Call for Papers/Talks/Ideas!

[John R.Hogerhuis]

John Gilmore <gnu <at> toad.com> writes:

> 
> > The second thing is basic UI usability. The pop-around
> > menu border makes the UI
> > thoroughly unusable with the trackpad 
> 
> http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/4910 covers this issue and more.
> 

Yeah there's an awful lot in your ticket and I didn't notice it
mention any of our particular problems. I don't think the frame
is evil... my problem in this regard is simply
popover frame + trackpad. You don't have the fine granularity
with a trackpad that you do with a mouse and a younger child's
fine motor skills are still developing in any event.

Based on observing my daughter, it's not much of an issue with
a USB mouse. But that's not the usual mode she works with the
laptop. She pulls it off her shelf and sits on the couch with
it on her lap. A mouse isn't an easy option.

If anyone asks and thinks they won't be redundant I will enter
a couple narrowly focused tickets. (popover frame + trackpad,
and "reading required.") I know the slow-activity-start
bug (5228) is already being tracked, though I am surprised it
wasn't considered high enough priority to be triaged for
update.1.

If I had to pick a single most important high profile problem
with the XO, the slow-activity-start bug would be it. It's
impossible not to stub your toe on this one within the first
15 minutes of use. As a programmer, the problem calls into
question the basic software architecture of the XO, in
particular the choice of heavy use of Python and
"abstraction layer"-type packages like Telepathy which
weren't purpose built for resource constrained machines like the
XO.

That was likely a conscious gamble.

My gut feeling though is that, directly addressed, this is fixable. Just a
matter of setting development priority.

-- John.