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Linux Mint Will Adopt Gnome 3

sfcrazy points to news, posted in the current blog post about Linux mint statistics, that the Linux Mint team "has thus decided that in the next version of Linux Mint 12, they will continue to support Gnome 2, but will also introduce Gnome 3." Related news from an anonymous reader:"Contributors in the GNOME community have started a GNOME desktop user survey. The GNOME Foundation wouldn't endorse any survey, but the community has put together a 23-question desktop survey. Regardless if you use GNOME, they encourage all Linux users to participate."

37 of 315 comments (clear)

  1. GNOME Survey by 0racle · · Score: 3, Informative

    They might want all users to take the survey, but there is really no reason to unless you use GNOME. A good portion of the questions are basically 'How does GNOME work for you.'

    --
    "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
    1. Re:GNOME Survey by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "GNOME works great! Please take away more options so I have even fewer buttons to worry about!"

      Unfortunately by only asking feedback from self-selected users, they'll only get feedback that reinforces what they've already decided.

    2. Re:GNOME Survey by Trix · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Unfortunately by only asking feedback from self-selected users, they'll only get feedback that reinforces what they've already decided.

      That's why more people that aren't necessarily happy with GNOME need to take the survey. I've used GNOME since the 1.0 days, but GNOME3 was enough to make me install XFCE4 -- and I'm considering dropping the whole Desktop Environment thing altogether and going back to fvwm (or something similar)

      Maybe I'm just old, but I think the current direction of development has lost sight of the reason XWindows was created in the first place. The client and server shouldn't have to be on the same host. The User should be able to customize their own environment in whatever way makes it easier for them to work.

      --
      I want all of the power and none of the responsibility.
    3. Re:GNOME Survey by think_nix · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I really hope the input from the phoronix survey gets forwarded to the GNOME devs. Especially the comment field. I am also excited to see the results as a whole. How many are really still holding onto their 2.x installs like myself? Using GNOME for about 10 years now and am looking for a decent replacement for 2.32 (or until gentoo gets rid of 2.x)

      I don't want to put all the GNOME devs in one basket but after what they pulled with the 3 release , I refuse to use it. It just appears they they keep getting more and more out of touch. After reading things like thisand for laughs this one too.

    4. Re:GNOME Survey by HermMunster · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Gnome 3 is as much the stupidification of the Linux desktop as Metro is to Win8. It always happens when you let the developers make decisions rather than letting consumers have the choice.

      What they need is gnome 3 with the gnome 2 interface.

      --
      You can lead a man with reason but you can't make him think.
    5. Re:GNOME Survey by Toonol · · Score: 4, Insightful

      However, in Win8 you can just clickthrough to the full, standard windows desktop, so at least they haven't removed the option. Gnome seems to eagerly remove options.

    6. Re:GNOME Survey by Kagetsuki · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I was of the exact opinion as you until a day ago. Since I upgraded to to Ubuntu 11.10 I got stuck with GNOME3 (sorry, I still hate Unity) and I had a variety of issues - but many I found could be resolved in very interesting ways. Lack of a lower task-bar for example, you can use tint2 or a dock like Avant Window Manager - and the bar that comes out when you hit the bottom right of the screen already has plug-ins and modifications to make it work like a taskbar. Multi-monitor behavior bugged me as well until I learned you can change it, but I actually got hooked on the default behavior. In general my hands leave the keyboard much less now as well - alt-tab switching with that drop down selector is very intuitive and the search/launch is much nicer and more idiot proof than alt-f2 or continually opening terminals. Then today I was giving a demo to some prospective customers (dirty mac users!) and they pointed out how nice they thought it was.

      I really really understand the feeling of loss and confusion over GNOME3 vs 2, I do miss my old desktop - but with just a few customization options (that look like they will come in future releases) I think I'll stick it out and enjoy the new.

      By the way, rough calculation we've been using GNOME now for something like 12 years. Really up until now the biggest change was moving to the upper and lower bar by default (which I love(d)), that and ditching the stone texture on the icons...

    7. Re:GNOME Survey by aix+tom · · Score: 2

      Because any other project might actually be interested in why people DON'T use it, so that they can find out what the biggest mistakes are.

      But since it's GNOME they all have they head stuck up the "We do it the right way, anyone not agreeing with our way must be wrong" place, which again shows in the survey.

    8. Re:GNOME Survey by Grishnakh · · Score: 2

      Exactly right. I'd like to see more distros work harder on integrating KDE, as it's the only full-featured DE left that still uses the traditional desktop UI. Basically, if you want a full-featured DE these days, your options are KDE, or Windows 7 of all things. Plus, unlike Gnome which shuns configurability because it's "too confusing", KDE has it in spades. 10+ years ago, Linux software was all about being configurable and modifiable to your heart's content, but now it's basically a cheap copy of Apple's locked-down, hacker-unfriendly stuff. I feel like I'm living in a weird parallel universe.

    9. Re:GNOME Survey by fwarren · · Score: 3, Interesting

      In general my hands leave the keyboard much less now as well - alt-tab switching with that drop down selector is very intuitive and the search/launch is much nicer and more idiot proof than alt-f2 or continually opening terminals.

      The irony of all of this is back in the day, many linux folks who were users of Fluxbox, Openbox, Blackbox, Afterstep, E16, etc said that they were more productive with their desktops because of all of their custom short-cut keys. Users of KDE and Gnome scoffed at this and said that icons, menus and mice were the way to go. 10 years later and the users of Unity and the Gnome 3 Shell tell us how productive their environments are. Both of these environments are optimized for "touch" and small display size. With larger screen monitors they fall far short of the "mouse friendliness" that Gnome 2 possesses. How do they make up for this? By boosting their productivity with shortcut keys.

      Yes, that would be the very same type of shortcut keys we were told were not needed and users would not adapt to using. Welcome back to 1999 computing 2011 style. A keyboard driven interface that needs 2 gigs of ram and an i5 processor with a 256mb nvidia graphcis card.

      Of course as I say that I go back to work on my Fluxbox driven workstation. Using the same short-cut keys I defined 10 years ago and continue to take with me by moving my .keys file to every new computer I get. Maybe they will discover dock apps next.

      --
      vi + /etc over regedit any day of the week.
    10. Re:GNOME Survey by r00t · · Score: 2

      Would you use it on a boat? Would you use it with a goat? Would you use it in a box? Would you use it with a fox?

    11. Re:GNOME Survey by samjam · · Score: 2

      It's also wrong. The menu hasn't gone.
      Press the windows button (or mouse-move to the top-left-corner)

      You then get to choose from "windows" (running apps) or if you want, click on the word "Applications" and you get the FULL menu with categories to the right. You can either browse the full menu or click on a category and browse that sub-menu of applications.

      It's something new and original and much easier to work in principle and not based on windows 95 either.

      I think it's great.

  2. Mint- How many slashdotters out here use it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I understand Mint has a rather loyal (and loud) user base. I gave it a try, but wasn't very impressed. My experience was pretty much a buggier, less supported version of ubuntu. Mint seems to be tailored for a very specific environment and group of users, and falls apart quickly if you go off the rails just a little.

    I would not be surprised if it's popularity picks up, however, because there are lot of users that don't like unity. I don't like unity either, but I like a lot of the other subtle-yet-important tweaks and tools Ubuntu delivers that makes using linux a whole lot less painful. Ubuntu is the only distro I've ever used that makes setting up vpn and wireless internet connections remotely easy.

    That said, I've been using ubuntu with xfce4 (nope, not xubuntu) instead of the unity wm. Crisp, clean, fast, simplicity with all the powerful apps a click away if I want them.

    1. Re:Mint- How many slashdotters out here use it? by Dracos · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I use Mint KDE because GNOME is

      • Chasing a userbase that doesn't exist (computer illiterates not on Windows), thereby making actual users suffer
      • Infecting itself with a disease called Mono

      I like Mint. It's easy to install and I can do what I want to the desktop. As long as there is a KDE version of Mint I'll keep using it. If there isn't, I'll go looking for another distro where KDE is used (it won't be Kubuntu).

      I used to be a GNOME user back in my RedHat/Gentoo days, along With E.16. E.17 is teh seksi, but I haven't tried it yet.

    2. Re:Mint- How many slashdotters out here use it? by 21mhz · · Score: 2

      I use GNOME 3 (with not much suffering to share), and I don't have any Mono-based applications. In fact, I just checked and it appears I don't even have the Mono runtime installed.
      That disease is gone, if it ever was in GNOME itself. The language of choice is now Vala.

      --
      My exception safety is -fno-exceptions.
  3. Desktops by Nerdfest · · Score: 2

    I spent my computer time on the weekend away from the current 'normal' Xfce desktop and tried out Gnome 3 and Unity in a more serious. way. I found I could actually live with either of them. I've said before that the big missing feature is configurability, but they're both much better than before, and have the majority of panel widgets that I like. It ended up that I prefer how Gnome 3 works, and it's responsiveness. The big thing missing from it is the integration with mail and chat that Unity has, specifically for Thunderbird and Pidgin. Gnome 3 has no mail notification on the panel that I could find, which is an important feature. It seems to be a little to tightly tied to Evolution. I discovered that I could live with Unity, although it's quite difficult to configure window themes, etc (as opposed to panel themes). I'll figure it out, it's just that that wasn't my primary goal. I do find its actual keyboard response quite slow, and I'll probably remove the integration with the global menu. I'll probably try sticking with it another month or so at least. I think both Unity and Gnome 3 are both quite usable, and deserve a more serious look ... and this coming from someone who switched to Xfce.

    1. Re:Desktops by Anomalyst · · Score: 3, Funny

      Reminds me of RiscOS

      Is that the one where you attack Kamchatka from Irkutsk to get a directory listing?

      --
      There is no right to feel safe thru security vaudeville at the expense of everyone's freedom, privacy and tax money.
  4. The Answer to Ubuntu/Unity and Mint/Gnome 3 by cyberkahn · · Score: 3, Informative

    Is Arch Linux. After using Ubuntu for a long time they have really forced me to leave with their decision to force a Fisher Price desktop on me.

    1. Re:The Answer to Ubuntu/Unity and Mint/Gnome 3 by cyberkahn · · Score: 2

      Because the default desktop environment is what the distribution will tend to fine tune/focus on. I have installed other desktop environments on Ubuntu only to find annoying issues that were probably overlooked because the focus was not on that environment.

    2. Re:The Answer to Ubuntu/Unity and Mint/Gnome 3 by Bill_the_Engineer · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I don't see what the choice of desktop environment has to do with picking a distro.

      A distro will pick its official desktop and all the programs will be better integrated with that particular desktop. The only real negative that I experienced is some distro (eg. Ubuntu) do a poor job with their packaging of alternative desktops and lead to runtime errors that aren't being experienced by folks who use a distro that supports it better.

      --
      These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of my employer or colleagues...
  5. Decouple GUI from OS by vlm · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Why does every distro but Debian have this weird hangup where the GUI cannot be decoupled from the OS?
    Or rephrased, why does Debian apparently find it easy to do, whereas the big corporate OSes just can't handle it?

    (I use Debian w/ xfce and on a netbook with a dead mouse pad, ratpoison)

    Does anyone expect this trend to accelerate, perhaps the next Ubuntu will only ship with emacs and if you want to edit with vi, well then you'll just have to install Arch which will only have vi and no emacs? Maybe this game will become popular with languages and if you want Python you'll only be able to select from certain distros?

    --
    "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
    1. Re:Decouple GUI from OS by Cajun+Hell · · Score: 2

      Why does every distro but Debian have this weird hangup where the GUI cannot be decoupled from the OS?

      Because many distros have different goals than Debian.

      Consider one of the more extreme examples of a Unix coupled with an UI: Mac OS X. In that instance, the UI is practically defined as part of the OS. If you're a techie or otherwise take a reductionist view, you know that's not really how things are (there are various different components, such as the Darwin kernel), yet conflating all the components into something you call an "OS" isn't an error: it's an insight. Or if you don't accept that, then let's call it a decision: you have decided to lump all that stuff together and call it Mac OS X.

      That holistic decision, interestingly, is part of what makes Mac OS X popular.

      Consider the possibility that want your mom to end up with a computer (let's keep things very high-level, and not think about what's an OS; we're talking about the big picture here, so "computer") where she "never has to edit config files." (If you don't see this as a desirable goal, then you won't be able to continue this thought experiment, sorry.) You're going to add GUI front ends that express the same meaning as the text in the config files (and very likely translates to those config files. Now you're writing GUIs. You might end up saving some time, by deciding to use one toolkit, thus marrying your overall project to one particular overall GUI system.

      It's not stupid; it just maybe isn't for you.

      Debian doesn't take this view, because "not having to edit config files" isn't one of its goals. That gives it more freedom. Now look at Mint's web page and imagine what its goal are. It's not the same as Debian's.

      --
      "Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
    2. Re:Decouple GUI from OS by RDW · · Score: 2

      I have no idea where you get the idea from that these distros have a hang-up about GUI and OS not being decoupled - you clearly don't know what you're talking about...Ubuntu/Lubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu only differ in the choice of GUI.

      I'm not sure that make your point very well. The Ubuntu derivatives use the same packaging system and repositories, but differ a lot in their selection of default software, not just the desktop. Ubuntu could very easily make the choice of desktop an option in the installer, but deliberately doesn't - that would mess with the 'corporate indentity' it's trying to create, which has now become synoymous with Unity. Of course there's nothing to stop an experienced user installing, say, Xfce afterwards, which is simple but (in a subtle way) not exactly encouraged. They'd probably rather you used the Xubuntu-branded derivative to start with (and wonder why it installs Abiword and Gnumeric instead of Libreoffice). Fostering distinct, semi-independent distributions, each coupled by default to a specific desktop, protects the core branding (and its preferred desktop) without limiting choice in an obvious way. But if Unity, Gnome 3, Gnome 2, Xfce and LXDE were all presented as equal choices in mainstream Ubuntu at install time (like the MS browser choice screen!) how many people would go for Unity?

    3. Re:Decouple GUI from OS by Rich0 · · Score: 2

      Canonical benefits from RedHat paying kernel developers, and RedHat can benefit if they adopt anything that Canonical writes. To some extent it all goes around.

      My observation is that desktop environment designers are VERY picky. They're focused on vertical integration and everything is my-way-or-the-highway. It is getting to the point that you won't be able to run a particular DE unless you also run a particular SysVInit implementation, or X11 implementation.

      To me this is breaking away from the unix way, which emphasizes modular components. Sure, being able to schedule cron jobs from within the DE is nice, but not if it means that it will only work with one cron implementation. Why not define a standard interface and use it - just as we do with IMAP/POP3/etc?

  6. Re:Ha ha haa... Linux. by HermMunster · · Score: 5, Informative

    Don't you mean the remaining 75 million? Linux growth continues. There's been no decline in users adopting it, only solid increases. 75-100 million users is a significant market. Stop being a troll and get back into your mom's basement (or rather back under your bridge).

    --
    You can lead a man with reason but you can't make him think.
  7. Re:Gnome2 + KDE3 by mschiltz · · Score: 2

    are you implying that the previous versions of either WEREN'T bloat? Back when processing power was the main bottleneck in most desktops, KDE and GNOME made the system so slow and over-incumbered that it was just like using Windows, which for me defeated the purpose. Now obviously, times have changed, and speed isn't one of the driving forces behind moving to a linux system, but the GUIs are still too huge. Give me a window manager that boots in about 2 seconds flat (WindowMaker or ICE) any day.

  8. Re:Fuduntu by pmontra · · Score: 2

    It's only a matter of time but eventually Gnome 2 won't work anymore with new versions of libraries and Xservers. The only chance it has is somebody forking it and maintaining it but it's going to be a boring project, something you do only if they pay you. I say so even if I'd like to keep this Gnome 2 desktop I'm using right now unchanged for at least the next 10 years.

  9. Re:Ha ha haa... Linux. by RCL · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I don't understand people who bash Linux. I am not talking about trolls like OP, but there are people who are serious about hating Linux.

    Why would one want to demotivate people who work on an "indie" OS? Would he/she also bash amateur music bands for making "indie" music and not working for a major record label? What kind of person are such people?

  10. +1 by stooo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    +1
    right click disappeared. But PCs are not macs, and HAVE a f*** second button !!!
    no menu mean no way to find an application unless you remember the name !!
    Gnome 3 is bullshit
    Unity is worse

    --
    aaaaaaa
  11. Oh noes! They changed Facebook...er Gnome! by crazybilly · · Score: 2
    The hatred for all things new in the FLOSS community never ceases to surprise me. When they change Facebook, all my nontech friends all winge for days about it.

    You'd think it'd be different around here, but it's not.

    I can't speak to how well Gnome 3 works on typical large-screen multi-monitor setup, but my home laptop with a 14" screen, it works exactly the way I've always wished Gnome would. It's well put together, well designed and while there aren't a lot of native config tools for it yet (3.2 aside--haven't tried it), I'm sure that's all in the works (and if it's not, people/distros will create them).

    the idea of Mint's polish on top of Gnome 3 sounds just about perfect to me--exactly the desktop I'd like to use.

    1. Re:Oh noes! They changed Facebook...er Gnome! by 0123456 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The hatred for all things new in the FLOSS community never ceases to surprise me.

      We don't hate it because it's new, we hate it because it's crap.

    2. Re:Oh noes! They changed Facebook...er Gnome! by LateArthurDent · · Score: 2

      The hatred for all things new in the FLOSS community never ceases to surprise me. When they change Facebook, all my nontech friends all winge for days about it.

      You'd think it'd be different around here, but it's not.

      There's a reason for that. Change for change's sake is a very bad thing. If it's not broken, don't fix it.

      There's nothing wrong with a different desktop type. If you like a gnome 3 style interface, more power to you. It shouldn't have been an update to gnome, though. It should have been launched with a brand new name as a competitor to gnome. After all, think about it: the reason all those people were using gnome 2 was because they liked that interface. Now you removed what they liked.

      Basically, updates to an interface should be to add features and fix bugs, but never to change how you interface with it. If you want to do that, that's fine, and it's entirely possible you'll create a superior interface. However, to do that, you create a competing interface, while still fully supporting the old interface, and see whether enough people flock to it that it makes sense to discontinue the old interface. You don't tell all your users that you're not supporting the interface they like, and to just tough it out and learn to like the new one.

  12. Re:Ha ha haa... Linux. by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 2

    Why would one want to demotivate people who work on an "indie" OS? Would he/she also bash amateur music bands for making "indie" music and not working for a major record label? What kind of person are such people?

    You must be new on the Internet.

  13. I can't be the only one can I? by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Am I the only developer using a very large desktop area? I must be because both Mac, Windows, Unity and Gnome 3.0 SUCK DONKEYBALLS when all you need from your desktop is a very large space to put windows on. KDE is the worsed. MS tried the Active Desktop thing before and it only makes sense for people that see the desktop. I don't, there are windows in front of it on which I am doing my work. I HATE files on the desktop because I first need remove windows to access it. At most I use it because it is an easy place to find in most file managers.

    As an experienced users, focus follows mouse is also a must. I very often switch input between windows/apps and that means every click to focus I don't have to do saves a lot of time and agro. It is so bad that on windows I routinely have input go to wrong window simply because I am so used to not having to click a window or WORSE part of a window to have THAT part of my screen receive input.Why should I ever want to move the mouse away from a window and still have the input go to that window?

    The OSX unified menu is not just a killer of focus follows mouse (the menu would change as your mouse passes other windows on the way to menu) on a large desktop it means the menu can be a long way away from the window. This would matter less if you didn't need to first click the window to give it focus and then go back to the menu to use the menu... I do notice that most hardcore mac users are users of special packages that have an insane amount of short cuts on their input devices. But us mere mortals have to deal with apps that are far less optimized.

    Unity loves to put the menu on the far left... so if your main monitor happens to be on the right... happy mouse travelling!

    Gnome 3.0... actually, I am not sure what the hell it is trying to do. Crash a lot? Make years of development of utilities a waste as nothing works anymore? Create a desktop with absolutely ZERO options for configuration?

    I know what the flaw is with the recent KDE, Gnome 3.0 and Unity developments. The linux year of the desktop never happened (despite the fact that it has been years my employers even had to consider whether to allow me to use Linux as my development desktop) and they saw how iOS and even Android suddenly got people to use non-MS Windows... and they think that this audience will make them the millions they been dreaming off in secret.

    Hell, even MS is doing with Windows 8. Surely it is the standard desktop that is the block to selling more? It even makes some sense. The more supposedly "noob" friendly the app, the more it deviates from the old windows (and I mean here the style slowly evolved from the xerox design, not MS specific). Check your latest brand name computer and its crapware. Wanna bet the config utitlities and virus software looks "slick" with non-standard buttons and such?

    Do "users" really like it? I don't. But I am a developer so I don't matter.

    So, when asked once again to rescue a windows machine for people who are perfectly good friends but not the brightest people in the world, I installed Ubuntu instead once Flash updates had made certain that it was good enough for people who only use the web, play music, download and chat.

    Surely these people, a few who have a below average IQ (this is not me being elitist, one of them has been tested as being around 85 ) would never be able to work with Linux?

    Well, they did and not only did they manage but do you remember the nerd rage when Ubuntu switched the window buttons? None of them even cared, most hadn't even noticed. All I really had to do to instruct them was how to accept updates.

    Yes, that was silly because when Unity hit, that was the end of the experiment. Unity was NOT understandable and Gnome 3.0 was no better. It was a disaster far worse then ANY MS update EVER. It broke about a dozen installs and I had no easy way to recover. And while these people had no problem switching from Windows to Ubuntu they NEED their Facebook and so i just reinstalled windows and r

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  14. Re:Ha ha haa... Linux. by HermMunster · · Score: 2

    No I'm not counting Android. Android has 550,000 activations a day. In one year that's roughly 200 million. Ubuntu alone has around 25 million users, not including servers. Redhat has nearly that amount if not more. Again, he's a troll. Kick him back to Mordor.

    --
    You can lead a man with reason but you can't make him think.
  15. Re:Ha ha haa... Linux. by HermMunster · · Score: 2

    Most of it stems from people's prejudices. When they should be fighing against criminal activities by government and corporations they fall back into the weaker area of their lives and attack anything different. Some of it stems from their desire to not learn something new. They spent years learning simple things over and over, that to learn something that requires a modicum of thought horrifies them. Some make a living off what they learned, and they just don't want to go back and relearn, they are the sorts that have given up on all things exept what they know well and like, anything different is to be hated. They don't have to know anything about it, it is just that they get to voice it without restraint and that makes them feel good emotionally. They feel this is something they can make a difference in, be an activitist from their basement caves, so to speak. They can't see themselves doing much more than playing games where they get to abuse their cohorts and they try to extend that to a more real aspect of their lives, the web in general. Linux is just big enough to be a real target for them, the unwilling unthinkers.

    --
    You can lead a man with reason but you can't make him think.
  16. bash? or dash? by samjam · · Score: 2

    better to "bash" linux that to "dash" linux or "sh" linux, or worse: "ash" linux