Re: Kickstarter was not successful... but it did help things...

[Richard Frith-Macdonald]

On 23 Nov 2013, at 08:48, Gregory Casamento <greg.casamento@gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm in agreement with this. I've been saying this for many years. I would 
> like to call for a consensus on this matter. Are there any dissenting 
> opinions to changing the default look?

Yes!

Show me the theme you want to switch to, and then we can talk about it (I'm 
easily persuaded if something makes sense).  I would have thought that an iOS 
style theme might be popular.
But until we have at least one fully working alternative theme to switch to (or 
better, a number of themes to select from), discussing switching is nothing but 
a waste of time.

Actually, even the argument that the *default* theme puts people off is really 
nonsense ... if people see something that puts them off, is is what they *see* 
that puts them off, not whether what they see is *default*.

Put screenshots of GNUstep looking 'sexier' on the website.  Make them more 
prominent than the existing theme by all means (eg. put them first and bigger). 
 To find out which works best (ie is most popular) we could have some sort of 
click-through or download counter.

I've just been reading a book 'Thinking, Fast and Slow' by Daniel Kahneman and 
one of the things I was struck by was the psychological research measuring the 
tendency of people to avoid risk to the extent of avoiding changes from an 
existing state even when, in any other context, they would think the new sytate 
was better than the old one.

Whatever you intend, as long as you talk about changing the default theme, 
people will read that as replacing/getting-rid-of the current look (rather than 
supporting equal alternatives).  While I know that's not what you mean, it's 
counterproductive as it will always produce opposition from anyone who likes 
the current theme, and even from people who might like a new theme better!  IMO 
you should simply provide/advertise at least one good new look rather than 
'threatening' a change.

Build and advertise at least one good new theme.

'If you build it, he will come'