Re: [TCLUG:9131] enlightenment 0.16

["John R. Sheets" <dusk@ravendusk.org>]

On Oct 13, 1999, Christopher McKinley <lamfada@lugh.net> wrote:
> 
> > And don't forget that GNOME is a desktop environment on one hand, but on
> > the other, it is also a development environment.  E will never provide
> > an API for application development.
> > 
> > Was there a specific wheel you're concerned about?
> > 
> 
> Good point.  My wheel was the whole desktop-environment wheel, which
> both GNOME and KDE do well enough.  I was mostly being a little flippant
> though, because I really like E.  In fact, I think that E is much more
> organic feeling than either GNOME or KDE because of the way it has been
> developed incrementally.  

A lot of it also has to do with scope and dependency.  GNOME (and KDE)
are pretty much reliant on their toolkits for their look and feel.  
Also, GNOME covers quite a lot more ground than any WM could (or should)
hope to.  OTOH, E is pretty tightly interwoven.  Its main dependencies
are Imlib, Fnlib, and ESound, all of which are maintained "in house"
so to speak.  E only has two primary developers, whereas GNOME has 
hundreds.  Consistency in E is much easier to maintain if all 
you have to do is send a quick note to one other guy.

Any, finally, there's the simple fact that it's a WM, who's primary
goal is to look pretty and move things around.

> This has really upped the feedback cycle
> between the users and developers, and has resulted in some features that
> I am using more than a lot of the GNOME features that I am used to.  It

Yep.  I basically only use the panel as a launcher (and a clock dock).
(c:  I don't use gmc at all right now, although I'll probably use 
the new filemanager that'll come out with GNOME 2.0.  I'm also curious
to see what Raster comes up with for the E file manager/desktop shell
he's been hinting at lately.

> I guess I am going to be one of those people who "festers"
> around Raster. ;)

Yeah, I actually met Mandrake at LinuxWorld a couple months ago.  
Seems like a pretty nice guy, if perhaps a little preoccupied.
Unfortunately, I didn't hook up with Raster, who always seemed 
to be off doing something when I swung by.  Oh well.  It's only
a matter of time, I suppose.  (c:

John