Re: Octave in Universities

[Bill Denney]

On Tue, 14 Mar 2006, John W. Eaton wrote:

> In connection with Octave/Matlab, this issue always amuses me because
> even with the Matlab GUI, I don't think you can really do much of
> anything without typing a command at the command line prompt that (at
> least by default) is in a frame that occupies the greatest portion of
> the GUI window.  So, when people are saying that they can't live
> without a GUI, they are really asking for a command line window with a
> few decorations to give them a warm and fuzzy feeling (ah, the
> familiar "Edit" button).  Oh, and a "print" button on the plot window.

Unfortunately, I think that this is a big problem for a lot of people, and 
it will turn people off from octave.  The problem isn't that there isn't a 
GUI, the problem to them is that it looks different.

When I show someone how I work in octave using emacs as my editor, they 
just want the matlab interface and won't take a second look (this has 
happened in my lab).  If I were to show them Octave Workshop as it is now 
(I've not yet done this, but this is how I predict it would happen), they 
will ask why the command window pops up and I'll have to tell them "Ignore 
that window and just look at the gui".  Once Octave Workshop reaches 
version 1.0 (yes, it will probably have to be called 1.0 because of other 
prejudices), people that I know may start really looking at Octave as an 
alternative to matlab.

The GUI doesn't matter except for the "warm fuzzy feelings" that people 
get from the famililarity of a gui and of matlab, but those feelings can 
and do turn people off from octave.  If I can get a second look, then I 
can start to convince them that octave is useful to them and can be used 
as a matlab replacement.  It is harder to get that second look without a 
gui.

Bill

--
A professor is one who talks in someone else's sleep.  -- unknown



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