I have spent since Fedora 15 was released trying, really trying, to like gnome 3. <br><br>I give up.<br><br>Yes. It has pretty eye candy that will appeal to someone. I will grant it is visually attractive.<br><br>But like the stunning woman who walks into a crowded room and all eyes turn her way, eventually someone makes the comment about "high maintenance" and the brief moments of fluttering hearts is over.<br>
<br>Gnome 3 is high maintenance.<br><br>I find it stupid hard and too many mouse clicks to do ANYTHING _I_ want to do. I I wanted to be told what I could do with my desktop, I'd use a Mac. Gnome 3 is even clunkier than the Mac desktop I used a few years back.<br>
<br>The single most frustrating aspect is the default behavior when I click to open a second terminal. Um. No. I already have one open it kindly shows me by whisking me away from where I am to where I don't want to be. But I wanted a terminal where I was. So I have to right click and select another option of yes I really want another terminal on this screen thanks for asking.<br>
<br>Granted, it is possible to adjust the widths of the window decorations to make a larger mouse grab area to facilitate resizing but why was it made a whopping 1 pixel wide to begin with? Why does the systems control panel always project off the bottom of the visible screen area with no way to adjust it to fit? Why do I have to change the screen orientation to portrait so I can adjust other control panels that have the "OK" button off the bottom of the screen? Granted my laptop is another example of entertainment trumps effectiveness in that it has the w i d e s c r e e n because I must be like the rest of the sheeple and plan to watch movies on my laptop as my main use and any real WORK is secondary. And yes, now I print everything in landscape just because it fits my screen better and I like being obnoxious that way ( I really don't but I am).<br>
<br>Javascript to control the actions of my desktop. Yeah. OK. I did just see a javascript machine emulator that had a Linux kernel running in it. That has potential for all kinds of recursive fun on the desktop. But now the desktop is controlled by a similar process as the browser so cross-system scripting issues are next on the radar of security vulnerabilities.<br>
<br>Did I mention it's slow? Many seconds elapse between clicking the "applications" button (after the alt-f1 to get access to it or tossing the mouse in the upper left corner) and actually seeing the applications. And then they go and show me ALL APPLICATIONS. Not even something intelligent like Recent Applications or just a menu on the right and a blank screen. No. I have to schlog through a menu on the right to select different screens full of icon from each category. But why start with All? So I can be impressed? I'm not. And many of the icons don't scale to the screen resolution so they are
visually clunky and blurry and just super unpolished for a full 3.0 release.<br><br>And then there's the power management. Not specifically a gnome 3 thing but totally useless nonetheless. Any screen power down or blanking or suspend or hibernate can only be recovered from by a full hold-the-power-button-till-it-dies reboot. Most annoyingly, it also is a requirement about half the time that I ctl-alt-bksp after a simply screen lock as it won't provide the login box again.<br>
<br>Frustrated. Irritated. But most of all, deeply, deeply disappointed. Linux is turning 20. Gnome is more than 10 years old now and still the principle designers appear to lack a solid understanding of workflow. I can't support rolling this desktop out to other people who are expected to actually get things done. <br>
<br>But I can support rolling it back to the Fallback Desktop which does make nearly all of my complaints go away (System Settings window still falls off the bottom of the screen. Testing power management next).<br><br>See here for how to make gnome 3 usable:<br>
<a href="http://www.rootninja.com/gnome-3-fallback-desktop-better-than-gnome-3-itself/">http://www.rootninja.com/gnome-3-fallback-desktop-better-than-gnome-3-itself/</a><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>-- <br>James P. Kinney III<br>
<br>As long as the general population is passive, apathetic, diverted to
consumerism or hatred of the vulnerable, then the powerful can do as
they please, and those who survive will be left to contemplate the
outcome.<br>- <i><i><i><i>2011 Noam Chomsky</i></i></i></i><br>