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The Interface IS the application

Sorry to break the news but for 95% of end users, the interface IS the application. If a new interface makes it easier for them to work, they will go for it. SMTP mail hasn't really changed a lot in the past 30 years but the clients have. The killer thing Firefox really offers over IE for most people is tabbed browsing.

I think the idea that OS X is 'mostly BSD' is actually symptomatic of the problem - techies think the application is the CODE - users think the application is the user interface. I've read comments elsewhere that suggest that user interface isn't a problem on Linux because most apps can be skinned. The difference in perception is just too fundamental.

Nor is OS-X is not 'mostly' Free-BSD anyway - it is mostly a huge collection of proprietary closed-source APIs (Cocoa, Carbon, Quicktime and Quartz) on top of Free-BSD.

If it really was 'mostly free-BSD' you'd expect someone to have built an equivalent system on top of Darwin (the particular Free-BSD variant underlying OS-X) by now, or some kind of WINE like emulation layer for Linux.

The CLOSEST anyone has is the Gnustep project (open source NextStep) and that is still years behind Mac OS 10.1. As the APIs are documented, and it is much easier to inspect Cocoa objects to find their methods that C++, it should be an 'easier' task than reverse engineering Windows.
The point is that it is still a huge task, which will need as much resource as Apple has thrown at it.

The XGL project brings some of the graphical effects of Vista and OS X to Linux, but there are problems with legally distributing a Linux distribution that uses proprietary (closed source) graphics drivers. Not on the part of the graphics card companies, but with the GPL disallowing you from making Linux dependent on closed source software.
BSD is a lot more flexible in that respect (which is why OS X is built on BSD software not GPL).

I'd also add that being able to do transparent or wobbly Windows will not turn Linux into OS X either. You need a HCI philosophy and look at how the community has turned against Gnome for KDE, when Gnome started to try and enforce guidelines to make applications more friendly for users.

OS X programmers, on the other hand, tend to be more interested in good UI - because it's largely the reason most of them use Macs.

Novell have apparently put a lot of time into the interface on SUSE Linux, aiming at making a system for business users - something MS used to do, before they started trying to be all things to all people. I've not had a chance to play with the results yet but I'm interested.

[Ubuntu have also put money into improving ease of use, but it's going to take a LOT more effort to make OpenOffice attractive rather than just usable].

Posted by: JulesLt   Posted on: 06/27/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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