this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2024
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Yeah, because using the KISS launcher is like going into the CLI and building stuff from source /s
It does the absolute basic of what a launcher should do and then some, doesn't track you and gets out of your way. Those principles wouldn't kill Android, but maybe Google's ad revenue would smart a bit.
There's a quote that goes something like this: "imagine the average dumb person, and then realize half the population is dumber than that".
Having worked tech support, Arch is basically alien tech wizardry, a terminal is "hackerman" leet thing, and using Google to figure out an error code is "being tech savvy".
Granted, it's nowhere near as bad in Finland as it was in the USA, or Central America, but what you and I think is "super easy custom set up" is "⬧︎◆︎◻︎♏︎❒︎ ♏︎♋︎⬧︎⍓︎ ♍︎◆︎⬧︎⧫︎□︎❍︎ ⬧︎♏︎⧫︎◆︎◻︎" for a very significant portion of the population.
It's easy to forget how hard something is when you're used to it. Sure I might know what idiopathic glomerulonephritis is without looking it up but that doesn't mean you might know what glomeruli are.
Likewise I might know what an EGR valve is but it doesn't mean I know how to fix a Tesla.
Yeah, that's a George Carlin quote, and I'm well aware of it. It's no excuse for dumbing down interfaces like a launcher, or filling it with superfluous features (that coincidentally feed into a corporate clickhole).
Rather than the grim idea that everybody gets an interface the lowest common denominator will grasp, I maintain that everybody deserves a functional, no-bullshit launcher like KISS. It absolutely isn't what you make it out to be.
I'm not saying everyone needs an iOS circa 2015 interface.
But I am saying something like KISS would never work, because the general public will just outright reject it.
What needs to exist is something in between: something simple and easy to use at stock, but with high customization ability that ranges from novice to advanced users.
Unfortunately, it seems most of the GUI experts work in the private industry and rarely do FOSS.