[Phpgroupware-developers] The GIF thang

[Steven Wright]

I got into software by the backdoor.   Mostly I work with user interfaces
for our data acquisition system.  Before that I programmed machine tools
and before that I was an art major.  So the design issue is one that is
close to my heart.

I actually spent yesterday surfing for groupware (and got paid for it,
thank you very much) so that I can advise my boss on the whole Make vs. 
Buy issue.  The phpGroupWare front end is way better than any comparable
free product, and better than quite a few of the ones that cost real
money.  (It also has more features than many, even if you only count the
ones that work.)  I think that messing with the front end will hurt the
project.

There are always those who say that looks don't matter as much as
functionality.  And heck, I still code my websites in vi.  But looks
matter.  Pretty girls get more dates, good looking cars sell for more
money, and people are willing to give good looking software a try.
Further, people are willing to cut your software loads of slack if it
looks nice.  It isn't fair, but it's reality.  I wince every time I look
at PHProjekt.

I can understand the GNU point of view.  You have to draw a line in the
sand with your ideology - once you start making exceptions for one
package, everybody will want one.  But I really like phpGroupWare the way
it looks right now.  I support the second idea.  Upgrade the template
interface a little, set up a phpgwskins.org site, and let the designers in
the world go wild.  In a couple of years when the patent dies, roll it all
back together.

Steve Wright

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When I could find voice,  I shrieked aloud in agony,  "Either this is madness
or it is Hell."  "It is neither," calmly replied the voice of the Sphere, "it
is Knowledge."                                 _Flatland_, by Edwin A. Abbott
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