Upgrading to 11.04 - Desktop

[Liam Proven]

On 1 May 2011 21:30, Thierry de Coulon <tcoulon at decoulon.ch> wrote:
> On Sunday 01 May 2011 08:09:33 pm Liam Proven wrote:
>> (I have scattered that with trademark symbols to highlight the
>> original Microsoft IP that it (potentially) infringes. Never forget
>> Microsoft's claimed "about 275" software patents on things the Linux
>> desktop copies.
>
> Actually I doubt they can patent anything on their desktop because most of it
> was allready on OS/2's - or more precisely, all there is on
> Microsofts "Taskbar" I allready used _before_ Win95 came out on the workplace
> shell with Lotus' "Smartcenter", that then became the "Warpcenter".

You know, I was a keen OS/2 user, too, and of Lotus SmartSuite, as
well. I think you are viewing the past through rose-coloured glasses,
as we say in England; that is, seeing an idealised vision in
hindsight.

SmartCentre was a toolbar, not much more. It wasn't an app-switcher,
it was a lot less flexible than the Taskbar. Personally, after
exploring it, I just moved it to the top of the screen and hid it. It
was rarely useful.

As for the Workplace Shell - well, I know some people loved it, but I
mostly cursed it myself. I never understood why the directory tree was
in a different window, dramatically limiting its use. The Templates
system was clever but not much actual use. The
mostly-but-not-always-missing OK or Apply buttons might be logical and
orthogonal but they were very confusing, too.

> So if we're on comparison, I'd wish IBM to port the Workplace Shell (probably
> modernized) to Linux. It's over 10 years old but more features are way ahead
> of _any_ desktop available today

StarDock Object Desktop for Windows, if you /really/ want it.
http://www.stardock.com/products/odnt/
It hasn't done very well in the market...

But the greater point is not who did what first, but /how/ they did it
and if they patented it first. Prior art is not a huge help. Microsoft
did it their own way, and it works and it's used and known by
billions. That's what KDE and GNOME copied, not Lotus or IBM.

Now, finally, Ubuntu is going its own way and so is GNOME 3 - and
people are complaining!

-- 
Liam Proven • Info & profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/lproven
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