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Comment by dfranke | Hacker News Reader

The UI screenshot looks like a Vista knockoff. For the love of FSM, why would anyone knock off Vista's UI?

Very shrewd move by the KDE people. Realistically, if you want to create a good UI with limited manpower and financial resources, do you try to invent everything from scratch, or do you copy the UI of a competitor that has spent hundreds of millions on usability research? A lot of thought is put behind each design decision at the big software companies; a good rule of thumb is to borrow an idea unless you have a compelling reason to do otherwise. This frees up more developer time and energy to make Linux better in other areas.

Besides, what do you think is so horrible about Vista's UI? I've extensively used both Gnome and KDE, and much prefer Vista's UI. Usability is one of Linux's biggest weak points, IMO.

I've been using Windows 7 and actually like the eye candy.

I think the issue is that people can't think of anything better to implement.

Hehe, no-one. But KDE are probably right to show a Vista knockoff. People like you and me already know its customisable, but people who use Vista might see it as a slightly nicer looking version of what they've got and be more tempted to try it.

I don't like the vista look, but this looks like a toy compared to it.

I hate to be critical, but those desktop & taskbar icons just ruin it. They are like the retarded child of apples icons, and you can almost guarantee they were drawn by a programmer not a designer.

I use linux every day and wish a great designer or two would work with them and gnome to give it the "polish" of other operating systems. A pixel here and there makes a huge difference if you ask me.

Other nitpicks: taskbar text should be vertically centered. Consistency in font appearance is a must. Text on the mail window seems to be off vertically by a pixel or two. The clock text is far too prominent. Etc etc etc...

"For the love of FSM, why would anyone knock off Vista's UI?"

Maybe users like it?

design by committee

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