FC5: first impressions

[Willem Riede]

On 03/26/2006 09:43:53 AM, Dimi Paun wrote:
> On Sun, 2006-03-26 at 14:20 +0000, Bill Crawford wrote:
> >  True enough, but the focus stealing prevention is something that's
> > been needed for a long time.
> Not for me, it hasn't. I know for sure I don't want it.
> The typing-the-root-password-in-the-newly-opened-im-client
> scenario doesn't keep me up at night. In fact, it's anon-issue for me.
> 
> But more importantly, I don't understand why people are
> harping on the terminal use case. My particular complaint
> applies to the entire desktop -- when I start any app (say
> from the GNOME menu), it does not get the focus! It is
> started in the background with a flashing button in the
> task bar.
> 
> This behavior simply does the wrong thing for me in more than
> 90% of the time. In fact, I can't remember the last time
> that I wanted to "continue my work" between when I clicked
> on an icon, and the app started. This seems to be a dorky
> fix for some apps taking to long to start. Let's make them
> start faster, that what people want anyway.
> 
> To add insult to injury, this behavior is making life a lot
> worse for people (like me) that try to avoid (as much as
> possible) the use of the mouse.
> 
> If I start an app, it means that I want to use it _now_.

Well, that's just your opinion. Mine is different. Sometimes I see a link in a  
mail that I want to follow up on later. I don't need firefox jumping in my  
face. Or a mail has an attachment I need to read - eventually. I'll open it  
with openoffice so I don't forget. But I don't want its splash screen nor  
window visible now.

So there are different use cases, and at least an option will allow people to  
select the behavior that best fits them. FWIW I'm not convinced the ideal  
algorithm has been discovered, or is even possible, as if you ask me to define  
when I want a new window to come up with focus and when not, the answer is  
"that depends on what I want to do with it"...

Regards, Willem Riede.