Comment 219 for bug 532633

I wish Linux proponents would decide whether you want people to switch to Linux from Windows or OS X, or not. I'm just trying Ubuntu again (Karmic) after last trying it (I think Dapper Drake was the last version I'd tried previously). It has improved tremendously since then but now I read this condescending attitude by the developer and I'm wondering what is is that makes Linux developers so arrogant at times. You guys all have Asperger's Syndrome or something? If I want to be treated badly by a company that thinks that I should have no say at all in their design decisions, I can just keep using a Mac (in case you are wondering, I am NOT a Mac fanboy — in fact I sincerely doubt I'll ever buy another, it has disappointed me in many ways).

Anyway, having used a Mac, I would say that it would not be a big upset to me if the buttons were on the left provided that the order emulated that which Mac users are accustomed. But it's troublesome to me that you want everyone that has learned how to get around in Windows, and/or on a Mac, to learn yet a third button pattern. This is not an insignificant thing - I, like many other computer users, have developed a "muscle memory". Maybe you don't experience this and don't understand it, but some of us don't cope with arbitrary design changes as well as others. If there were some valid reason for this — if it were necessary because of some new feature or something, or even because of some legal issue, then I could understand it, but no one is saying that.

So the way it comes across to me, and probably to many others who've noticed this change, is that you're doing it simply because you can, just to prove you wield some kind of power over others. It's like you're saying, "Look, Dad, I can force people all over the world to change the way they do things! I can make them unlearn YEARS of habit and use the computer the way *I* want them to use it!" Many of your users are telling you that this MATTERS to them, and your response is essentially "Let them eat cake!"

Sure, those who are knowledgeable enough can change the button order, but then you run into another issue, non-standard operation between machines. Let me give you an example. When I got my Mac Mini, I was coming from a Windows machine and wanted to use my Windows keyboard and have it operate as it always had, so I went out and got a third-party program (keyremap4mackbook) that let me switch keys to make them more Windows-like. I'm happy, and certainly not frustrated by the keyboard anymore at all (though I was very frustrated the first month, before I found that program). Trouble is, my son also has a Mac, and he does not remap his keys. So guess what happens when he tries to use mine? He gets really frustrated because he's used to a keyboard that operates the way Apple intended, which is non-standard from Windows.

Now you are going to have users that are used to the Mac OS X, and to Windows, that will change the button order first thing. Then you will have other users that either don't have the "muscle memory" issue, or are too uninformed to switch the button order. So what happens when a Linux admin who is used to the new order has to work on a system where the user has changed the order (or vise versa)? Suddenly you are raising the frustration level for thousands, maybe millions of users - and for what? For no other reason than to prove that you are the big, bad developers that can force that kind of change.

How would you like being forced to drive a car where the order of the gas and brake pedals were reversed? What if there were no good reason for the change, except some designer at the auto manufacturer wanted to throw his weight around? How many people do you suppose would buy that car? And, how many people do you suppose would badmouth that company for making a ridiculous design change? Please think about it. Right now relatively few people know about this — I've just stumbled across comments in the last couple days, and I can already tell you that if you think there's a firestorm of negative commentary now, just wait to you actually come out with a release.

On the other hand, if I were behind a competing Linux distribution, I'd definitely be encouraging you not to yield to all of us who are telling you this is the wrong thing to do. I'd be telling you to stick to your guns and damn the torpedoes — after all, what do users know, and what do they matter anyway?