[Olpc-open] getting used to the journal

[Tomeu Vizoso]

On Mon, 2008-02-11 at 13:07 -0800, Sameer Verma wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I must admit it took me some time to get used to the concept of a
> journal that captures all that you do, and saves it, along with
> versioning, date and time. Additionally, the ability to add tags and
> description is great.

I'm very happy to hear this. Unfortunately, the implementation is still
very imperfect and lacks some fundamental features. We are trying to
find the resources needed to keep developing as fast as we would like.

Don't know from whom comes the original idea of having a journal-like
organization of user-produced content on the laptop. If I had to guess,
I would say Ivan, Eben or Walter.

> What I didn't expect is that I would get used to it so much that I would
> miss it in my regular work environment! I find my file manager and
> backup utilities to be primitive. With file managers, you have to go
> digging into drives, folders, and then look at time stamps. BTW, I use
> Ubuntu Gutsy as my primary interface. I boot into Windows XP about once
> a month (old habits...). Now that I've experienced the journal, I want
> it on my machine!!!

Well, perhaps it will get to a nautilus window one of these days:

http://msevior.livejournal.com/19028.html

> I can [now] see how a person (child or otherwise) who has never used a
> file manager would not need one and would take to the journal. Of
> course, those of us who like it under the hood would want their /usr
> /var /etc to be there, but if you don't know about it, why bother?

Right, is quite difficult for us to imagine how software should be for
people who haven't used a computer before.

> I wonder if anyone else has had this experience, or is my wine tainted :-)

Please tell more about what you drink ;)

Thanks,

Tomeu