[openbeos] Re: Data or App Centric?

lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
 ...
> In Windows, it's fairly easy for a computer newbie to start looking 
> at
> pictures, listen to music, record CDs or whatever task you want to 
> do.
> Generally, the trend is to have a application-centric view of the 
> world,
> which makes it (arguably) easy to get at the task at hand.

Consider the applications that device makers force you to use,
like scanner applets, CD-R/RW dialogs, etc.

I think it would be much better if the system could provide
the necessary uniformity, to keep everyone from rolling their own.
I would much rather have a good system-provided scanner dialog,
(with possible extensions, should they be necessary).

System-provided uniformity will gain the the less experienced 
users more than would a dozen supposedly user-friendly yet 
wildly different applets.

System-centricity. :}
 
> In BeOS, you have to learn a bit about the system in order to use all
> functions. For example, you have to learn what attributes are in 
> order to
> find an e-mail you've received, using Tracker's Find tool -> E-mail -
> >
> From/Subject/...  Hence, a data-centric view where it can sometimes 
> be a
> bit of a hassle to know which operations you can apply to certain 
> data,
> and where those operations are to be found.

We could definitely do a lot to improve the look, feel and 
functionality of, for example, the Find panel and the Open/
Save panels. (And Deskbar too, I think.)

I could personally try to use Query Templates more often,
but I'm too lazy to actually go look for them.

A healthy, loose-knit integration between email software,
IM applications, contact managers, etc, is a good start,
and that's something BeOS could very well excel at.

> Now, after one has learned how it's done in BeOS, I believe
> it is a faster way of working, which doesn't get in the way.
> This is sadly mostly for "professional" users that perhaps 
> need to manipulate their data in a more advanced way 
> (think Terminal and pipes) than what a single application can
> provide.

I believe user friendly applications can be built on top of
what we have, without "dumbing it down", so to speak.

> This leads to two situations, based on the user:
> The advanced user will get hit the roof in Windows because of the 
> inherent
> limitations of the system (think: hacks like EasyMove or
> ticWorkspaceGadget), whereas in BeOS, they're relatively easy to do
> because of the bundled developer environment and the structure of the
> operating system (file system and such).

BeOS vs. Windows.. Direct file access or system service API.
(People files vs. Address book)
Pros and cons, I guess.

At least Windows and MacOS provide good entry-level 
scripting languages for accessing these system services.

> For the casual user, however, there'll be a certain threshold that 
> might
> (or might not, but most probably will) put the user off from using 
> BeOS,
> and instead choose Windows where everything is served (i.e., kitchen 
> sink
> included) -- might not be a very good way of working for us who know 
> how
> things -can- be done, but it is a way, and it's mostly obvious what 
> to do
> (e.g., the activity pane on the left-hand side in folders in 
> Windows).

The activity pane is data centric. ;)

I sort of like it, but BeOS currently is limited to only one kind
of application-filetype relation, which is being able to open the file
(not specifying what it will do to, or with, the file).

The BeBook section on BMimeType, Get/SetPreferredApp()
hints that this part of BeOS was never finished, for some reason:

"The app_verb argument specifies the type of access;
 currently, the only app_verb is B_OPEN. "

If this was to be fleshed out, it would still limit us to a 
set of predefined actions, like Open, Edit, Print, Email,
etc, and I personally don't think this would improve the
user experience that much.

Perhaps a pane of filetype-aware Tracker add-ons with 
the usual explicit do-this names would be a better starting
point. Shell scripts could work too, but that's just a little too
hackish, IMO.

/Jonas Sundström.              www.kirilla.com

PS:

I thought the wisdom of the 90's was that we should go data-centric as 
opposed to app-centric? ;)   (goodbye monolithic fullscreen 
applications)

OpenDoc 1994 link:
http://www.wohl.com/g0021.htm

CyberDog:
http://www.xent.com/FoRK-archive/summer96/0505.html

DS.

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