[Desktop_architects] Printing dialog and GNOME

[Linus Torvalds]

On Mon, 12 Feb 2007, Marcos P=E9rez L=F3pez wrote:
> =

> Yo tambi=E9n soy idiota. No se configurar la mayor parte de las opciones
> del escritorio, y si he podido empezar a usar linux es porque Gnome me
> lo facilit=F3.

There is a _huge_ difference between "being easy to use" and "_only_ being =

easy to use".

"Being easy to use" is important, because it means that there isn't a very =

high learning curve. That's _good_.

"ONLY being easy to use" is bad, because it means that once the initial =

learning curve is over, maybe you know the program, but you can't actually =

do what you WANT to do. And that's *bad*. That's *really* bad. It's =

actually much worse than being hard to use to begin with, in many ways.

Game designers know about this. You don't want to make your games too =

challenging, because if you do, people never get "into" them. But if you =

don't give people challenges along with the game, and don't allow them to =

"grow" with the game, the game sucks. It migth be as easy as making things =

just "fall faster" (Tetris), or it might be giving the person new =

capabilities ("bigger guns").

Gnome people seem to think that once you "got into it", you never want to =

do anything more. Not true.

		Linus