Re: html desktops

[Nathaniel Reindl <fiction@sdf.lonestar.org>]

On Mon, Aug 15, 2005 at 03:49:21PM -0400, nbirchler@charter.net wrote:
> 1) GNOME is deeply rooted in free-as-in-speech software (as in "I
> don't like your stinky license on qt so I'll make my own toolkit").

Actually, the GTK+ stuff came along with the development of The GIMP.
After a while, they just started adding bindings to it to put together a
desktop environment.

At least, that's how I understand it.  I very, very vaguely remember my
GIMP pre-1.0 days, and I'll be hard-pressed to remember which toolkit
they used then.  IIRC, they relied on Motif.

> 2) Active Desktop sucked in Windows.

I usually set up a Group Policy on the domains I admin that disables
that abysmal excuse for a user interface extension.  Keeps the network
from getting bogged down with malicious software a little bit more to
boot.

> 3) How many time is Flash ever used in proper ways?

Count all of the sites you've seen that distribute little Flash cartoons
and games and whatnot.  That's rich content, and it's done right then.
Nobody *has* to see it, but it's just one of those little perks of the
Web if someone *can* see it.

Any Webmaster who uses Flash as an inherent part of their design (i.e.,
as a form of navigation or as the site itself in the case of one that
isn't meant to be eye candy) needs to rethink their methods and their
philosophy.  Especially if said Webmaster can claim W+++$ status Geek
Code-wise.

I could filibuster on this, so don't get me started.

Now, to get back on topic, if you're wanting a dynamic desktop, there's
something available for Gnome akin to Apple's Dashboard as included in
Mac OS X 10.4 called gDesklets.  I have no idea if it's still in active
development, but they had neat little widgets to monitor the weather and
whatnot.  You just didn't have to press F12 to see them. :)

-- 
Nathaniel Reindl    http://www.corvidae.org/
    unemployed monkey (hire me!) and college student
    class schedule: http://www.corvidae.org/schedule.html
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger (Darwin release 8.2.0) on a Power Mac G5 1.8GHz

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