Bazaar Explorer prototype showing suggested Bazaar menu for IDEs

[Ben Finney]

Russel Winder <russel.winder at concertant.com> writes:

> On Wed, 2009-06-03 at 17:02 +1000, Ben Finney wrote:
> > Russel Winder <russel.winder at concertant.com> writes:
> > 
> > > I am of the firm opinion (backed by anecdotal evidence only
> > > though) that a GUI interface is necessary for there to be any
> > > widespread take up of a technology. Also, sadly, there has to be a
> > > Windows GUI for there to be any take up at all.
> > 
> > You must mean something different by one or more of
[…]

Thanks for explaining your usage of some of these terms. Hyperbole has
its place, but it obscures meaning. In your further explanations here
*without* hyperbole, it becomes clearer what you actually want to say.

> > What is it you're actually meaning with the above opinion?
> 
> If an application is going to get used by a large number of people as
> a core tool, it has to be usable -- I mean usable here in the
> human--computer interaction (HCI) sense, i.e. when usability studies
> are completed, the application gets a good result.

No argument on that.

> On the expectations side:  people in general have over the years been
> indoctrinated that GUIs are the only way forward.  Fortunately, command
> line is making a come back, but only in certain circumstances.
> Basically people now expect GUIs -- even programmers, many of whom
> cannot work unless they are plugged in to an IDE.

Again with the hyperbole: “many of whom cannot work” without an IDE?
The meaning is obscured by this statement that is trivially false on the
face of it. What do you mean, then, by “cannot”?

In expressing what “cannot” means without hyperbole, I expect you'll
need to explore what actual limitations these programmers are under, and
that the constraints are probably less than the extreme position your
words indicate.

> So to get to the main market you need a GUI tool that fits comfortably
> in that context. So integration with Windows, Explorer, Eclipse is
> essential. It's all about numbers and percentages.
> 
> But it isn't an absolute, things have to measured against the
> competition. In this case Git and Mercurial. If those systems play the
> Windows/GUI game they will beat Bazaar no matter how good Bazaar is.

Thanks, this is far clearer.

-- 
 \     “Unix is an operating system, OS/2 is half an operating system, |
  `\    Windows is a shell, and DOS is a boot partition virus.” —Peter |
_o__)                                                        H. Coffin |
Ben Finney
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