xfce version 3 vs. 4 : missing features?

[Rich Shepard]

On Mon, 29 Sep 2003, David O'Shaughnessy wrote:

> I've never understood this. The taskbar lets you access all the windows
> easily, and it doesn't take up much space. If you have your minimised
> windows on the desktop, then you have to move things out of the way /
> minimise all windows to get at them. That seems very cumbersome to me. The
> way XFce3 worked was the reason I deleted it ;)

Dave,

  When we strip away all the surface arguments the problem core is this: we
each have a different, preferred way to work. Unlike in the Microsoft world
we're used to choices, not to having the One True Way forced upon us.

  I don't like the task bar because my first two desktops each has two
virtual consoles open, the third desktop has pine, the fourth mozilla, etc.
On the 10 desktops I normally have 14-16 applications open simultaneously.
The task bar doesn't let me switch instantly from one to the other; the
panel does.

  For me -- and the type of work I do -- this is the most productive. Others
like little icons lined up on one desktop and they click them open and shut
as needed. My fiancee works this way so for her even four desktops is a
waste.

  All several of us are asking is that the flexibility to build or configure
xfce be left up to us. You'd no more like being forced to work my way than I
would like having to work your way. And why should we? When someone posts a
"How do I ...?" question on the local geek list there are always answers
that show how it is done in 1) the bash shell, 2) using grep/egrep, 3) using
perl, 4) in python, 5) ... 12) in all the other favorite tools of each
individual. Of course, we've not had a prolog or lisp solution offered yet,
but that's because most of the local list subscribers are sysadmins. :-)

  My point is that some of us don't understand why the "old", "classic"
(gag!) or whatever you call it way of doing things cannot be retained in a
new version. Olivier and the other developers are extremely clever coders
and I'm sure it would not cost too many more bytes to offer us these
options.

Rich


Dr. Richard B. Shepard, President

                       Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc. (TM)
            2404 SW 22nd Street | Troutdale, OR 97060-1247 | U.S.A.
 + 1 503-667-4517 (voice) | + 1 503-667-8863 (fax) | rshepard@appl-ecosys.com
                         http://www.appl-ecosys.com/