john.martzouco
Group: Members
Posts: 253
Joined: Nov. 2007 |
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Posted: Nov. 28 2007,04:20 |
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Robert,
Any chance you could share your minimal WM with me? I'd like to give it a go. Having a third metaphor to speak with would be helpful. I have a very high regard for the work that you're doing and expect that you are guiding us all in the right direction... please accept me apologies for resisting.
I'm not sure what to say about the FB / JWM debate... coming from 15 years on a Windows box *should* endear me to JWM, I agree... but the functionality that I'm seeing in FB surpasses anything the MS model offers. Like the QWERTY keyboard, and the Linux OS, majority familiarity doesn't reflect the true value of a product, only it's market / mind share. If value beat out popularity we'd all be using Dvorak keyboard layouts and Microsoft wouldn't be an empire today.
I truly believe that a Start button on FB would take away the confusion for most Windows converts. Let's remember that the people who are interested in Linux are drawn to it because it *is not* Windows. Why would anyone be tempted to leave one functioning OS for another if they superficially and immediately offer exactly the same things?... better the devil you know than the devil you don't.
I've been using Fluxbox since my first introductions to DSL two months ago. I tried to switch over to JWM, but already the advantages that I've learned to enjoy in FB make it impossible for me to do so. The default 'shading' on double-click, the clean appearance of the bottom margin and the svelt font and smooth gradations of color make me much more comfortable than what is shipped today in JWM. If I could get to liking JWM, I might be tempted to dress it up, but I reiterate that right now, it looks like a very poor clone of a Windows classic desktop. As a recent convert from the Windows camp, I can tell you first-hand that an ugly version of Windows is not an enticing reason to continue using DSL.
I read through to halfway chapter 4 in the Official DSL Book tonight and only just learned about tabbing the FB windows... now there's absolutely no way that I'll ever go back to an under-developed feeling window manager.
I can accept a memory leak under the conditions that I use my computer. I don't expect that DSL or Linux in general can offer me a Hibernate mode so my machines will be cycled off and on every 18 hours because we don't run them unattended (we almost had a house fire from a motherboard that short-circuited). How much memory can escape in 18 hours of surfing the net and building web pages?
Have the merits of JWM been listed anywhere I can look at them... I can still be convinced if I see advantages.
I bet I'm totally off-base posting this in this section of the forum... I'll gladly move it to another thread if there's an active debate happening on the subject.
With the greatest respect, john
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