"My first 48 hours enduring Ubuntu"

[Chanchao]

Hello Matthew,

Thursday, June 16, 2005, 6:55:00 AM, you wrote:


MSH> which is my point, the application interface guidelines are the computing
MSH> equivalent of housing associations that tell you what color you can paint
MSH> your house, how often you have to water your lawn, and that you can't
MSH> have signs on your yard or whatever...

Not quite, IMHO..  Because your house is YOUR house. Others don't have
to use it.   Similarly, suppose you write software JUST for yourself
then I'm sure nobody objects to anything you do to it.

However when you write software with the explicit intention that
others will use it, then there's some sense in having applications
look and work the same wherever possible.  Makes for a lower learning
curve on the part of the users who you hope will use your software.

And.. while the rules on what you can do with your house are strict
and enforced, nobody forces you to do anything, EVEN when the
software you design is intended for others to use.  That's when things
like WinAmp/XMMS get made, which are, well, a bit 'special'. :)

You would only stick to the rules if you for yourself would want to
make something that's consistent with the way other applications work.

Cheers,
Chanchao