John Accoun
2011-07-01 20:29:36 UTC
Hey all.
Just like Addadi, I'm another happy deskbar-applet user that would like to
keep using it.
I don't know what the real purpose of this email is besides sharing my
opinion, but here it goes anyway...
I've been using gnome for many years and the deskbar applet for maybe 3
years or so. Deskbar applet and tomboy notes are the two pieces of software
I use the most on my personal computer.
The recent developments in gnome made me take the decision of changing my
desktop environment. The reason why I haven't move to openbox yet is the
deskbar applet. There are many launchers out there, personally I like kupfer
and gmrun too, but both of them are in my opinion inferior to the deskbar
applet, no offense to the good people developing and maintaining them.
I find all this rather sad. Gnome is the result of the hard work of many
people, it shines as a light/simple yet powerful/efficient desktop
environment and now because of the current eye candy trends that legacy is
going to be trashed.
The deskbar applet is the ultimate gnome desktop tool, is where everything
comes together. It has simple interface and modus operandi but it is still
capable of delivering rather advanced features. On top of that, it's rock a
solid application, I never found any bug, any odd behavior, any glitch of
any kind.
On ubuntu, and I guess on many other gnome based distros, the deskbar applet
relies on heavy and _very advanced_ integration with many other programs in
gnome. For example, it relies on tracker index to deliver indexed content
very fast.
If I type a word into deskbar it will display all my tomboy notes that
contain word in their contents, and if i just press enter it will open the
first one in the list. There is no other lauched that comes any close to
this. This is only possible because tomboy, deskbar-applet, gnome panel,
tracker, and many other open source projects have been developed with
integration and openness in mind. If it wouldn't be for all the effort
invested developing plugins, plugin systems, dbus interfaces, etc. we would
be stuck with the average just-usable (not necessarily efficient) stuff,
which is where tomboy alternatives pretty much are.
The usage example I just described is a very particular one, I'm sure there
are many other valid ones. My point is: at a first sight, deskbar might look
just like an alternative among many, but it's level of integration and other
important details put it at at totally different level than it's
alternatives.
I guess I will probably use gmrun, but not at all to do everything I do with
deskbar applet. It will be helpful with maybe 30% of the things I do with
deskbar-applet. Other lauchers would be even less helpful.
I think this project could be perfectly saved and mophed into a stand alone
application instead of a panel applet. I am a software developer myself
myself, but my knowledge on free desktop technologies is limited. I actually
dug a bit into them a while ago and found myself in an unpleasant swamp of
undocumented libraries and standards. So I unfortunately I don't have what
it takes to maintain this project.
I also noticed that most of the people that maintains software that is
tightly integrated with gnome, either works or has worked as a developer of
applications for gnome.
For an outsider, this feels like it's some kind of a secret society, and
honestly, I myself lack the patience to walk whatever path to get into such
circles.
While deskbar has proper documentation for plugin developers, the docs that
would provide one the necessary skills to write deskbar applet itself are
nowhere to be seen.
Sorry if this was a long email. It may be my farewell to deskbar applet.
To all those who contributed to this great little tool, my sincere
gratitude.
So long deskbar applet.
Just like Addadi, I'm another happy deskbar-applet user that would like to
keep using it.
I don't know what the real purpose of this email is besides sharing my
opinion, but here it goes anyway...
I've been using gnome for many years and the deskbar applet for maybe 3
years or so. Deskbar applet and tomboy notes are the two pieces of software
I use the most on my personal computer.
The recent developments in gnome made me take the decision of changing my
desktop environment. The reason why I haven't move to openbox yet is the
deskbar applet. There are many launchers out there, personally I like kupfer
and gmrun too, but both of them are in my opinion inferior to the deskbar
applet, no offense to the good people developing and maintaining them.
I find all this rather sad. Gnome is the result of the hard work of many
people, it shines as a light/simple yet powerful/efficient desktop
environment and now because of the current eye candy trends that legacy is
going to be trashed.
The deskbar applet is the ultimate gnome desktop tool, is where everything
comes together. It has simple interface and modus operandi but it is still
capable of delivering rather advanced features. On top of that, it's rock a
solid application, I never found any bug, any odd behavior, any glitch of
any kind.
On ubuntu, and I guess on many other gnome based distros, the deskbar applet
relies on heavy and _very advanced_ integration with many other programs in
gnome. For example, it relies on tracker index to deliver indexed content
very fast.
If I type a word into deskbar it will display all my tomboy notes that
contain word in their contents, and if i just press enter it will open the
first one in the list. There is no other lauched that comes any close to
this. This is only possible because tomboy, deskbar-applet, gnome panel,
tracker, and many other open source projects have been developed with
integration and openness in mind. If it wouldn't be for all the effort
invested developing plugins, plugin systems, dbus interfaces, etc. we would
be stuck with the average just-usable (not necessarily efficient) stuff,
which is where tomboy alternatives pretty much are.
The usage example I just described is a very particular one, I'm sure there
are many other valid ones. My point is: at a first sight, deskbar might look
just like an alternative among many, but it's level of integration and other
important details put it at at totally different level than it's
alternatives.
I guess I will probably use gmrun, but not at all to do everything I do with
deskbar applet. It will be helpful with maybe 30% of the things I do with
deskbar-applet. Other lauchers would be even less helpful.
I think this project could be perfectly saved and mophed into a stand alone
application instead of a panel applet. I am a software developer myself
myself, but my knowledge on free desktop technologies is limited. I actually
dug a bit into them a while ago and found myself in an unpleasant swamp of
undocumented libraries and standards. So I unfortunately I don't have what
it takes to maintain this project.
I also noticed that most of the people that maintains software that is
tightly integrated with gnome, either works or has worked as a developer of
applications for gnome.
For an outsider, this feels like it's some kind of a secret society, and
honestly, I myself lack the patience to walk whatever path to get into such
circles.
While deskbar has proper documentation for plugin developers, the docs that
would provide one the necessary skills to write deskbar applet itself are
nowhere to be seen.
Sorry if this was a long email. It may be my farewell to deskbar applet.
To all those who contributed to this great little tool, my sincere
gratitude.
So long deskbar applet.