The GNU/Linux Desktop and Borrowed Assumptions about Usability

“Despite the emphasis that major distributions place upon
usability, nobody seems to ask the question about what definition
of usability is being assumed, or what kind of users that
definition produces. Or, whether those users will be capable of
reaching the free software goal of being able to control their own
computing.

“The conventional wisdom is that free software began by mostly
ignoring usability issues. It was software designed by geeks and
for geeks, and functionality was more important than ease of
use.

“Then, gradually, influenced by documents such as the GNOME
Human Interface Guidelines and the freedesktop.org standards, the
community became aware of the need to consider usability, and came
to rival the standards of proprietary software.”

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