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GNOME 3.4 Released
supersloshy writes "The popular GNOME desktop environment has just announced the release of version 3.4. User-facing updates include, among others, a new look for many GNOME applications, smooth scrolling support in GTK, integrated document search in GNOME Shell, a new dynamic background, improved accessibility configuration options, new high-contrast icons, and more documentation. Developer-facing improvements include the release of GTK+ 3.4 and updates to standard GNOME libraries as part of the latest GNOME Developer Platform."
With GNOME 3.4 2012 is most certainly going to be year of the linux desktop!
Flame on: Gnome is unbearable...
title ^
But how will my distro of choice mess it up?
That's what I want to know.
Maybe put the window buttons of the bottom.
Meh.
What's to flame? GNOME 3 was good, now it's better
<runs and hides>
-- no sig today
Yet another new look for no apparent reason. (shrug). I guess it ain't so bad. I'll adjust. Or just keep using Lightweight ubuntu/LXDE instead.
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
The look isn't any departure. From what I see on the screens it is similar to 3.3, 3.2, 3.1. And the things that did change i personally like. search bar in overview mode has much better visibility this way and the transparent buttons also seem to be more effective. The other optical changes seem quite minute so I hope they also worked on some bug squashing and didn't just wax poetic about the illustration the whole time...
-- no sig today
"Epiphany, the GNOME web browser, has been renamed Web. "
Ok. Now that I learned what Epiphany is, it changes. Not that the original name meant anything useful, but Web is even worse: too general.
Not if you use Unity... (*snicker!*)
My problems with Gnome 3:
-Extensions are a very awkward approach to what should be simple config changes. For example, there are two hotcorners by default, upper-left and lower-right. Rather than offering a straightforward configuration to disable it, you have to dig through extensions and find either the extension to disable upper-left, the different one to do lower-right, or the third one that disables both. This accumulates quite atrociously with all the settings.
-Because of the extensions being particularly invasive and pretty much required, the 'oh no' screen is easy to hit.
-In the event of an 'oh no' screen, gnome shell does not care that your apps are still running and could conceivably be used if gnome-shell would just let you restart without logout. It just says 'screw you, log out and kill all your applications'. I've tried starting metacity and it will run, but I can't get rid of the 'on-top' oh no screen.
-No window title search, like has been in Compiz scale and KDE for a very long time. Very hostile to large window count scenarios.
-No way to show all windows belonging to an application in activities view exclusive of other windows
-The application button is sloppy-focus unfriendly
What I like about gnome 3:
-Hot-plugged multi-display is handled pretty well (one of my biggest reasons to lean toward gnome away from KDE, less work when I dock my laptop).
-I actually do like the new alt-tab,alt-above-tab. Having two tiers helps that be almost useful (had given up on alt-tab as unscalable without this)
-Nominally having all task switching/launch elements hidden, but taking over the full screen when you want to switch or launch applications. Keeps my workspace cleaner and doesn't limit the real estate used to facilitate task switching/launching to some small corner of the screen when it is the only thing I am thinking about while that is happening.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
I did some testing with DEs lately and I my best friend I found from GNOME3 + Gnome Shell. Everything is nicely in its place, providing an intuitive, minimalist desktop. I had to hack the theme though, to not display titlebars when maximized, as the title is shown in the top bar anyway (tutorial). However the whole thing is quite similar to Unity, but for some reason Unity runs dog-slow (?). If you want a more full-fledged desktop, KDE4 seemed very snappy and smooth too.
Nah, everyone who wants a usable desktop has switched away and no longer cares how much the Gnome boys fsck theirs up.
It's just like Lion, only different.
(Actually, with the right extensions, and Docky? I quite like Gnome 3.)
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
After getting used to GNOME 2 with Compiz Fusion, I can't stand GNOME 3, and I'm having an impossibly difficult time finding a replacement. I've tried GNOME 3, GNOME Classic, Mate, and even KDE, and at this point, I have to either endure xfce's bugs, or wait until Mate's are ironed out. All along, my install of Mint 10 is aging, and given that its support period is ending, I'm basically stuck between a rock and a hard place. I don't understand why GNOME's devs would screw its supporters this way. Not only is 3 inferior to anyone who likes any sort of flexibility, but its interface is downright maddening at times.
"The popular GNOME tablet environment has just ..."
i'm using a real desktop and have no use for tablets, so gnome made itself irrelevant as of 3.0 already.
happy new release day anyway!
It added two more desktop environments to the linux world: Mate (a fork of Gnome 2 http://mate-desktop.org/ ) and Cinnamon (a fork of Gnome 3 http://cinnamon.linuxmint.com/ ). These new alternatives to Gnome 3 don't get the attention that they deserve.....
All I really want is the ability to pin any app to the dock without having to create .desktop file for it... and the ability to always launch a new app instead of the default action of bringing up the previous instance.
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
... with the right extensions, and Docky? I quite like Gnome 3.)
Don't know about it being like Lion, but I agree that it's pretty nice with the right extensions. Workspace Navigator is my favorite, at the moment.
I don't understand why GNOME's devs would screw its supporters this way.
The other alternative was to start fixing Gnome 2's numerous bugs, and where's the fun in that?
I think it's time for Gnome to have a feature and UI freeze, for perhaps a year or two, and concentrate on fixing bugs in all the various subsystems. Every new release focuses on new features, but there are numerous bugs in Gnome from five or more years ago!
Take Apple as an example. Their UI has undergone little change since OS 10.4 (minor tweaks excluded) and they have concentrated on improving the underlying stuff. This could be a methodology that Gnome might take to heart.
Instead, the Gnome developers and design team will continue to sparkle a phone / tablet friendly UI on top of a desktop system, with the unrealistic goal of making legacy software work on a touch UI with a simple recompile. Sally buggers.
Comice OS - a distro of Linux - took GNOME 3.2, and made it look exactly like OS-X. I'd think it's not difficult to tweak it so that it looks like Lion.
Actually, with the right extensions, and Docky? I quite like Gnome 3.
Are you using multiple monitors? If so, which extensions made the difference for you? I ask this because I tried Gnome 3 and gave up on it due to its nastiness towards multiple monitors. All of our PCs at home are now on xfce due to the apparent nonexistence of sane Gnome options.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
Pinning the app icon is as simple as adding the app to your favorites. Simply search for it as if you were going to launch it and right mouse click on the icon and select "add to favorites". If it is already running you can right mouse click on the app icon in the dock. If you mean pin apps that don't have .desktop files - that is a freedesktop standard.
As for default to lauch - https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/67/dash-click-fix/
Can/will any BSD distros support this? Like GhostBSD? NetBSD? Or have they already implemented systemd dependencies on it that would effectively make it Linux only? Also, any idea whether this new DE has been embraced by other Unixes, such as Solaris, OpenIndiana, HP/UX and so on?
This is great news! Gnome 3 is certainly surpassing Windows 8 now. If only they could implement all that "log in with your web account" stuff like Windows 8 does, it will be awesome!
For my tablet.
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia
Why, what was the problem w/ KDE?
I haven't encountered any major issues with xfce, although it does have some idiosyncrasies. Still much better than dealing with Gnome 3. At least with xfce I can actually get some work done.
I hadn't heard about Mate before...
Yea, okay, looks like a dead-end. I'm sticking with xfce. Those guys should, too. It will probably be easier to do what they want with that base instead of the Gnome 2 base
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia
apart from:
1. for such a minimalist interface that has chosen to be modal the flip between modes isn't snappy enough.
2. when in overview the keyboard short cuts (ctrl alt pagedown) is so slow to respond I might be better off using the mouse.
3. the 'max half screen'/side-by-side thing was good until some one thought it and said ' maximise screen the same kind a thing' and bolted it on. Now I've had to turn it all off. Double clich the title bar, use the maximize icon in the title bar. Thats how you maximize.
4. Sometime access to a list of apps is quick the oldway and using search rather than a place in a menu stored in muscle memory. Fixed by plugin.
5. It getting harder and harder to avoid pulseaudio and the like. If you want or need low latency audio, bekind and give us an option to bypass some of you hardwork without getting arsy about it.
6. Same for browser preferences, mailclients, networking.
7. button in to title bar removed. plubin puts the back thankfully. Doesn't cost any realestate maintains a paradime
8. it would also be nice to adopt the blender way of telling you the code that will action a control when you hover so you can write macros
but is fixable in c of javascript although I wish they had picked python as well. GSettings and pyGobject is are start but
Use extensions and gnome-tweak tool - probably you can fix your problems with the right extension.
Initially I was also rejected by GNOME 3 but now after adding a few extensions I just love it and it is the best desktop I ever used.
I love win key and Alt-~
dock@gnome-shell-extensions.gnome.org
alternative-status-menu@gnome-shell-extensions.gnome.org
drive-menu@gnome-shell-extensions.gnome.org
apps-menu@gnome-shell-extensions.gnome.org
places-menu@gnome-shell-extensions.gnome.org
Break_Dynamic_Workspaces@rmy.pobox.com
remove-accessibility-icon@martin-weusten.de
Also hacking is relatively simple javascript - I hacked so my dock is always between my screens (I have monitor on the left at work and on the right at home).
Does the GNOME3 team have any plans to make their DE run on Wayland?
In a chat room somewhere in the darkest corners of IRC:
tehGnomez: People who don't use Linux keep complaining about how difficult it is to get set up the first time. If we want to crush our enemies, we need a simple, one-click UI.
gnomoz: Most of those complaints are about getting a stable setup if you don't exactly follow a distro.
tehGnomez: Nonsense, all it takes is sudo pkgmgr -m -r -!prig '/dev/usr' to sort out that kind of issue. It must be the UI that's to blame.
gnomoz: Not everyone memorizes the pkgmgr manual before even installing an OS.
tehGnomez: That's crazy talk, it's not like they have anything better to do.
gnomoz: Well, actually some of us do have something better to do, and I have something better to do than try to convince you not to ruin your UI.
***gnomoz has disconnected.
tehGnomez: Bah, he must've been a Micro$oft $hill all along. Everyone, get to work on our new UI!
*rampant cheering from the gnomelets*
Oh, wow, so they're still recognizing right mouse clicks? They should just go ahead and deprecate that and just do mono-button for all mice. Nobody needs more than one mouse button...
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia
I didn't like Gnome3. Cinnamon was a nice compromise though.
endure xfce's bugs
I'm tempted to accuse you of not ever really trying Xfce. I use Xfce every day, and it is certainly not buggy. Neither the debian stable version nor the current version.
The problem is that it seems incomplete to some people. However, if you're comfortable with the command line, you might actually prefer it, as I do. The sophistication of Gnome/KDE applications can just make things more difficult, in that respect. I don't think there's anything much that you can do with Gnome 2 but not Xfce. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
--
You can't favorite a program you download off the Internet to a subfolder of your home folder without that .desktop file. That's a usability problem. I don't care what the standard says.
If you mean pin apps that don't have .desktop files - that is a freedesktop standard.
Fine.. .then have Gnome Shell create that .desktop file using the executable name and default the path to the folder you ran it from and add it to favorites. Is it really that hard? Currently, if I right click on an app in that bar there is no option to add it to favorites. I have to open a terminal to run the application every time. The only workaround without manually creating the desktop file is using alacarte, but I find that doesn't always put the run path in the desktop files and some apps don't like that.
You can do it in Unity, however. But Unity has some other really big issues that keep me from using it.
As for default to lauch - https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/67/dash-click-fix/
This should be a setting somewhere. I still don't know how to add/search for extensions (without this webpage?) Last time I checked by typing Extensions in launcher search, nothing comes up. There's also no apparent visible way to do it from the task bar or launcher. I can download new background images fairly easy... why are extensions hidden away?
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
You can launch a new instance by dragging the icon from the dock and dropping it anywhere on the desktop. It's just as fast as clicking for me.
Being able to configure the default action would be nice, too.
Cinnamon is not a nice compromise. It is simply great. Its a way of accessing everything that is great about Gnome3 without any of the short term regressions.
My graduate students and I happily live in blissful ignorance of all this, running GNOME 2 under Ubuntu LTS (long term support) 10.04. I am able to configure my entire desktop without any need for downloading extensions. I have been able to go for a long time without a reinstall; this wonderful stable setup was an LTS to LTS upgrade from Hardy.
Now 10.04 is not going to be supported forever. I am greatly looking forward to flushing all my hard-won knowledge of this desktop down the drain and spending time looking on line for this-or-that extension that will enable us to maintain the smooth workflow we have had so far. Indeed who am I to question to the wave of progress in GUI engineering. I bow down to my software engineer overlords who will enlighten me with the flaws in my current workflow and who will teach me to use my time in more efficient ways. I am grateful to you, GNOME 3 dev team, for this bountiful treasure of GUI improvement that awaits me in the near future.
Right now, Cinnamon is the only compromise for Gnome3. You either live with Gnome3 is Gnome2 capatibility mode, Cinnamon, or live with a horrible tablet user experience which is Gnome3.
Gnome3 is actually a REALLY good way to determine if you are a power user. If you like Gnome3, you are not a power user. Gnome3 is tedious and cumbersome to such a degree, no power user would be interested in using it. It does, however, seem to greatly appeal to the neophyte Linux users who actally are application centric and who are more than happy to live with a dramatically inferior user experience simply because they never used the power of conventional desktops in the first place.
(Mate) looks like a dead-end. I'm sticking with xfce. Those guys should, too. It will probably be easier to do what they want with that base instead of the Gnome 2 base
Using cinnamon http://cinnamon.linuxmint.com/ its a step forward from Gnome 2 without the regressions.
What's the problem with using GNOME 3 stack? You can use compiz as the window manager and gnome panel 3 as the panel! Works for me (TM).
The other alternative was to start fixing Gnome 2's numerous bugs, and where's the fun in that?
Yeah, why fix bugs we know when we can go write a whole bunch of NEW ones!
I was disappointed to find out that cinnamon won't implement 2-D virtual desktop configurations either, something I started usng with swm, and through olvwm, fvwm, sawfish, and compiz+wall plugin. nd if you had to stick with one dimension, I'm finding gnome-shell's vertical layout of multiple desktops more sensible than cinnamon's horizontal layout.
It isn't Gnome 2. The font feels ugly. The interface feels dark. The icons are too small. The task tray is in the wrong spot. The toys in the tray are too numerous. Yes, I know I can fix all of these things, but why would I want to spend hours doing it when I can just get the desktop I want with minimal effort?
KDE is beautiful, but buggy:
It won't play videos over an smb:// connection. VLC simply throws an error.
Press the power button to shut down the computer. Now, wait for 45 seconds before the shutdown actually gets called.
I tried both Fedora 16 and Mint 12 KDE versions. Both distros exhibited these same bugs, whereas the Gnome flavors worked just fine. Either both of these distros have the same configuration issues, or these are simply long-standing bugs in KDE -- and they're both showstoppers for me.
(I did try the "Protocols=smb" fix to no avail, BTW)
sig: sauer
The font feels ugly.
Fonts are rendered by FreeType just as under GNOME. If you feel that fonts look different, you're imagining things. Either that or you are lying.
The interface feels dark.
Strange, considering that white and light gray are the default theme colors. Sure you're not lying?
The icons are too small.
Which icons? Dolphin has a slider in the status bar to resize icons. There isn't even a need to go to some options menu.
The task tray is in the wrong spot.
Move the panel
The toys in the tray are too numerous.
Which toys? If you have toys there, you have installed them on your own.
Yes, I know I can fix all of these things, but why would I want to spend hours doing it when I can just get the desktop I want with minimal effort?
Hours? Now there is no denying that you lie. Panel position and icons sizes are changed within seconds, not minutes, let alone hours.
Yea, okay, looks like a dead-end. I'm sticking with xfce.
A little more Googling might lead you to the official site, whiich has a support forum (in English), and actively updated repositories for various distributions:
http://mate-desktop.org/
KDE is beautiful, but buggy:
It won't play videos over an smb:// connection. VLC simply throws an error.
How is VLC supposed to play videos over KIO slaves when VLC is a pure Qt application that does not support KIO?
Another vote for Lubuntu. Blazing fast, does everything I need (admittedly my needs are basic), can be tweaked to look and work the way I want. Preferred even over Gnome 2 and XFCE.
I am hoping Unity and Gnome 3 will cause more folks to discover Lubuntu. Good stuff.
How can I mod the parent Insightful and funny at the same time? :-)
At the present time, GP's sarcastic comment is at "+2 Flamebait". So if any moderators just up-mod that post as "underrated", it could reach the elusive "+5 Flamebait" level! Perhaps a prouder achievement than anything in Gnome 3...
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
Openbox, tint2, and gmrun provide all the desktop environment I need. I have multiple desktops, easily customized hot keys, a task bar with a clock and a window picker. Only trouble I have is the rare occasion when I need to run a graphic file manager and nautilus decides to fuck everything up because I still have figured out how to force everything to use Thunar instead.
Is it just me or does Gnome3 look more and more like a crappy Windows/MacOS-bastard rip-off?
But I was Feeling Lucky (tm)!!
"Somebody has to do something. It's just incredibly pathetic it has to be us."
--- Jerry Garcia
I moved to my own cobbled together Compiz standalone shortly after Gentoo devs forced the issue with KDE4 (the second or third time). I was really ticked at the KDE devs -- and separately, the Gentoo devs -- at that point. Basically, I was used to the way I had things set up and I didn't want anyone compelling me to make changes I didn't want to make for reasons that ultimately had nothing to do with me. I didn't care what these people's vision of the future was, and didn't understand why they were "screw"ing the users who had supported KDE for so long.
I knew if I switched to Gnome, the same thing was going to happen, and soon. Of course, now the compiz packages I use are getting removed from portage, so I made them local packages. When the deps change again and break compatibility, I can look forward to a new round of hell. But either way, it's my responsibility--I can complain to myself about all the bugs that I've failed to address. Puts things in perspective. I understood, but didn't fully appreciate just how complicated this crap is, but now I just couldn't imagine any screwing involved. Screwing implies some satisfaction on at least one end!
My standard response to your bullshit: Make KDE look exactly like Gnome 2. Otherwise, just shut up.
I agree that is really stupid. Since you can double-click on the App in the folder and run it, Gnome obviously has all the information necessary to make it run from the dock. Just create the .desktop file with a pointer to the app and the same Icon the file browser is showing and it is done. This should be automatic.
I don't know the answer to this question. As a user (and not a KDE/QT developer), all I know is that VLC will do this in Windows and in GNOME. The fact that VLC (as with several other applications like XMMS) will not stream in KDE seems to (apparently to the user) be a problem with KDE and not the various applications themselves.
If the problem is that the applications simply aren't communicating the way KDE expects them to, then I would ask why KDE is reinventing the wheel. I can do an smbmount and then point VLC to the file located past the mount point and it works fine. I would think the application would simply be given a file handle -- regardless of whether the file is stored locally or on the network. The Linux OS handles this just fine. Why is it a problem in KDE?
sig: sauer
So far I've hit two xfce bugs.
I had xfce save it's session without the window manager. (so no window borders, all windows in the top left corner, and unable to change the stacking order) I never asked for the session to be saved, certainly not in some crazy state, and I don't see why the window manager should be a forgettable item in the first place. I had to start the window manager from the command prompt, then go into the session part of the settings tool and tell it to save the session. Note: all non-hackers would have had to reinstall the OS. (hit this on Debian)
I had the desktop switcher decide I only get to have 1 desktop. This bug is absolutely maddening. I can switch it back, but the setting won't stick. Every time I restart, I get only 1 desktop, just like Windows. Arrrrrgh! Hate, hate, hate! Multiple desktops are **extremely** important to me. I found the XML file where xfce fucks up, writing a bad config for itself, and used chattr to set the immutable bit. Somehow, xfce is still able to fuck up. (hit this on Mint mainly, but also Ubuntu and Fedora and Debian)
I miss GNOME 2.
I hope that Contacts is provided some sort of _documentation_ with this release.
I have no idea where/how the contact entries are being stored!
I quit KDE yonks ago when they fell out of their sanity seat and moved to gnome
I quit Gnome with their 3rd release for pretty much the same reason.
Fortunately there is always XFCE - Long live the functional desktop!
As for default to lauch - https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/67/dash-click-fix/
Ctrl+click?
who are more than happy to live with a dramatically superior user experience
FTFY. Unless you were talking about yourself, in which case you'd say it is inferior. But you're clearly talking about other users, who obviously find it superior for their uses. I won't say it isn't inferior to you, but you seem to be claiming that your particular preferences are superior regardless of the use case?
True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
Well I don't like Gnome 3 because it is ugly, but I believe that both Gnome 2 and Compiz are still available through the add applications facility of most distros. I haven't tried it myself because while KDE takes a while to get used to and become familiar with, it can be made nearly as beautiful as Gnome 2 without too much trouble. I still haven't worked out how to stretch one wallpaper across multiple monitors - I ended up chopping the image into pieces and assigning one part to each monitor.
One distro I have used to replace Gnome 2 with great success is Lubuntu which uses LXDE. It's quick, it looks nice, and it feels good if you come from a Gnome 2 paradigm. Best of all it's maintained by supporters rather than Canonical so it's not going to get messed up on you.
I said - don't look Ethel!..., but it was too late..., she'd already looked.
I just can't get over the fact that the article refers to "The popular GNOME desktop environment".
I don't know the answer to this question. As a user (and not a KDE/QT developer), all I know is that VLC will do this in Windows and in GNOME. The fact that VLC (as with several other applications like XMMS) will not stream in KDE seems to (apparently to the user) be a problem with KDE and not the various applications themselves.
Well you would be wrong in that assumption, and frankly I'm disappointed that someone with a UID as low as yours would be unable to track down the actual problem; a bug in VLC, which is already fixed.
http://trac.videolan.org/vlc/ticket/6158
*facepalm*
sig: sauer
Isn't Kontrol Panel available under KDE4.7+? Doesn't it include a theme for GNOME2 - in KDE3, it had themes for all sorts of UIs - CDE, OpenLook, Motif, XP (which they called Redmond) and so on. I forget whether they had a GNOME2 theme, though. But it would seem that if they had all that, it could easily be included here.
If the problem is that the applications simply aren't communicating the way KDE expects them to, then I would ask why KDE is reinventing the wheel.
Really, you need to stop spreading bullshit. KDE did not reinvent the wheel in this case. Fact is that KDE'S KIO is around much longer than alternative solutions on Linux (eg. GNOME's GVFS). THEY reinvented the wheel.
... and gnome panel 3 as the panel ...
gnome panel 3 ? let me check ...
oh, you mean that pale imitation of gnome panel 2 that Gnome dev said they didn't know for how long they would keep supporting it and that has the lowest possible priority in their agenda ?
I have been RedHat/Fedora user since RedHat version 1, but all the mess with Gnome3, symlinks (eg /sbin is now symlink in Fedora rawhide) etc, tells me that it is time to choose something new. There are also serious problems with ATI fglrx. I still use a HP TouchSmart TM2 laptop with Fedora 14 (the last which has Gnome2), but the next choice after a year or so will be the MacBook Pro. Maybe there is some conspiracy inside free software community to break all good things, so people start to choose proprietary stuff?
No, it was right the first time. Both usability experts and power users agree here. Its only you and seeingly non-power users who hold your opinion. That's pretty telling that you're far from anything one would call a power user.
Bet you didn't know even the Gnome's usability experts called Gnome3 a stinking pile of pooh - did ya. And they are right.
Why is it so hard for people to understand that loss of coherent multitasking means a loss of productivity. Which in turn means a loss of usability. Regardless of you actually using said usability, its a loss, nonetheless because now you don't have a growth path. Rather your growth path is limited to that of a tablet user. AND, its universally agreed that a tablet experience is dramatically less than that of desktop. This is tolerated because of use-case requirements. The rest was already addressed in the post above; to wit you seem to have ignorantly ignored and were confused.
Sorry, but epic failure to know and/or understand the subject matter at hand - along with most all others who ignorantly agree with your position out of fanboyish and/or the need for something shiney and new.
Bet you didn't know even the Gnome's usability experts called Gnome3 a stinking pile of pooh - did ya. And they are right.
I can't immediately find any reference to their usability experts dissing Gnome 3, but maybe they did. In any case, I didn't start using it until 3.2 (because I wanted to avoid any initial crappiness), I read up on the problems, and I immediately put in a whole bunch of extensions to bend the shell -or most of it- to my will (that's why they're there).
So maybe I have an atypical experience of Gnome 3, but it works very well for me. I won't say better than Gnome 2, but there are parts that work much better, and just for those I'm more than willing to put up with the remaining bugs and speed bumps. God knows I hit far too fucking many of those in Gnome 2, with seemingly no hope of ever getting fixed or redesigned.
Why is it so hard for people to understand that loss of coherent multitasking means a loss of productivity. Which in turn means a loss of usability.
That sounds like something that would hinder productivity. Except I'm not sure what sort of multitasking you would call "incoherent", but maybe that's also something I haven't run into.
As for accusations of not being a "power user", that troll goes into the circular file. I'm not entering an e-peen contest for desktop environments, good grief!
True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
My standard response to your bullshit: Make KDE look exactly like Gnome 2. Otherwise, just shut up.
Why should I make it look like GNOME 2? What the fuck are you talking about?
All the extensions makes gnome 3 feel like a new emacs. Nothing works out of the box, but you can change everything as you like.
It is annoying to use multiple desktops with gnome 3. I am still waiting for someone to replicate the gnome 2 applet.
The lack of a CPU-meter is annoying, but happily someone has created an extension to replicate the functionality of gnome 2.
The notification area is annoying. I am still waiting for someone to move notifications to the task bar.