GNOME 2.16 Released

Kethinov writes "The GNOME Project has just released version 2.16 of their popular *nix desktop environment. Among many snazzy new features, is lots of new eye candy, including an experimental compositer in Metacity, feature enhancements, usability improvements, and much, much more. Ars Technica has a review."

Comments

So? It still sucks.

[bmo]

Seriously, KDE _owns_ Gnome in every way. It's more modular and more useful. It's easier for the user to tweak. It's faster. It would be helpful if the desktop authors simply wrote for KDE instead of having all this duplication of effort. Indeed, the basic reason for Gnome's existence disappeared when Trolltech dual licensed QT under the GPL and their own licenses. The only reason why Gnome is still around is spite fostered by the _KDEMustDie_ extremists who are never willing to ever forgive or forget that Trolltech offended their sensibilities.

I could have posted this anonymously and I will be modded down for this by the GnomePolice, but I really don't give a damn.

--
BMO

Well, doesn't Gnome have some nerve?

[tulare]

First of all, calling anything they do a "usability improvement" is a bald-faced lie. I'm awaiting with bemusement the moment when all of Gnome is reduced to one single button (that you have to double-click, naturally) with a picture of a brain-dead monkey on it, that launches an xterm.

More to the point of why I accuse them of having nerve, behold:

The file chooser dialog has also been improved: the location entry (previously opened by using Ctrl+L) has been integrated...

So, in other words, Gnome put back what they idiotically took out in the first place - for the sake of "usability" naturally - and then have the balls to call this fix an "improvement."

Suffice to say, I'm solidly in agreement with Torvalds on this issue. Gnome is dumbed down to the point where I begin to wonder whether most of the UI team suffers from some condition or another which causes them to abhor visual complexity, preferring instead to cover their screens in acres of brown, unused, empty space. I would say "wasted space" but I think I've wasted more than enough space making this post. Cheers.

Re:The important part: Mono

[kcbrown]

...or it could kill it, depending on whether or not Mono is vulnerable to patent infringement lawsuits from Microsoft....

Quite a few people are still nervous about Mono for that reason. I can't say I blame them.

5 Year Old 3D features...

[TheNetAvenger]

Ok, considering the 3D features require 5 year old video cards, does this mean we can officially give GNOME the 'boot' and move on to projects that are at least working with respectible interfaces and approaching 3D with modern hardware?

I read this release several times thinking it was a joke post...

Re:But does it have a useable file-save dialogue?

[darkonc]

Well, there are things like: If I already know that I want to open /usr/bin/gvim (e.g. in an open-as), there's no easy way to type that in ... I have to click my way to that directory -- and when it goes to open /usr/bin, I have to wait 30 seconds for it to stat the entire freaking directory then go hunting in that massive directory for a file who'se name I already knew a minute ago.
so:
1: let me type in the name of the file I want (including path name)(It looks like they may have done that)

As somebody else mentioned, If I don't want to save in 'the usual places', I have to click on the 'I want some more' button to get dialogues which could have easily fit in all of that dead space... my other gripe is that the 'extra' directories don't give any indication of their path -- so if I have /tmp and ~/tmp as common saving places, there's no way to tell them apart, besides trial and error.
2: a popup with the full path would be nice.

Gnome is dead, Patrick Volkerding confirms

[muftak]

Even slackware doesn't ship with it anymore.

That's got to be

[Anonymous Coward]

some of the ugliest "eye candy" I have ever seen.

Gnome Sucks

[Anonymous Coward]

how can you use this s*it, i just downloaded it a couple of days ago and it sucks ass compared to kde and even windows xp