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A Look at GNOME 2.14
An anonymous reader writes "Gnome has a nice preview of their newest version 2.14 posted which should be hitting the streets around the 15th of March. From the article: "As well as new features and more polish, developers have been working around the clock to squeeze more performance out of the most commonly used applications and libraries. This is a review of some of the most shiny work that has gone into the upcoming GNOME release."
Well seeing as the site is Gnone, KDE 3.5.1 still works here...
Ooo boy, a new version of Gnome! I wonder what options they removed this time! Because remember, seeing options makes users confused, so you should remove them!
Also bad are things like save dialogs with folder views, and open dialogs where you can type in file names!
Yes, I know, call me a troll. Point out that the save dialog has a button you can click on to display the folder list. Mention that there's some key combo you can press to show a text field on the open dialog.
I used to be a GNOME fan, but as time has gone on, I've just gotten more and more fed up with them simply removing existing options and making the thing - in my opinion, of course - harder to use, all in the name of "easier to use." I used to like GNOME, but Nautilus and the stupid decisions made in 2.x have convinced me that GNOME is never going to be the desktop environment it looked like it could have been in the 1.x days.
I'd also love to know why they decided that the proper order for buttons is "No/Yes". I just love how NO ONE ELSE ON THE PLANET orders things that way, but GNOME does, for "ease of use." Right.
What's all this with "Windows manages" and "Desktop environments"? I just don't get it! What windows!?! What point-and-click!?! Use the freaking command line for a change, you might even enjoy it. And while everyone's looking for pretty colors and dancing colored text, the command line is configurable for color. ((no offence to you people, I use KDE and Gnome myself. KDE @ FreeBSD and Gnome @ Ubuntu, but why is everyone always hyping this so badly?))
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Userfriendly? Sure it is, unless you aren't computerfriendly!
/me to a classmate on FreeBSD
Why not call it collaboration instead.
Because that would be lying; Aqua's designers aren't "collaborating" with the Gnome designers.
OS X is using like 50 GNU programs straight off, source and everything.
Even if it was that many (OS X is actually using the tools that come with FreeBSD and OpenBSD), what does that have to do with anything? The tools were released under an open source license which Apple follows. What do command tools have to do with the Aqua interface? What do GNU programs have to do with creating a Spotlight knock-off menu item that even organizes its results in its pulldown menu exactly the same way? Get an original thought, guys.
Gnome (Which is part of GNU) is borrowing some ideas, but not code from OS X.
Ripping off ideas is more like it.
"Knocking off" seams like a bad thing when both GNU and Apple are using eachohers ideas and it's probably benifitial for both projects.
Aqua's designers isn't using design ideas from GNU. At most, OS X is using the GCC compiler and a few other command-line tools that ship with the BSD subsystem, whose code is freely available. While it is true that a number of GNU utilities are used in FreeBSD, they comprise fewer than 8% of the utilities and 15% of the libraries, and that was the stat back in 1999. Please, oh please, stop the spinning.
And Gnome had better start getting a little more careful, since Apple is well-known for protecting the Aqua look-and-feel legally, as is their right. After being ripped off since 1984, even down to the Trash can and pulldown menus that Windows and Gnome are using, I don't blame them.
"Sufferin' succotash."
I also really don't understand what you mean about knocking off OSX.
From drop shadows on windows to the vector-based imaging to the Spotlight knock-off menu widget, Gnome has been the biggest OS X offender compared to KDE, who seems to be more concerned with ripping off Windows.
Meanwhile, nobody comes up with original ideas of their own. It's really pathetic and annoying. If I get modded down for saying so, that's fine; it's my opinion after following these projects since the 90s.
"Sufferin' succotash."
This is a constant problem with Gnome updates. Other examples include complete lack of Gnome menu editing for one release, and in the next, very primitive menu editing and the removal of Run Application as a Gnome menu choice. Another example is changing the size of folder icons.
Okay, so they want to change things... What I don't understand is why they don't make these things options (even using gconf is fine!). At least make it possible to change back! How hard can that be, since the code is already there?
I still use Gnome, and like it overall, but I hate how they force EVERY change on me. Sometimes the old way was fine (or better!).
Hmm...funny - OS X has both options and a full screen test for screen savers. In fact, I see they stopped calling them "Screen Effects" (which they did in Jaguar as last I recalled). Given GNOME's love of copying OS X poorly, it's funny that they didn't notice that OS X considers this a permissible act. GNOME sickens me these days - they need to get over themselves.