Re: Window decorations

[Adam Atlas]

I say, get rid of X altogether and write a new, better modern window 
system that has a compatibility library for X, and uses GNUstep as the 
official high-level API, thus getting rid of all window manager 
confusion and letting GNUstep freely manage windows itself.

$ fortune -m 'X windows'
[Insert 130 lines full of reasons why X sucks here. Or try it!]

"/me ducks."

But seriously, I think some of the appeal of other graphical systems 
such as Mac OS X and even Windows is that for the most part, everything 
has the same look and feel. If a novice sits down at a Mac or Windows 
PC for example, they can be taught a few programs, and then they 
understand the OS interface, and then they understand the look and feel 
of other programs also. But on X, there's plain X programs, GTK+ 
programs, GNOME programs, KDE programs, GNUstep programs, plus 
different window managers, plus separate themes (if any) for most of 
the above. If you've seen one Windows interface, you've seen most of 
them. If you've seen one Mac running OS X, you've almost certainly seen 
all of them (with the small exception of hackish third party themes). 
If you've seen one *NIX system running X, you've seen one *NIX system 
running X.

This of course isn't a problem for programmer-hacker types like us, but 
not so for anyone below semi-geek status. Consumer-oriented *NIXen 
won't actually reach the average consumer market until they're at least 
as easy for new computer users as Windows. (I can't believe I just said 
that Windows can be easy for new users at all...) But unfortunately, 
the fact is they're not, and that's why I think a new window system 
should be written from the ground up to be easy for the newbies, and 
powerful enough for the geeks and the hackers. Or at least a window 
system that doesn't have this silly window manager system, and that 
includes high-level APIs and a desktop environment from the beginning 
to avoid this arrangement with at least 2 popular but very different 
desktop environments and a mess of high-level libraries. The whole 
reason there are all these high level libraries is that X includes only 
relatively difficult low-level libraries, and the whole reason there 
are so many window managers is that - well, because X supports window 
managers. Why should it?

If there were a new window system using GNUstep as an official 
high-level API, GNUstep could handle all window drawing, and support 
themes and some customization, but in general have the same feel.

Hmm... this got a little far from the original topic, I guess...

"/me hides under desk."

Any comments?

--
Adam Atlas

C:\DOS> _
C:\DOS> RUN_
RUN> DOS\RUN_