Re: [Fsfe-uk] An ignorant question?

[Neil Darlow]

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Hi,

On Monday 09 Jun 2003 3:33 pm, Chris Croughton wrote:
> Exactly, and that is a major area in which Free Software falls down very
> frequently.  Good functionality, crap interfaces because the programs
> are mostly designed by and for geeks who are more interested in writing
> the code than in making it easy for other people who just want to get a
> job done.  (And before people get mad, this describes me as well, my
> idea of a good interface for a program I write ususally takes all of the
> alphabet for command line switches!)

Which was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the AFSP (yes, I 
know there's still a lot of publicity material for me to write). This being 
the production of highly accessible, both physically and linguistically, 
programs provided in stable, documented and well-tested releases - usable by 
both the enterprise and average user.

> As another example, I really want a version of Visual Basic, or
> something as easy to use, for X.  I want to be able to knock up simple X
> GUI apps without having to code in all the position stuff, message loops
> etc., I want to just say "I want a button <here>" then right-click to
> get to the code for that button with whatever events it handles.  And
> before people say "If you want it then write it", the whole point is
> that if I knew enough about X programming to write it I wouldn't need
> the thing!

You might want to take a look at Glade if Gtk/Gnome applications are what 
you're after. KDevelop performs a similar function for Qt/KDE. Neither are 
turnkey application generators but they remove a lot of the drudgery.

> I'm not at all surprised that MS had such a thing, they always have been
> good at writing stuff for ordinary people to use -- VB (and don't forget
> that MS BASIC was /the/ standard BASIC for many machines for many
> years), Excel, Word, Access, several others.  The Free Software has been
> getting better, but there are many areas where it is nowhere near as
> easy to use as the proprietary alternatives.

The AFSP has, as one of its aims, the promotion of quality in Free Software 
production. A longer term aim is to secure sponsorship for the development of 
significant applications. With the GnuCash project moving towards being the 
definitive personal finance application, I would like the AFSP to undertake 
the development of an accountancy suite to give Sage and QuickBooks some
worthy competition.

Regards,
Neil Darlow M.Sc.
- -- 
ICQ: 135505456  E-Mail, Jabber and MSNM: <neil at darlow.co.uk>
Free Software and Open Standards Consultants - http://www.darlow.co.uk/
The Association of Free Software Professionals - http://www.afsp.org.uk/
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