On 11 Sep 2003, Mike Hearn wrote:
drive edit is probably one of those areas), but in others the only value I can see for having a cancel button is to follow what Windows (which basically doesn't having much of a HIG at all) and KDE (which typically follows windows) do. Having revert/close then is basically like OK/cancel except the buttons are labelled differently - the functionality is the same.
But it's not the same, it's different. It's not what users expect. Windows is on 90% of desktops, KDE is on mode that 70% of Linux desktops. Which means 99% of people are used to OK/Cancel. I don't want to debate which one is better, this is not the point. In fact, I might agree with you that instant apply makes sense. But the truth is that it's not such a big improvement, nowhere close to warant breaking from the status quo. Just think how weird this will look on a KDE desktop. Or to any Windows user, our target audience!
This has been tried ad nausaem before, and have failed consistently _every_single_time_. It just doesn't play to break consistency like so because you think in this case it is a bit better. What's the reasons to try it yet again, with very predictable results?