@By Anonymous Hero
It was designed by Asus not the people you so lovingly call "freetards"
"Give 'regular' users a bit more credit regarding their intelligence and tastes in UI."
Like you? Seriously... I worked with regular users... Most panic when their mail icon changes from
location A to location B(even if that is just the right next position on the left(yes I have been called out for such reasons a few times))
I'll assume you are not a regular user and that your father actually likes using his brain
to discover new things and doesn't just give up at the first sign of trouble(my mom is the same
but she is using a gnu+linux box at home) She can do everything and more that she could do
before on windows. And seriously has no issues.
In the end it's all up to the end user. My aunt is somewhat technofobic so she has trouble using even the simplest cell phone(no extra crap.. just calls and SMS) but she did slowly learn how to use it
in the end(she still has probs now and then). So you see it depends on people.
"anything better in Gnome/KDE space (look at all the OSX/XP look alikes/wannabe's). God forbid they're let loose customising 'simpler' interfaces for the eee."
I won't even comment on the GNOME/KDE crap it's not worth the time(since I actually agree with you on that)
But for example look at enlightenment e17 it's a lot different to regular GUIs look wise. That's what you can get from the so called "freetards" but I would have a hard time calling anyone on the enlightenment team any type of 'tard.
The OSX/XP look-alikes I tend to hate since they just bring back the same crap.
Btw did you look at the ubuntu mobile edition? It actually has an interesting UI design... Simple yet
complex. That's the type of UI I'd like to see more on mobile devices.
Anyway hope this brings some light into your obviously boring life...