[OT] "Pre-announcement" of Python-based "computing appliance" project.

[Alex Martelli]

Ksenia Marasanova <ksenia at ksenia.nl> wrote:
   ...
> > are discussed there too -- namely, they're hiding folders, drive
> > names, etc, from the user view, and creating a new and much simplified
> > user interface.
> Fortunately, Apple has been working even harder and is already there 
> with Tiger:
> http://www.apple.com/macosx/tiger/spotlight.html
> http://www.apple.com/macosx/tiger/search_finder.html

Even more fortunately, Apple has learned some lessons over the last 20
years, so its systems, while quite usable for grampa, do also appeal to
power users and geeks -- Tiger will seamlessly let you use its wonderful
search facilities _together_ with good organization of your materials
(if you take the bother of the latter).  Consider Mail.app: its search
functionality works across all mailboxes or on a single mailbox --
you're _still_ encouraged to do a little decent filing of your mails,
though the search does make it more feasible to survive with the popular
"one big inbox and never bother filing" paradigm;-).  Consider Google:
it doesn't eliminate the advantage of well-organized, navigable sites,
even though it gives you a chance of surviving the typical "designed by
marketing, what's this ``usability'' newfangled thing?!" ones...


Alex