keybindings

[Walter Alejandro Iglesias]

Hello everybody.  It is my first message to this list.  I am writing
to you to suggest a pair of things.

Gnome and Kde have never convinced me for several reasons (I've used
mostly icewm and wmaker).  The first reason is they seems to ignore
Unix/Linux bases.  I've feel since my first linux approach a
disconnection between desktop environment and the `underworld' of bash.
Principally because of keybindings.  An environment without an unified
keyboard is not an environment.  A system without an unified policy is
not a `system' (it can be plural and logical at the same time).  Linux
desktops developers have seem forgotten the predominant linux emacs-mode
text editing.

Does exist linux users that don't use a terminal?  Does exist linux
users that don't live the half of time in bash?  Then, if all of us
must press `all the time' C-p and C-n to move up and down in bash
history, or move cursor up and down, who likes a pop up printing
dialog or a new window in the rest of applications?  If all of us must
press C-c to cancel a process (not trivial!), C-v to move to the next
page, who likes copy and paste functions in this keys?

Why default keybindings in all linux desktops are MS Windoze
keybindings?

The only one reason that comes to my mind (if it exist another, please
let me know) is to put it easy to people who migrates from windoze.
After all, most people was first a windoze user.  But I think it is a
big mistake, it is better that people will know from the beginning that
linux is different.  For people `dificult' is `to change habits', not
`complexity'.  But things like, for example, ubuntu bootsplash or
windoze keybindings generate false expectations, then it is probably
they finish seeing in linux a fraud.



Second suggestion:

It doesn't exist a linux desktop environment that gives priority to
usability and productiveness.  Yes, I know computers becomes toys.  I
know users bother you all the time with `I want icons in my desktop',
`I want transparency in my terminal' and all kind of fluorescent
dildos.  But I think it would be wonderful including all this idiot
features "if and only if" the `real' features don't depends of them.
So the few users that need to use the computer are able to choose
installing only useful software.


Epilog:

I am telling it to you because xfce is a young project and it is not too
far from the ideal.  Concluding, my truly wish is: don't convert it in
gnome or kde.  Keep it light and usable in the linux way, please.

     Saludos, Walter.