better user interface :: XFCE

[Don Christensen]

Wit Wilinski wrote:
> Here are some thoughts after reading this article: 
> http://osnews.com/story.php?news_id=6282
> 
> First, as the writer suggested, human beings usually can't cope with 
> more than one task a time. So the first thing that could be implemented 
> to make use of this idea, would be threating all application's widows as
>  ONE.

I have just one thing to add to this discussion:

     Task != Application

I sometimes have three or four or more applications open to support a
single task that I am working on.  For example, I might have a VNC
viewer open with Xemacs windows and xterms, one or more browser
windows (or tabs), and email, all to support the single task of
answering a code-related question via email.  There is no way for the
computer to "intelligently" divine what apps I might be using for such a
task, at least not with the current state of the art.

I can see keeping all the GIMP windows collected together as somewhat
useful, but I would never use such a feature beyond that.

And one of the things I dislike most about PDAs is the one-app-at-a-time
mode of operation.  That's why I have two CRTs and 12 virtual windows
(not counting the eight virtual windows in the VNC viewer window) on
my desktop system.

-Don

-- 
Don Christensen       Senior Software Development Engineer
djc at cisco.com         Cisco Systems, Santa Cruz, CA
   "It was a new day yesterday, but it's an old day now."