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Will Linux phones stay around this time?

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Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#241

Post by tpxl »

codeflo wrote: post #189
1_player wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure about that, I just think that "design" has a lower barrier to entry. A pure designer cannot one day find themselves writing code for a major piece of opensource software. A pure programmer can find themselves arranging some UI and designing a logo on Inkscape, that won't look and feel great. Put the two together and something magical can happen, though not always, as design is so easy the programmer can be o…

It’s even worse, I think. Good UX design looks deceptively easy, but is actually incredibly hard. So hard that a lot of programmers don’t even recognize how terrible they are at it, or how high the skill ceiling actually is. They think UI design is pretty colors and rounded buttons. In a functioning software company, the managers recognize this skill difference and simply order the developers to implement what the de…

> They think UI design is pretty colors and rounded buttons.

Most people, let alone programmers, don't realize there's more to "design" than pictures.

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#242

Post by sergeykish »

AussieWog93 wrote: post #139

I'd be shocked if it took off. The FOSS development paradigm seems to be allergic to good UI design, and this is far more important for people on mobile than desktop.

You judge from subjective view. Should we all? I do not like macOS and Windows experience. It is full of distractions.

http://sergeykish.com/side-by-side-no-decorations.png

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#244

Post by chovybizzass »

sergeykish wrote: post #242
AussieWog93 wrote: post #139

I'd be shocked if it took off. The FOSS development paradigm seems to be allergic to good UI design, and this is far more important for people on mobile than desktop.

You judge from subjective view. Should we all? I do not like macOS and Windows experience. It is full of distractions. http://sergeykish.com/side-by-side-no-decorations.png

MacOS is usable. Windows isn't. I like KDE because its not either and its themeable.

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#245

Post by rbanffy »

ekianjo wrote: post #7
rbanffy wrote: post #2

Am I missing something? Every Android phone is running Linux.

Linux is a kernel. Obviously this article is talking about a different user space than Android.

So, what is a Linux phone? Does it need to use glibc or another libc still qualifies? Does it need to present a POSIX interface? Does it needs to run an X server or something compatible?

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#246

Post by 74d-fe6-2c6 »

tluyben2 wrote: post #205
2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it worked well enough, and was stable enough, I think a lot of tech enthusiasts might make the switch. Same we we put up with Linux distros. A friend has a pine phone and it’s just not good enough as a daily driver. Forget UI. It needs a reboot regularly.

I have a pinephone; it is not good enough. Very unstable; everything (apps/wm) just keep crashing randomly; I send in crash reports. And I try the latest images every month. But yes, I think it would work. I would be happy with a phone that can run Linux desktop software with HDMI. It would need to be powerful enough (which the pinephone is very much not at all), not eat so much battery when the USB dock is plugged i…

wow - now that you mention it. a smartphone with an eInk display. that would be rad!

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#247

Post by cinquemb »

codeflo wrote: post #189
1_player wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure about that, I just think that "design" has a lower barrier to entry. A pure designer cannot one day find themselves writing code for a major piece of opensource software. A pure programmer can find themselves arranging some UI and designing a logo on Inkscape, that won't look and feel great. Put the two together and something magical can happen, though not always, as design is so easy the programmer can be o…

It’s even worse, I think. Good UX design looks deceptively easy, but is actually incredibly hard. So hard that a lot of programmers don’t even recognize how terrible they are at it, or how high the skill ceiling actually is. They think UI design is pretty colors and rounded buttons. In a functioning software company, the managers recognize this skill difference and simply order the developers to implement what the de…

> I don’t see a solution to this.

Brain computer interfaces… UI's as they exist today are merely an abstraction layer for getting the brain to engage with and process information.

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#248

Post by young_unixer »

AussieWog93 wrote: post #182
matkoniecz wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems to me that the root cause is that OSS is often developed by people already using it. They are used to weird interface and not benefiting from it being usable by newbies. So there is much smaller motivation to improve it. And even if someone new joins project they will be often also used to weird interface once they contribute.

I think it's simpler than that. Unpaid developers overwhelmingly prefer to work on the intellectually "sexy" problems such as encryption or compilers, to the detriment of the boring-yet-important stuff like UI improvements and hardware compatibility (let alone proper QA).

I think developers and most users simply don't even notice the problems.

When I say "I can't use program X because the UI/UX sucks, is there any alternative?" people come out and say "I see no problem with program X, I use it everyday and it rocks"

Re: Will Linux phones stay around this time?

#250

Post by slver »

tomxor wrote: post #235
AussieWog93 wrote: post #139

I'd be shocked if it took off. The FOSS development paradigm seems to be allergic to good UI design, and this is far more important for people on mobile than desktop.

It depends on what you mean by design. Modern proprietary OS (mobile and desktop) certainly have more polish, aesthetic taste and cohesion - that last one being the most valuable when compared to much of FOSS. But in terms of usability I'm not convinced they are any better unless we are going back a good 20 years. They have improved looks at the cost of performance and significant ambiguity and thus mental overhead i…

It's easy to make a light OS when no one uses it.
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