[Sigia-l] UI for the $150 Laptop (OLPC)

[Skot Nelson]

Ziya Oz wrote:
> I most certainly do not have to.
> 
> Design evaluation/criticism is not a personal commitment.

There are choices. I'm sure they'd be just as happy to not have you 
participate at all.

> It's absurd to think that if I were to criticize design work from, say,
> Ford, Microsoft or Bank of America I should "prove myself" and join their
> company.

It's not absurd at all. Design exists within a context.

Would you go into Ford and tell them they should start using a logo that 
consisted of four interlocked rings on the grills of their car?

Alternatively, would you go into Audi and suggest they use a blue oval 
surrounding the company name as a badge?

Would either of these companies hire you -- or anybody -- without a 
screening process first to make sure you fit? Why should open source be 
any different?

At the end of the movie, the Wizard turned out to be nothing more than 
an old man behind smoke and mirrors. It would be prudent to make sure 
that the design criticism didn't wasn't similarly meaningless.

> Design criticism is about the design *product,* not the people behind the
> design. If I wanted to hold hands and sing Kumbaya with others that would be
> a *different* activity, just not design criticism.

And design is not an absolute. Not even remotely.

It's subjective, and even somewhat arbitrary and -- to a great extent -- 
in the eye of the beholder.

As opposed to, say, a scientific venture such as nuclear fusion. This 
either works, or things explode. (Or, in the case of the U.S.A., it 
works BECAUSE things explode.)