Linus Tells Everyone to Use KDE

From: Linus Torvalds <torvalds osdl org> To: Till Kamppeter <till kamppeter gmx net> Cc: usability gnome org, jody gnome org, mclasen redhat com, desktop_architects lists osdl org Subject: [Usability] Re: [Desktop_architects] Printing dialog and GNOME Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 17:46:21 -0800 (PST) On Tue, 13 Dec 2005, Till Kamppeter wrote: > > Frederic told that the options from the PPD file are intentionally not > listed in the printing dialog, the usability team of GNOME was against > listing these options. They clutter the dialog and can be more confusing > than useful to the user. I personally just encourage people to switch to KDE. This "users are idiots, and are confused by functionality" mentality of Gnome is a disease. If you think your users are idiots, only idiots will use it. I don't use Gnome, because in striving to be simple, it has long since reached the point where it simply doesn't do what I need it to do. Please, just tell people to use KDE. Linus

A screenshot of an email from Linus Torvalds criticizing GNOME's usability philosophy and encouraging people to use KDE instead. The joke is the blunt contrast between GNOME's attempt to simplify interfaces and Linus's claim that treating users as idiots makes the software unusable, making this a reaction to oversimplified design and frustrating software choices.

• @gentoomemes / 15810 2025-01-31