Bug 558754 - Memory usage indicator is confusing, distracting and not commonly used in other applications
Summary: Memory usage indicator is confusing, distracting and not commonly used in oth...
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: Platform
Classification: Eclipse Project
Component: UI (show other bugs)
Version: 4.15   Edit
Hardware: PC Linux
: P3 enhancement (vote)
Target Milestone: 4.15 M3   Edit
Assignee: Lars Vogel CLA
QA Contact:
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on: 550828
Blocks: 553537
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Reported: 2020-01-02 14:19 EST by Denis Roy CLA
Modified: 2020-01-10 12:23 EST (History)
5 users (show)

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2020-01-02 14:19 EST, Denis Roy CLA 		no flags Details
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Description Denis Roy CLA 2020-01-02 14:19:14 EST 
Created attachment 281369 [details]
Screenshot

See screenshot

One user wrote in to claim that "After running the Eclipse installer on Windows 10, and launching Eclipse, The subsequent download that occurs from within the Eclipse application has an extremely slow rate of progress. "

The Memory usage bar at the bottom is confusing and, in 2019, does look more like a download progress bar.

I don't know any other application that shows memory usage - especially with an arbitrary number like 266MB that not many users can relate to.

I suggest it be removed (thus, saving memory :))
Comment 1 Frederic Gurr CLA 2020-01-03 06:01:32 EST 
Since this is the first misunderstanding related to the heap size bar (AFAIK), we should not throw the baby out with the bath water immediately.

A mouse hover over the bar shows something like
"Heap size 401M of total 632M max: 1024M mark: <none>", which should give a hint what it is.

I'd suggest to either give it a conclusive label like "Heap size:" or discuss if it it should be disabled (as in: not shown) by default.
Comment 2 Lars Vogel CLA 2020-01-03 06:28:58 EST 
Also right mouse allows to hide it.
Comment 3 Dani Megert CLA 2020-01-03 08:51:44 EST 
+1 for the current resolution.
Comment 4 Denis Roy CLA 2020-01-06 10:59:45 EST 
Fair enough.
Comment 5 Lars Vogel CLA 2020-01-06 11:38:34 EST 
*** Bug 558849 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 6 Lars Vogel CLA 2020-01-06 11:40:11 EST 
(In reply to Lars Vogel from comment #5)
> *** Bug 558849 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Second concern raised by a user. I think this is a valid reason to revert the change:

> but I find it a bit distracting because the bar frequently moves to reflect
> changes in resource consumption.
Comment 7 Lars Vogel CLA 2020-01-06 13:40:49 EST 
*** Bug 558849 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 8 Lars Vogel CLA 2020-01-07 04:30:58 EST 
I suggest to revert in M3.

I activated the heap indicator by default via Bug 550828  because I was very proud how little memory Eclipse consumes theses days but I agree that this is not super helpful for the regular Eclipse IDE user.
Comment 9 Eclipse Genie CLA 2020-01-07 04:32:36 EST 
New Gerrit change created: https://git.eclipse.org/r/155372
Comment 10 Lars Vogel CLA 2020-01-08 04:32:31 EST 
(In reply to Denis Roy from comment #0)

> One user wrote in to claim that "After running the Eclipse installer on
> Windows 10, and launching Eclipse, The subsequent download that occurs from
> within the Eclipse application has an extremely slow rate of progress. "

Just as a side note: Yesterday my 10 year old son ask me if it is OK to shutdown my machine while the download (by looking at the heap monitor of Eclipse) was still running. ;-)
Comment 11 Denis Roy CLA 2020-01-08 09:11:22 EST 
Thanks Lars