[openbeos] Re: Calculator

  • From: merkoth@xxxxxxxxx
  • To: openbeos@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Tue, 06 Jun 2006 10:54:27 -0300

Jonas Sundström escribió:

Waldemar Kornewald <wkornew@xxxxxxx> wrote:
...
I don't know if you've ever used one, but I love my TI-92+.
...
http://www.gymnase-morges.ch/docs/SemaineSpeciale/ImagesSemSpec/ti92.gif

(*Apologies to Waldemar up front, if necessary. I'm not sure.)

I think this illustrates a fundamental problem with open source software (and with engineering in general?): the gap between the producers and the consumers. Math-gifted people who love their calculators make design decisions for the general population.

While I probably don't mind in this case, me being one of the math-
gifted ones (believe it or not), this is something developers need to ask themselves: Will this design work for the target audience? What is the target audience? Is it just us, or some larger group?


I'm not saying the ideas for improving Haiku's calculator that you guys have listed are necessarily bad. I'm just hoping the easy entry / learning curve won't be affected negatively by us pleasing ourselves, scrathing our own itches.

(Should we care about consumers? They've got Windows, MacOS and now Linux, already!)

(Does Be's MacOS-replacement design decisions carry any relevance, still?)

(What's the heart and soul of BeOS, and
where do we/Haiku "think different" from Be, Inc.?)

/Jonas.

* I loved my first Casio import which is now "lost in time,
like tears in rain". Its lifespan was limited, it seems. Too much squeezing it.




Hi all, I totally agree with Jonas: altough I really love scientific calculators I guess most people (like my parents) would feel a bit overwhelmed with such a design.
IMHO, Haiku's bundled calc should have a clean look, with three modes: normal, sci (showing some advanced features but kkeping the real life look), and the expression evaluator (my all time favourite). Pretty much the same Philippe suggested.


Cheers,

-- Iván Vodopiviz

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