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CAIRO shell Alpha test begins January 15th 2009!


Question

just thought i would let people know that the countdown has begun over at http://cairoshell.com/ for January 15th for the Milestone 1 Alpha test of Cairo shell. If you are asking how do i know that the countdown is for the alpha its simple i read it on their forum

Link

Honestly i think that this project has great potential however it has taken them a long time to get where they are (even though they did lose all their data a while back)

I cannot wait until there is an open beta or the final release i think it will be great.

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As an Alpha Tester, I received the Cairo program about 4 hours ago. Although still in Alpha Stage (with only some of the features implimented), I can assure you that the Cairo Shell is NOT Vaporware, nor is it a Mac ripoff, as another poster suggested. The Private Alpha Testing will continue for 30 days. After a few months (perhaps three, perhaps more) Cairo will go into PUBLIC BETA.

As a freeware program designed and created by a very small team, you shouldn't be bitching about the long delay. These devs are real people, with real jobs, girlfriends, and a life. They are doing this without payment. Yes, people have donated, but were never required to do so. They donated because they believed in the project (or they wanted a slot in the alpha-testing...let's be frank, some people thought that 5 bux was small payment to get in on the testing early)

Although I cannot divulge much 'behind the scenes' information, any public information/screenshots/discussion is still available for your perusale at the Cairo site.

Stick around, the best is yet to come (and yes, there is LOTS more).

BTW, it runs quite well under Windows 7 build 7000 :)

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^- One post wonder.

Interesting how they only show up to defend a piece of vaporware.

1. Do not leak the alpha to those not participating. This can hurt Cairo's development and credibility. This alpha is private for a reason.

Do they have any credibility left after delaying this for what is it now.. four years? :laugh:

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The utorrent(freeware) developers' speed and quality will put cairo(freeware) shell's developers to shame.

Although there will be more lines of codes in cairo but if they manage time it won't be delayed for years.

All people have a life, to be using that as an excuse is horrible.

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^- One post wonder.

Interesting how they only show up to defend a piece of vaporware.

Do they have any credibility left after delaying this for what is it now.. four years? :laugh:

1. Never had anything to say before...but as you can see from my profile, I have been registered at this site almost as long as you.

2. Credibility? The team has undergone a few major setbacks, but since it is currently in Alpha-testing, I would say that credibility is at 100%. The team lead a normal life, they have real jobs, and a real life. They are NOT some big company that has dozens of employees, nor are they being paid. This is freeware, folks...if you don't want it, or just want to laugh it off...don't download it when it goes into public beta.

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So what's so great about this shell? What is so great about replacing important Windows files that are most likely to give problems once Windows updates or another service pack is released and replaces those shell files?

This is nothing you can't do with WindowBlinds.

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In the 21st century and companies are finally getting away from a non-GUI interface concept like Menus, this company is producing a product that is designed around a Menu UI like OS X?

Ouch...

Menus were a compromise for GUI developers in the late 70s, as they couldn't show all commands or offer intelligence to provide the features for an application on the screen at once with the generation of graphical constructs they had at that time.

So they used Menus, or aka 'Word Lists' to offer the features and commands of the program. These were not the best design nor intuitive, as anyone that has dug through 200 commands in a series of 'Menus' knows.

Menus still require users to 'memorize' word lists, which is the opposite of what a GUI is suppose to be based on, visual representation without memorization.

So again, why is this company de-evolving to a Menu based UI concept? Do they just want to be 'kewl/L33t' like Apple OS X, which also has this aged UI flaw, or do they really not get UI and specifically GUI design paradigms.

There is a reason Microsoft took time to build in intelligence into software like Vista and Office 2007 and rip out the menus, because there are ways to offer all the features (or most of them) without something as dated as the 1970s Word Lists aka Menus.

The project looks professional, and there is polish to their web site, but the lack of UI understanding and building a product around that lack of understanding is both disappointing and a bit scary.

There are people that do UI and GUI theory and research for a living, they might want to look them up.

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