Re: [libreoffice-design] Breaking out of the box (applications versus objects)

Hi Greg, all,

a lot has been said on this topic and as I don't like to write lengthy mails, 
I just want to shortly point one thought that I think is missing in the 
discussion so far: 

People care neither about applications nor about objects. They care about 
tasks (or workflows, as you like). And this is a topic we - as an application 
provider - probably cannot solve. But we need to be aware of it. I think on 
the long run, all we can do is to provide a solid technology base, that can be 
used by operating systems to help users to manage their tasks. Writing a 
personal letter to Greg is something totally different than writing a book 
about the future of user-interfaces. Atm I use writer for both of it. Very 
unsatisfying :)

Best,
Björn

Am Freitag, 28. Januar 2011, 00:44:46 schrieb noh.way.jose:
> I'm new to this community, so please forgive me if the topic I'd like to
> discuss has already been aired.
>
> To set the scene, first a bit of summarised, probably partisan and probably
> only partially accurate context. I point this out because I wouldn't want
> the thread to spin off into pedantic historic details and corrections.
>
> Having been around the computer industry for many years now, I have kept
> abreast of computing advancements by reading the industry news, developing
> products and using them. A pattern of acquisitions, mergers,aggregations,
> best practice, standards and plain copying has been going on so
> relentlessly that I believe that the fruits of these enterprises no longer
> adequately meet users needs as well as can be.
>
> The original modern interface (Xerox Star) didn't differentiate by
> application but by  objects familiar to users. The application rot started
> with the commercial versions of this approach but really got application
> centric with Windows '95. My rough recollection is that MS Office started
> as a bunch of acquisitions that map pretty much to the applications we see
> now, whether MS, OOO or LO. That is; a word processor, a presentation
> manager, a spreadsheet and a database. Leaving the DB out of the argument
> for the moment, as a non presentation centric technology, I'd like to
> propose Libre Office consider a mid to long term strategy to ditch the
> artificial boundaries between applications. Let us return to the idea of
> supporting users' needs without filtering them through artificial
> application capabilities!
>
> Instead of applications, let's have a document, a variety of choices of
> rendering the document (print, screen, presentation, web, edit,
> collaborative edit, &c.) and tools. The tools can still be categorised, but
> not as they are in applications, where the application is a hard boundary.
> The tools here could all be used, irrespective of the presentation
> mechanism. Categorisation of the tools need only be done as a means to
> support user tasks, perhaps along multiple dimensions, using tags. This
> proposal means only having to develop a tool once and allowing the
> concurrent availability of tools that the artificial applications
> boundaries would normally exclude. For example, DTP tools, such as layout
> grids and text flow, which could be used alongside more traditional word
> processing tools in documents, presentations and other formats.
>
> Of course, the toolset and the rendering mechanisms could be extended in a
> modular way, making the development time-line much more appropriate to an
> open source community, with competition for tool developers to build a
> better tool. If the core design team act in an editorial and standards
> capacity, then the result can hang together seamlessly. (Apple seems to
> have cracked this a bit ;o)
>
> Enough rambling from me. I'd be really interested to see if there's anyone
> else who gets what I'm on about and whether there's enough interest to start
> investigating in more detail. If on the other hand you think I've got it
> all wrong, I'm happy to defend my views or admit defeat, depending on the
> feedback.
>
> If you read this far, well done :o)
>
> Cheers,
>
> Greg

-- 
Voluntary Open Source Usability: http://www.OpenUsability.org
Commercial Open Source Usability: http://www.OpenSource-Usability-Labs.com


-- 
Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to design+help@libreoffice.org
List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/www/design/
*** All posts to this list are publicly archived for eternity ***