"Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen and oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer."
--Dave Barry

Something happened to the url as well. It should be http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/technology/29google.html?_r=1

Can you edit the title after the comma to "Its Own Social Network".

While many people find the inclusion of the Ribbon in Windows Explorer debatable, I don't think the Ribbon is a failed concept. It's excellent for its purpose, and that is to provide a) an accessible user experience for new users b) versatility for experienced users and c) swiftness for really experienced users.

Point a), given the intuitive interface, is more or less a given. Point b) is the most common source of disagreement among users, others say it hinders their ability to work and the others say it makes it easier, because they find features they have never seen before. The latter makes sense, as that was one of Ribbon's purposes. The former is a matter of getting used to, and in fact, I will elaborate on point c) in this regard. Point c) is about key bindings. Yes, key bindings.

I mostly do text editing and programming with vim. So I live and breathe keybindings. The Ribbon UI is designed to provide dynamic keybindings for everything. You simply press Alt and the keybindings will highlight above the buttons and tabs, highlighting subgroups dynamically as you go, sequencing tab groups. For example, in a hypothetical Ribbon program, if the 'Insert' (I) tab group had the subgroup 'Image' (M) and 'From File' (F), one would press Alt+I+M+F to access this option. This is extended to every control in the application, and it allows everything to be keybound, requiring no mouse input, which I find slows me down. So if anything, this will make using Windows Explorer faster for the experienced user, provided he is willing to learn keybindings (or just watch the labels).

Another strong point about the Ribbon is that it can be hidden. Towed away, able to be called back with a keybinding. Thus if one finds the Ribbon obtrusive in anything, one can effectively minimize it -- making any Ribbon UI more minimalist than its previous non-Ribbon incarnation!

So speaking as a "power user" of applications I, for one, find the addition of the Ribbon to Windows Explorer a pleasant surprise. While I do not feel its inclusion to be completely warranted--what does one need from a simple file manager anyway--it will make using the program a lot faster for someone used to having keybindings for everything. I'm sure most of you can relate to this sentiment.

Perhaps the great author Arthur C. Clarke was not far off in his hypothesis.

Being descendants of... alien poo... is a humbling thought.

I am doing the opposite. GMail is just a POP3 client for me. I prefet it to most non-web e-mail clients as its user interface works well and looks better than most clients, e.g. Thunderbird. All mail is on the POP3 server -- which has backups -- GMail just duplicates it.

From their letter to developers [nokia.com]:

Qt will continue to be the development framework for Symbian and Nokia will use Symbian for further devices; continuing to develop strategic applications in Qt for Symbian platform and encouraging application developers to do the same. With 200 million users worldwide and Nokia planning to sell around 150 million more Symbian devices, Symbian still offers unparalleled geographical scale for developers.

Extending the scope of Qt further will be our first MeeGo-related open source device, which we plan to ship later this year. Though our plans for MeeGo have been adapted in light of our planned partnership with Microsoft, that device will be compatible with applications developed within the Qt framework and so give Qt developers a further device to target.

So they are not ditching Meego and Symbian completely, but it definitely looks like the systems will be sidelined into low-priority projects.

From their letter to developers:

Qt will continue to be the development framework for Symbian and Nokia will use Symbian for further devices; continuing to develop strategic applications in Qt for Symbian platform and encouraging application developers to do the same. With 200 million users worldwide and Nokia planning to sell around 150 million more Symbian devices, Symbian still offers unparalleled geographical scale for developers. Extending the scope of Qt further will be our first MeeGo-related open source device, which we plan to ship later this year. Though our plans for MeeGo have been adapted in light of our planned partnership with Microsoft, that device will be compatible with applications developed within the Qt framework and so give Qt developers a further device to target.

So they are not ditching Meego and Symbian completely, but it looks like the systems will be sidelined into low-priority projects.