Warp wrote:
> Thorsten Froehlich <tho### [at] trfde> wrote:
> 
>>A true application of the 21st century has to be usable without a degree in
>>computer science.  Otherwise it is only a geek toy, but not an application.
> 
> 
>   Well, I don't think that unchecking an option in a graphical windowing
> system needs a degree in computer science.
>   Granted, it can be pretty difficult to find that this is what is causing
> the problem, but I don't see any reason why a degree in computer science
> would make it any easier in this case to find it.
> 
>   In fact, I think that in this particular case the problem is not that
> emacs is not user-friendly, but the contrary: It's trying to be *too*
> user-friendly, by letting itself to be affected by the KDE settings.
> Perhaps they didn't test this feature well enough to realize that it
> messes up the color settings in a way which is not desirable.
In that case, emacs is not user-friendly but unobstrusive to the system 
settings.
By user-friendly I meant when you don't have to search for more than 10 
seconds for a specific command, button. In other words : When you know 
where to look and when you don't have to tamper with the software.

I come from a M$ world. Actually, I work on W2000 softwares all day 
long. I think that one of Windows strengths is its user-friendliness 
(even though that means losing much of the customisation that Linux 
has). In order to compete with windows and gain even more popularity 
among new users or ex-Windowers, Linux will have to get more and more 
user-friendly software.
Tell a Linux newbie that (s)he will have to tweak into the system to 
make it work to his needs, you are likely to put them off.
Of course, once you are used to the system, it's a pleasure to tamper 
with it and go into its entrails.

A program is meant to do something with and should make itself forgotten.

The point is that emacs can do (too) many things, and in its diversity, 
you have to customize it (or should I say develop it) to make it work 
for your purpose.


Besides, the only reason I wanted to install emacs was to find out why 
it appeals to some users and if I could get new ideas. I never intended 
to use it for writing a script.


Fabien H
> 
>   (Actually I have seen some poorly-done freeware windows programs where
> the problem is the opposite: They don't use the system's default colors
> but define their own instead, *assuming* that the default colors are the
> default ones, ie they gray shades etc. This results in the GUI of the
> program being a mess of colors, somewhere being according to the system
> settings and somewhere being the programs own colors, and it looks horrible.)
>

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