“…The other half of the equation, though, is a test of the
talent and experience the Eazel team brings to bear. Nautilus has
been built to bring a usable Linux desktop experience to computer
consumers: the sort of people who appreciate America Online’s
simplicity and consider the computer itself a simple vessel for
services. The résumés of the core Eazel
leadership are largely known to anyone following Eazel’s story
since it stepped up a funding offensive a little over a year ago:
Michael Boich, Andy Hertzfeld, and Bud Tribble were all members of
the original Apple Macintosh team. Several other staffers were
integral to work on MacOS at some point in their careers.”
“Though the overall quality of the major Linux desktop
environments has improved dramatically since the call first went up
several years ago to provide a better interface for end users,
members of the Eazel team weren’t shy in their assertions that they
had levels of experience in both interface design and software
engineering that would distinguish their contributions to GNOME,
taking it from merely solid to desirable for consumers. In an
interview conducted in August with Darin Adler, Eazel’s Vice
President of Software Engineering, the executive/developer stressed
his company’s focus on quality testing and its ability to generate
original interface design elements as key distinguishing factors
among the largely volunteer community of developers surrounding
GNOME at large.”
“Nautilus is no small chunk of the GNOME desktop, either. As the
environment’s file manager and the software controlling the X
desktop itself, it forms a large part of the average end user’s
day-to-day experience with the computer, acting as a gateway to
online documentation, Eazel’s services, image previewing, a basic
web browser, and, yes, a file management tool. It’s the mortar with
which the overall GNOME desktop environment will be held together.
Nautilus will help determine GNOME’s success among users.”