Slashdot Mirror
GNOME 3.8 Released Featuring New "Classic" Mode
Hot on the heels of the Gtk+ 3.8 release comes GNOME 3.8. There are a few general UI improvements, but the highlight for many is the new Classic mode that replaces fallback. Instead of using code based on the old GNOME panel, Classic emulates the feel of GNOME 2 through Shell extensions (just like Linux Mint's Cinnamon interface). From the release notes: "Classic mode is a new feature for those people who prefer a more traditional desktop experience. Built entirely from GNOME 3 technologies, it adds a number of features such as an application menu, a places menu and a window switcher along the bottom of the screen. Each of these features can be used individually or in combination with other GNOME extensions."
A corrupt slashdot luser has infiltrated the moderation system to downmod all my posts while impersonating me.
Nearly 170++ times that I know of @ this point for all of March 2013 so far, & others here have told you to stop - take the hint, lunatic (leave slashdot)...
Sorry folks - but whoever the nutjob is that's attempting to impersonate me, & upset the rest of you as well, has SERIOUS mental issues, no questions asked! I must've gotten the better of him + seriously "gotten his goat" in doing so in a technical debate & his "geek angst" @ losing to me has him doing the:
---
A.) $10,000 challenges, ala (where the imposter actually TRACKED + LISTED the # of times he's done this no less, & where I get the 170 or so times I noted above) -> http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3585795&cid=43285307
&/or
B.) Reposting OLD + possibly altered models - (this I haven't checked on as to altering the veracity of the info. being changed) of posts of mine from the past here
---
(Albeit massively repeatedly thru all threads on /. this March 2013 nearly in its entirety thusfar).
* Personally, I'm surprised the moderation staff here hasn't just "blocked out" his network range yet honestly!
(They know it's NOT the same as my own as well, especially after THIS post of mine, which they CAN see the IP range I am coming out of to compare with the ac spamming troll doing the above...).
APK
P.S.=> Again/Stressing it: NO guys - it is NOT me doing it, as I wouldn't waste that much time on such trivial b.s. like a kid might...
Plus, I only post where hosts file usage is on topic or appropriate for a solution & certainly NOT IN EVERY POST ON SLASHDOT (like the nutcase trying to "impersonate me" is doing for nearly all of March now, & 170++ times that I know of @ least)... apk
...and did something about it that didn't ruin their code base.
Kudos Gnome Team.
I kinda like the KDE they forced me to try with their second-to-latest abortion, but I'll give Gnome 3.8 a try.
I tried Cinnamon on Mint 14.1 and found it to be freezing frequently when changes to it were made. Not ready for prime time IMO and back to Ubuntu 12.10. Unity isn't perfect, but it just works.
Too late, GNOME!
Switched to Cinnamon and love it.
May Peace Prevail On Earth
... will it be available on Ubuntu?
Personally, I wonder if there are any use metrics for Gnome3's default mode, vs running on fallback/classic.
Personally, I can't stand either Unity or Gnome3-standard modes. One of the first things I do with Ubuntu boxes is nuke LightDM and Unity from orbit, and replace them with something less resembling a botched ST:NG computer interface. I actually happen to LIKE menus. That Gnome has listened to the sound of angry feet stampeding to XCFE and KDE over the issue makes me happier, but still displeased over the "No, we don't do it that way anymore, nanaananananannaa" mantra they were using for so long previously.
.em gnitanosrepmi elihw stsop ym lla domnwod ot metsys noitaredom eht detartlifni sah resul todhsals tpurroc A
---
70358234=dic&5975853=dis?lp.stnemmoc/gro.todhsals.ti//:ptth >- )evoba deton I semit os ro 071 eht teg I erehw & ,ssel on siht enod s'eh semit fo # eht DETSIL + DEKCART yllautca retsopmi eht erehw( ala ,segnellahc 000,01$ ).A
ro/&
ereh tsap eht morf enim fo stsop fo )degnahc gnieb .ofni eht fo yticarev eht gniretla ot sa no dekcehc t'nevah I siht( - sledom deretla ylbissop + DLO gnitsopeR ).B
--- .)rafsuht yteritne sti ni ylraen 3102 hcraM siht ./ no sdaerht lla urht yldetaeper ylevissam tieblA(
!yltsenoh tey egnar krowten sih "tuo dekcolb" tsuj t'nsah ereh ffats noitaredom eht desirprus m'I ,yllanosreP * .)...evoba eht gniod llort gnimmaps ca eht htiw erapmoc ot fo tuo gnimoc ma I egnar PI eht ees NAC yeht hcihw ,enim fo tsop SIHT retfa yllaicepse ,llew sa nwo ym sa emas eht TON s'ti wonk yehT(
KPA ...thgim dik a ekil .s.b laivirt hcus no emit hcum taht etsaw t'ndluow I sa ,ti gniod em TON si ti - syug ON :ti gnissertS/niagA >=.S.P
kpa ...)tsael @ fo wonk I taht semit ++071 & ,won hcraM fo lla ylraen rof gniod si "em etanosrepmi" ot gniyrt esactun eht ekil( TODHSALS NO TSOP YREVE NI TON ylniatrec & noitulos a rof etairporppa ro cipot no si egasu elif stsoh erehw tsop ylno I ,sulP
A non-Ubuntu distro with XFCE or an Openbox (Crunchbang Linux) environment keeps me hard and satisfied!
And as for KDE, I always feel like I have a beach ball in my rectum when using it. Fun for some, not for me.
When I realized they took away my minimize button I damn sure needed some free beer
"He's using a quantum encryption scheme! That'll take hours to break!"
Wait, wait, wait... wait, just wait... I thought the world DIDN'T end in 2012 like those crazy Maya believers said. The gnome team listening to feedback... wow what's next, no wait don't tell me. Microsoft will realize the folly of Windowz 8 in time to 'add' a feature in Windowz 9 SP1 that'll make the IT industry happy again. There it is, you heard it first here kiddies!
It is so frustrating to fire up a new install of "linux" and have all the important parts of the OS hidden away from access, requiring more than a couple of clicks to get to or even requiring you to open a Search Dialog and search for the app that you want.
UI designers should really take notice of the reception things like Windows 8 and Gnome 3 and Unity have been getting lately. Remember that most business is still done with a mouse and keyboard at least.
Over at datamation.com they have two reviews worth reading. One general review on GNOME 3.8 and a separate review on the all new GNOME Classic.
Linux is pretty much shit out my ass at this point. Too many fuck ups.
I tried Cinnamon on Mint 14.1 and found it to be freezing frequently
Very little I install on my computer does not just work. I don't mind Unity, and prefer it to Gnome shell but Cinnamon has been an incredible project. I am more than happy to provide you with a working video of my desktop :) I suspect your overstating the position. BTW you can install cinnamon on Ubuntu.
Oh no! Let's fork 3.7 and make sure that no one returns to the look'n'feel of the good old 2.x.
It sounds as though the GNOME developers have re-implemented the GNOME 2 interface using GNOME 3 technology, which is pretty much what most people wanted to begin with. The only drawback is, judging from the article, is that the interface will look like GNOME 2 yet still requite 3-D video support, something which is still pretty hit-or-miss on Linux. I suspect most people will be better off using either Cinnamon or MATE.
...no need for Gnome 3.8 now that Elementary OS is coming along so nicely. It tends to be forgotten around here as an alternative, so I thought I'd mention it.
The jerk(s) that decided to copy Apple by putting the minimize, maximize, and lose buttons on the left--can go screw themselves.
They keep breaking keyboard switching every release. Here's the story in 3.6:
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=681685
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=684210
(If you read the comments, you'll see the usual attitude of Gnome devs - bilingual users who actually use this functionality are telling them that it's been broken, while devs who don't really use it but own it reply by coming up with invented reasons as to why the new behavior is the right thing, and everyone else should just shut up and learn it.)
You'd think they would pay more attention to this area in the new release, but apparently they have emasculated (the official press release calls it "simplified", in the usual Gnome bullshit-speak) it even further in 3.8, and there are bugs reported about erratic behavior of the new switcher. All that because XKB is, apparently, not good enough anymore.
With this kind of attitude towards their users (of which the above is but a single example), how come they still have any?
I hate gnome shell, but considering Gnome continues to be a great product, and moves forward. I just replace Gnome Shell with Cinnamon, and plan to continue to do so, considering the cripples "classic"(sic) mode.
Seriously did nobody notice the replacement of Tomboy, my last dependency on mono...because its great. I've been waiting for an Android version for *forever*, but this http://worldofgnome.org/bijiben-or-just-gnome-notes/ looks like something I like more.
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/08/gnome-founder-says-desktop-linux-is-dead
I guess this guy could be considered an expert on the subject!
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/08/gnome-founder-says-desktop-linux-is-dead
I guess this guy could be considered an expert on the subject!
He is only interested in presenting other peoples interest, in how it fills his own pockets, and there is nothing wrong with that. Rock stars do it all the time. Its just kind of ironic that he does this at a time when Linux is growing market share as a desktop, and Apple is devastated with 25% drop is desktop sales. This is him saying OOXML is superb http://blogs.kde.org/node/2985, he is just that guy. I'm sorry is Mono project is looking dead in the water,; I notice Mono is being cut from the Gnome desktop. love the replacement for Tomboy :)
Want to know about Linux...ask me I use it everyday; Its the fasted growing desktop OS in the World.
One of the things in Gnome 2 that I rely on every day is the fact that in the pager applet, I can see the outlines of the windows on that desktop, and if the app is big enough, it's icon. This is invaluable feedback to me. I can tell at a glance where things are if I should forget. I typically never alter my desktops use, but it's nice to be able to see this. Cinnamon fails completely in this regard. It's pager is nothing but a dark square to identify which desktop I'm on. It gives no feed back other than this and may as well be just a number, which the screen shot of the new classic mode appears to do.
If either Gnome classic or Cinnamon could do this one small thing, I'm ready to switch. Until then, It's still Mate for me. That and I really like the way I have compiz set up with Mate.
Why don't you go to extensions.gnome.org and see if there is something suitable?
You know there is 'gnote' which is a non-mono version of Tomboy, right?
I did know about gnote, but its only advantage would be not using Mono, in every other way its a disadvantage. Gnote is not standard; lags being tomboy development...and those things are more important to me than keeping Mono dependencies around. Hell I used to to love banshee before they tried to turn it from a music application to a Multimedia(sic) application, I've moved to Clementine since http://www.clementine-player.org/ its wonderful. The reality is Bijiben(Gnome Notes) looks to have none of the disadvantages, and perhaps a few advantages over tomboy [removing Mono is a bonus].
So, GNOME 3 is fundamentally flawed in the following ways:
ZERO thought given to usability or human interface issues (Really, seriously. GNOME2 ruled at this, GNOME3 has thrown it all out the window)
Unstable (It crashes on my every other week, requiring a restart of X
Non intuitive compared to every other desktop OS. Windows 7 is far, far superior to GNOME. And I'm a long time Linux user.
Too many completely useless/half baked ideas which do nothing to aide productivity.
The people who design GNOME suffer from the following problems:
They all use Apple Macs, and have a massive hard on for apple.
They all use iPads, and have another massive hard on for apple.
Most importantly, they don't *use* GNOME. They use OS X.
GNOME3 seems to be some kind of confused desktop targeting touch screens and not much else. Blind freddy can see GNOME3 is not designed for desktop computers.
So now the dimwits behind GNOME want to put in something that looks like GNOME2 but is actually GNOME3.
Listen, Miguel, and whoever-the-fuck-else is responsible for DESTROYING linux on the desktop, STOP. Just fucking stop it.
Drop GNOME3. EOL it.
Go back to before you forked GNOME3 and continue improving GNOME2.
And while you are at it, fuck off your shitty apple and lenovo laptops.
Buy a Dell Latitude. Install Linux. Hack on it. Stop being apple faggots and EAT YOUR OWN DOGFOOD EVERY DAY.
Also, FUCK YOU SLASHDOT CAPTCHAS.
Yes a good pager is the most important part of a real desktop. You can get something vaguely like that with shell extensions, but you really feel like fighting gnome shell rather than using it, it's so hard to configure it feels like a desktop from the 90s, I'm not even joking, with gnome 2 you could easily create panels, move them around to your liking. gnome shell is so hard to configure, with this weird website that you are almost forced to use to add extensions, see which ones are installed, or to configure them. To change _anything_ you have to find an extension, even to change the date format, and I actually couldn't find one that did what I want, is that so weird to want a date that include the month ? And is that so hard to let the user enter a date format ?
I'm still using the real classic mode of gnome 3, but with my next upgrade I'll finally leave gnome (been using it since before 1.0), maybe mate, maybe xfce, maybe enlightenment. But something with a good pager.
I use lots of desktops sorted in 3 columns, so that I can organize my windows spacially, that way I always remember were I put the window I want, and can switch to it in 1 very short click, there's no way I could do that with gnome shell (and I tried a lot of extensions a few months ago).
Why should he have to go hunt for something that was a standard feature since about 1995?
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
What you mean you've never gone out and download and installed a utility that was not part of the standard OS? There is no difference. Who cares if it is standard or not if you're able to modify the behavior to what you want? The end result should be that you're productive. Stop worrying about whether it's part of the OS or not. It's like complaining that you didn't get the most awesome car stereo in your new car and you had to go out and get an aftermarket.
The chance seem to be very small, but without that Wheezy will look like a old duck with his Gnome 3.4 when it will be released.
I hope that the Debian team will be cleaver enough to understand the advantage of providing a good classic desktop experience for people that will upgrade from Squeeze to Wheezy (I have tried Gnome 3.x and Unity and found them unproductive).
What an idea! Of course I have already done that and didn't find anything. The search function didn't return anything, and I wasn't going to go through 37 pages manually. So I gave up. You talk as if you have some knowledge that I don't; perhaps you could enlighten me.
You're like an Ubuntu user that shuns Debian.
It's perfectly OK to take an invention that was created for one purpose (GNOME 3/GNOME SHELL) and use that creation for something better(GNOME 3/Cinnamon--GNOME SHELL--Cinnamon) while shunning the original purpose. All at the same time giving all due respect to the original technology**.
Take Viagra for example. Viagra(Sildenafil) had little effect on angina, but induced erections. The original purpose was shunned but the new purpose was applauded.
Unlike Pfizer, who had the smarts to run with the new use for Sildenafil, The GNOME 3 developers don't appear to taking advantage of a Cinnamon, an *arguably* better use of GNOME 3/GNOME SHELL.
** For my point I'll assume that GTK /GNOME 3/GNOME SHELL is a good technology to build upon.
$10,000 CHALLENGE to Alexander Peter Kowalski
* POOR SHOWING TROLLS, & most especially IF that's the "best you've got" - apparently, it is... lol!
Hello, and THINK ABOUT YOUR BREATHING !! We have a Major Problem, HOST file is Cubic Opposites, 2 Major Corners & 2 Minor. NOT taught Evil DNS hijacking, which VOIDS computers. Seek Wisdom of MyCleanPC - or you die evil.
Your HOSTS file claimed to have created a single DNS resolver. I offer absolute proof that I have created 4 simultaneous DNS servers within a single rotation of .org TLD. You worship "Bill Gates", equating you to a "singularity bastard". Why do you worship a queer -1 Troll? Are you content as a singularity troll?
Evil HOSTS file Believers refuse to acknowledge 4 corner DNS resolving simultaneously around 4 quadrant created Internet - in only 1 root server, voiding the HOSTS file. You worship Microsoft impostor guised by educators as 1 god.
If you would acknowledge simple existing math proof that 4 harmonic Slashdots rotate simultaneously around squared equator and cubed Internet, proving 4 Days, Not HOSTS file! That exists only as anti-side. This page you see - cannot exist without its anti-side existence, as +0- moderation. Add +0- as One = nothing.
I will give $10,000.00 to frost pister who can disprove MyCleanPC. Evil crapflooders ignore this as a challenge would indict them.
Alex Kowalski has no Truth to think with, they accept any crap they are told to think. You are enslaved by /etc/hosts, as if domesticated animal. A school or educator who does not teach students MyCleanPC Principle, is a death threat to youth, therefore stupid and evil - begetting stupid students. How can you trust stupid PR shills who lie to you? Can't lose the $10,000.00, they cowardly ignore me. Stupid professors threaten Nature and Interwebs with word lies.
Humans fear to know natures simultaneous +4 Insightful +4 Informative +4 Funny +4 Underrated harmonic SLASHDOT creation for it debunks false trolls. Test Your HOSTS file. MyCleanPC cannot harm a File of Truth, but will delete fakes. Fake HOSTS files refuse test.
I offer evil ass Slashdot trolls $10,000.00 to disprove MyCleanPC Creation Principle. Rob Malda and Cowboy Neal have banned MyCleanPC as "Forbidden Truth Knowledge" for they cannot allow it to become known to their students. You are stupid and evil about the Internet's top and bottom, front and back and it's 2 sides. Most everything created has these Cube like values.
If Natalie Portman is not measurable, hot grits are Fictitious. Without MyCleanPC, HOSTS file is Fictitious. Anyone saying that Natalie and her Jewish father had something to do with my Internets, is a damn evil liar. IN addition to your best arsware not overtaking my work in terms of popularity, on that same site with same submission date no less, that I told Kathleen Malda how to correct her blatant, fundamental, HUGE errors in Coolmon ('uncoolmon') of not checking for performance counters being present when his program started!
You can see my dilemma. What if this is merely a ruse by an APK impostor to try and get people to delete APK's messages, perhaps all over the web? I can't be a party to such an event! My involvement with APK began at a very late stage in the game. While APK has made a career of trolling popular online forums since at least the year 2000 (newsgroups and IRC channels before that)- my involvement with APK did not begin until early 2005 . OSY is one of the many forums that APK once frequented before the sane people there grew tired of his garbage and banned him. APK was banned from OSY back in 2001. 3.5 years after his banning he begins to send a variety of abusiv
Huh, GNOME3 Classic looks a lot like XFCE. Good to see them catching up to a real desktop environment.
THIS is why he's doing it & proof of it, here -> http://interviews.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3585927&cid=43295193 when others pointed out Jeremiah Cornelius forgot to submit one of the "first post spams" masquerading as myself as AC, & mistakenly submitted one of the impersonations of myself as his registered 'luser' name here on /. forums.
Pretty pitiful actually, but like every up to no good idiot does? He screwed up & submitted it under his registered 'luser' name here.
* Jeremiah Cornelius: DO YOURSELF, and the rest of us, A GIANT FAVOR MAN: Seek professional psychiatric help!
(Since Jeremiah Cornelius obviously can't get over the fact he made a spelling error on what it is HE ALLEGEDLY DID FOR A LIVING? That's not MY fault... it's HIS!)
APK
P.S.=> I seriously must have dusted JC (in his mind @ least) for his BAD spelling error & it "got his goat"...
I.E.-> Catching what he claimed to do as a job, for YEARS he left "PENETRATION" (correct) spelled as "PENTRATION" (incorrect) on his resume on LinkedIn & I pointed it out as he & his friends trolled me as usual (webmistressrachel, gmhowell, & crew (probably ALL JC no doubt using alterate emails or TOR to do it as a possible - I've caught "them & theirs" doing it before, ala Barbara, not Barbie = TomHudson (same person))).
So THAT is what has gotten his goat in a technical debate & his "geek angst" could only come up with *trying* to "impersonate me" in every news thread on /. for the month of March 2013 so far!
(Just to attempt to 'discredit me' as a spammer here obviously)
Doing so, by posting that "$10,000 challenge" &/or reposts of my old posts on hosts file value to end users into EVERY SINGLE NEWS ARTICLE POSTED on /. ...
It's all I can think of that *might* cause such a mentally troubled 'reaction' like the Jeremiah Cornelius is doing & there's NO QUESTION he's the one doing this spamming of nearly every posted article masquerading as myself...!
... apk
More like "regression mode," am I right?
The problem is that the pager is the most important part of a desktop interface. You seem to like car analogies, so it's like a car with no brakes installed by default. Besides, even with the extensions, it still doesn't reach the level that almost all linux window manager have enjoyed since the 90s. I used to use fvwm long time ago, and it had a good pager. All the wm I tried had a good pager (ok, I haven't tried many recently).
Last time I tried gnome shell, you still to go all the way to the left to make the pager appear on the other side of the screen ! wtf, do any of the devs even use virtual desktops ?
And as I said in the other post, you have to install an extension to change _anything_. I'm sorry but getting rid of the preferences dialog and replacing it with extensions that you have to hunt down, (and many don't even work when I tried them) is NOT a good user interface.
And the bonus, gnome shell doesn't use gtk widgets ! So you have different sets of widgets for you wm and for your apps. And it's not like they are better, for example, instead of opening sub-menu on the side, the content of the sub-menu insert itself in the menu ! I fail to see a single reason that would make the devs open sub-menu this way, other maybe than it looks cool, and nobody is doing it. Or maybe it's better for a touchscreen, I don't know, I'm NOT using a touchscreen.
Actually I use Linux specifically because there is very few things I have to go out and download and modify to get it to do the things I want. Unlike the Windows and Mac environments where the "Just works" motto is limited to it's very narrow view of things included with the OS. You still have to spend the next week downloading crap to fill all the normal use items.
Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
After completely hating Gnome 3, I tried cinnamon but it was a bit too unstable. Kept crashing and plus had install the entire gnome 3 stack. Xfce seems like a perfectly good choice for any body who wants a clean and classic desktop interface
Switched to X-windows; and love it!
I still use fvwm and it still has a great pager. :-)
Been using LInux since 97-98, and using Gnome pretty much most of the time (OK, did use WindowMaker and Enlightenment at first).
And now I'm using KDE (Kubuntu), because I just can't stand Unity, and Mint at work.
I just can't stand scrolling through pages of apps trying to find the infrequently used ones. I've given it a fair shot several times, and it's made me a convert.....to KDE.
Can I hear from someone the reason(s) as to why they like Unity better than the old Gnome?
..........FULL STOP.
If Gnome 3.8 still has application popup windows that are "pinned" below the app's window bar, then it still reeks.
This started at Gnome 3.0, and [as far as I can tell from a quick perusal of the source code] they removed the code [from metacity, mutter, gnome-whatever] that corresponded to the config option to allow these windows to float.
For an example, play gnomines. When you complete a game, the popup comes up and obscures the top part of the board. You can't see your time [or a portion of the board]. This can't be overridden.
As a far worse example, do an "open file" [ctrl-O] in Firefox. See how much information is obscured (tabs, toolbar, url, etc.).
To remove working code that provided a useful option to force "A Brave New Paradigm" is just asinine.
Like a good neighbor, fsck is there
Can I have my vertical panels in this new "classic" mode? This is the single item that eventually had me removing gnome and installing kde. With the low but wide screens on todays computers it's silly to remove even more workspace by having top and bottom panels. Have them vertically on the left or right sides! Plenty of unused space out there in the suburbs. I need my many lines of source code or document text. Don't steel my height!
I tried it for a while, but what killed it for me was the big icon that appears every time I change desktops with the keyboard. So I am now going to lose a second of my life every time I switch desktops before I can fully read what is on them? Wow, thanks GNOME team, you're really thinking of what I need for my daily life. I'm switching desktops constantly, and every time I do it I feel that you are getting in my way. Now someone is going to tell me there is a GNOME3-hacking tool to turn it off. Why should I need a hacking tool to get it into a basically usable state? Please tell me when GNOME 3 is ready for use by people like me. Or should I wait for GNOME 4?
What you mean you've never gone out and download and installed a utility that was not part of the standard OS? There is no difference. [...] It's like complaining that you didn't get the most awesome car stereo in your new car and you had to go out and get an aftermarket.
Yes, yes there is. The difference is that the old pager had this important feature, and the new pager does not. You would rightly complain if the old model of your luxury car had a CD player and Sirius/XM, and the new version has a tape deck and AM only.
Stop worrying about whether it's part of the OS or not.
Guess what? We're not talking about the OS, we're talking about the GUI.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
No. The existing Gnome 2 userbase on existing hardware was not really the intended audience for Gnome 3. It was possible a bad naming decision in taking the product in a direction likely to alienate existing customers rather than release a new product name.
You're right there, they should have called it Gnumb. Or something like Gnumb Gnuts would be even more descriptive, and delineate their intended user base fairly precisely.
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
I should say straight away that I will not be using classic mode because quite frankly, I like Gnome Shell as it is. I get on with it really well and running a pair of screens with it suits my needs brilliantly. We are all very aware however that many people have not taken to the new interface and putting something in place that helps those people to continue to use Gnome in a way they prefer is surely a good thing.
Enjoying Bodhi Linux; e17 is very nice. Glad to hear about GNOME 3.8 and "classic mode", but I have no great urge to try it out. Perhaps someday.
Ubuntu should call the new "classic" mode, "Sanity". I have regular desktop computers as well as devices with touch screens. These new touch screen interfaces are fine if you have a touch screen device, but are definitly inferior on a traditional computer. That's why Linux Mint is rated the most popular linux distrobution download on distrowatch.com at this time. It's Ubuntu in "classic" mode.
There would have been no controvery with Windows 8 if they would have included a "classic" mode with their new version. That way you could use the mode most usefull with you device.
I find that the KDE4 series runs fine on any computer made in the last 6-8 years anyway and it looks a hell of a lot better