No more right click terminal

[Lamont R. Peterson]

On Sunday 17 July 2005 10:54am, Colin Walters wrote:
[SNIP]
> Not knowing how to use a terminal does not mean you have "substantially
> diminished mental capacity".
>
> I have several mathematician friends who can run intellectual circles
> around me in a number of areas (even besides math) like philosophy and
> literature, but don't know or care how computers work.
>
> The idea is to design the desktop for people who want to use the
> computer to get work done (sending email, writing documents, etc), not
> learn how it works.

Does that mean that the only people the desktop is designed for are those who 
"...don't know or care how computers work." ?

I use a lot of GUI apps that some of these people would never have heard of 
(like Kdevelop, dia, lincvs, Brahms, etc.)  I am a user, too.  But I also 
happen to be able to write good software and good documentation and (not 
always so good :) stories and email and music and...

I guess I'm asking, why should the desktop be designed for those who only use 
the "cube-farm" basics?

One possible answer:  So GNOME wants to be all things to the little people who 
don't know nor care to know?  That's fine.  This is open source.  
"$open_source == $freedom_of_choice;" .  So, I will vote with my "feet", 
a.k.a. my choice of desktop.  I use KDE.

Maybe instead of trying to get the Fedora Development community to make GNOME 
what developers want it to be, there should be more choices made available.  
Adding fluxbox, blackbox, openbox & evilwm to the core distribution would not 
be difficult and would only take up less than 2MB on the CDs.  Others (like 
Enlightenment and some of the cool new 3D desktop environments) could easily 
live in Extras.  Why don't we look at providing more options for those who 
care?  (Yes, I know some of them are already in Extras).

Personally, I like having the "Open Terminal" context menu item by default; 
it's there for those who need it/know about it/like it.  For those who would 
prefer to open their terminals another way, they can press <ALT>+<F2>, drill 
the menus until you find it, plop a launcher somewhere or drop the GUI 
entirely.  But the choice was still ours.  For those who do not understand 
what they are looking at after clicking "Open Terminal" what's the worst they 
can do?  This is Linux, they can't blow up the system (at least, not unless 
the sysadmin is a true moron).  The security of the system prevents them from 
do damage other than to themselves.

However it happened, that menu item is gone, so I will either have to live 
with yet another frustration when I am "forced" to use GNOME or install some 
extra package or ???  I think it would be good if the new-and-improved 
version of the "Open Terminal" context menu item were part of Core.  However, 
that is an issue for the packagers mailing list.  Right?
-- 
Lamont R. Peterson <lamont at gurulabs.com>
Senior Instructor
Guru Labs, L.C. http://www.GuruLabs.com/
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