantalizing goal
| of "ease of use", that key to final acceptance on the desktop. We're
| not there yet, and many doubt that the current solutions -- Gnome and
| KDE -- have what it takes to get us there.
|
| Indeed, the trouble with Gnome and KDE -- impressive as they are -- is
| that they too closely mimic the mainstream operating systems. Without
| a compelling advantage, what is the incentive to switch?

I believe the main problem you are trying to address is integration of
applications. Unfortunately as long as there are (at least) two
competing window managers, GUIs, toolkits, etc. total integration will
never be possible. While Freedesktop.org is a step in the right
direction, it can never achieve total integration while there are two
major groups of developers with different priorities and design goals.
It's like asking for a consensus on every issue in a multi-party
political system; the best that can be offered are compromises and
choices. A new window manager, GUI toolkit, or even a new X-like server
(www.y-windows.org) won't solve the problem; it'll only escalate it by
increasing the possibilities for incompatibility.

I am not critisizing your ideas, only your solution for the problem. I
believe people should work on fixing some of the basic incompatibilities
that still exist between the QT and GTK toolkit and other immediate
problems rather than starting from scratch.

How can we talk about a unified interface when basic drag 'n' drop of
text doesn't work properly between QT and GTK, the "busy" icon which is
supposed to show when an application stops loading (Application Startup
Notification) does not work properly, or opening images from Konqueror
in The Gimp causes multiple instances of The Gimp to open. I am sure the
list can go on.

The point is that icons can be turned off, one can place a shortcut bar
at the top of the screen with configurable keyboard shortcuts, there is
Klipper for the "global clipboard", and some distributions already ship
with a graphical bootup screen. Keyboard shortcuts are also
configurable, and a tab-based window manager can also be developed on
top of the current infrastructure.

The real problem lies in the _system-wide_ contact list, _universal_
application drawers, and other _system-wide_ features. If all
applications exported meta-data such as supported file types,
description, interface, etc. through a DCOP-like interface, it would
possible to create a global "recent documents" list that can be filtered
for each specific application (if I understand your ideas right). As for
keyboard shortcuts, we need a real UI designer to sit down and draw up a
set of specifications, and for both KDE and GNOME people to follow it.

Unfortunately non of this will happen with the current mind-set of
choice = 10 different email clients, unless all of those ten project
leaders will agree on the same set of keyboard shortcuts and APIs. A
unification of QT and GTK2, with a good wxWindows interface would go a
long way. It would also free up a ton of developers to work on other
(although perhaps less interesting problems).

| I have begun a project called Dark Sun Linux. It's goal is to create a
| new GUI for the Linux desktop. It walks away from the "desktop"
| metaphor of files and folders and trashcans, of icons strewn on the
| desktop, of windows piled on top of windows.

The desktop metaphor is extremely suited for the limited interface
between the computer and the neurons in your brain. As long as the
computer must use a (relatively) small rectangular surface and a pair of
speakers to present information, and the user uses a set of ~101 keys
and a 2D pointing device named after a rodant, a 2D environment seems
most appropriate. The "windows" metaphor provides a good way to expose
the multi-tasking capabilities (especially if one does not use
"click-to-focus" but rather "point-to-focus"). Most "alternatives"
including 3D environment have proven to be more eyecandy than
improvements in interface. There is only so much one can do on a 2D
screen. Some of the biggest improvement have been "virtual desktops" and
Expose-like applications such as Skippy.

|
| Instead, Dark Sun proposes to abstract the computing experience and
| cut its ties with the limiting metaphor; instead it'll be a system of
| drawers and trays, where files are kept by their applications, where
| the user knows exactly where everything is because it's _right there_,
| and where the keyboard is king.

It would be best to let the user group the files according to global
pieces of metadata (including parent application, a.k.a. filetype).

Another good feature would be a global CVS-like system built into the
implementation-independent filesystem code, which would keep track of
which applications opened each file and a Changelog of the application's
actions. For example, if you create an SVG in Sodipodi and then touch it
up in The Gimp and convert to a PNG, you could go back, make a change to
the SVG in Sodipodi, and The Gimp will know how to re-apply your
touch-ups to update the final PNG.

Well, that's my 2 cents (well, maybe 20). Comments welcome.

- --
Anton Markov <("anton" + "@" + "truxtar" + "." + "com")>

GnuPG Key fingerprint =
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*** LINUX - MAY THE SOURCE BE WITH YOU! ***
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