I cannot explain how much I do not want to see this green dot and “New!” text in my application launcher. Rather than be a passionate contributor like you, I have regrettably become a slave to the Big Tech industry - But one thing I can provide is insight into why operating systems like iOS and Windows have this noise: Impact driven development People need to justify their work on a continuous basis, with the upside of promotions and downside of layoffs. They add the most useless feature...
People who find computers useful should be using computers.
This weird idea from some linux users that only people who see their computer as a hobby and have mastery over them should be allowed to use them, and that computers should be designed exclusively around the needs of computer-as-hobby users, is absolutely nuts.
Its a tool. It should be designed to be useful as possible to anyone who needs such a tool.
Sincerely,
Another linux user who cares about UI/UX and is tired of this kind of junk. It’s a dumb argument, let’s all stop making it please. Linux supports all your “technical user” wildest dreams, let the average people have their features and design considerations too.
Twenty years ago I might have agreed. Now, in hindsight, I can say that giving everyone access to computers & thereby the internet has brought out the worst in humanity, including mass-manipulation and authoritarian regimes thanks to people making even worse calls in elections than they used to.
This is really getting that “old man screams at the cloud” vibe.
Are you okay?
The devil is in how things are made useful to users who just want to get things done. The problems comes with corporations making decisions about what users should need to understand, and what users want. There’s been a lot of dumbing down and manipulation in that process, serving the needs of those corporations and advertisers and not the needs of the users.
Software can be made useful for those who don’t want or need to undertand all the details, in a good, non-harmful way. The principle of separation of interface and implementation even demands it. But our society being what it is, that largely doesn’t happen, so I’m inclined to agree with your pessimistic take.