Re: Canola does not live up to the hype, suffers from usability issues.
 

I'd add that Canola provided and is based on a LOT of open source components, so if it's all about open source or not, some bugs you found here can be fixed by fixing those and this can actually benefit some full-open source projects to come.

For example, animations are mostly done in Edje/Evas... what we call Enlightenment Foundation Libraries. If you find them choppy (missing frames), then just cvs checkout it and start hacking... I (and the whole E team) did my best to improve it, INdT wrote the 16bpp engine, but we still know there is room for improvement, so if you are really interested in helping FS, then help us there! Lots of project use it, not just Canola, and I'm sure with this release even more projects will start to :-)

Another example is LightMediaScanner (http://lms.garage.maemo.org), it's open source and is the heart of Canola Media Scanning (that just listen for media removal/insertion and call LMS). If you find duplicated albums, mp3 not being parsed right, ... just svn checkout or git clone and start hacking! It's free, it's open and it needs you.

I could go through lots of libraries we use, and even platform components, like X11, but I think you already got the idea...

Re: Canola does not live up to the hype, suffers from usability issues.
 

I am 98% in agreement with what you say here, but just to play devil's advocate for a moment, if we had the source for Canola, we could see what bits are being used where, and target specific bits of the other libraries that impact performance the most. :p

Re: Canola does not live up to the hype, suffers from usability issues.
 

Actually no. You can run using OProfile and it will point you to most demanded points.

Even python debugging is available, you just need to run canola with "--profile" and it will use hotshot if installed.

Re: Canola does not live up to the hype, suffers from usability issues.
 

Oh, neat. Okay, 98% -> 100%. :D

Re: Canola does not live up to the hype, suffers from usability issues.
 

Yeah, if someone could PLEASE fix this for reading WMA files, it'd be awesome. I know nothing about programming so I can't do it myself but if someone could it'd be very much appreciated.

Re: Canola does not live up to the hype, suffers from usability issues.
 

What the hell are you talking about ? This is by far the best application for the tablet. As a matter fact it was one of the reasons why I bought my 810 in the 1st place and it doesn't disappoint.

Did you pay anything for it ? No. How often do you see free software that is that polished ? Also, this is BETA, so some bugs were to be expected, but even with its shortcomings and things left on the to-do list, I use this software every single day for hours.

You can always use something else if you don't like it, but at the very minimum you could show a bit of gratitude. I would hate to be on the team of developers of Canola and read this BS.

Re: Canola does not live up to the hype, suffers from usability issues.
 

E-motion, thanks for your love :-) But seriously, we don't need protection against "this", and calling what one say "BS" won't help either. Also, I (as most of devs) are open source guys and we do fight to open source it, we do believe open source tools are great and we fight against this "it's free (as in beer), don't say bad things about it".

I just replied to make the guy understand we do release open source, just not one part, but don't hate us for that... we're not evil in essence :-D

Re: Canola does not live up to the hype, suffers from usability issues.
 

I usually do not pay for software. I use open source software.

I use Amarok on my desktop and I have never seen a media player more polished than Amarok. Canola as you said is still an immature beta (very definition means unpolished). Amarok is just an example. I use free (as in freedom) polished software all the time.

This is precisely my primary concern. A media player has access to a lot of private data. Whats behind the closed code worries me from using Canola? What are the coders hiding in the parts that are closed? It also raises doubts because only part of the source is open.

My feedback on the usability is also real. I have not made them up. You can see the same issues raised in these forums by other members.

All in all I am going to stay away from Canola.

Re: Canola does not live up to the hype, suffers from usability issues.
 

oh, btw, suryavanshi, how's your n810 media player development coming along? kthxbye

Re: Canola does not live up to the hype, suffers from usability issues.
 

Indeed not! Far from it! I have begin by saying *thanks* for this delightful program!:) To begin with, I think it sets a standard for graphic interfaces that many other apps for the Nx series would do well to follow.

Another tip other developers can take from the Canola team is how to take (and use) user feedback. The open attitude is refreshing and encouraging and I laud the team for that.

Let me make it clear, though, that just because the software is 'free' doesn't mean that it should be immune from criticism. In fact, as handful and you and others here have pointed out, it's just the opposite.

The Canola team is watching this forum closely for the feedback they need to improve their product, and without critical comments, they will not get it. And guess, what, neither will we! If we let them know what works and what doesn't and why, well, dang, think what Canola3 will look like!

Having said all that, I do not, at the moment, have enough info to offer any opinion other than my superficial one about the gui, above. It appears to be elegant and intuitive. I have yet to have sufficient time to play with it, but I will tomorrow and I'll post my comments for the team asap!