Thursday 17 May 2012

GNOME: on the path to implosion


The GNOME designing team should learn about user needs, instead of trying to impose their view of how users should work.

Users have different computers, with different screen resolutions, and different needs. What works great maximized on one PC, will be a disaster on another. Users resize the windows to fit their needs, remember what those needs were, and open the windows the size their were closed last time. Is that so hard?

Right now, GNOME3 is an unproductive piece of crap, as it only serves basic users. G3 might be gaining basic users attention, but will lose them as soon as they start becoming power users.

Don't keep pushing in that direction. Listen. GNOME2 was forked. Even GNOME3 was forked. People moved to XFCE. Get a grip on reality. You did it wrong. You should know it by now. Just admit it, an turn back. Trying to prove others wrong, when you know they're right, won't take you nowhere.

I'm on XFCE. And I'll keep myself there. GNOME already lost me. And it will lose many others. FEDORA is losing users. UBUNTU is losing users. MINT is gaining. Ask yourselves why. Think CINNAMON. Think MATE.

A final note:
Touch screens won't work for desktops. Won't work for content production. For production you'll always need a good keyboard. And a desktop screen will be to painful to touch. Try to keep your arms in mid air for a minute or two, and you'll know. Mouse and keyboard are here to stay for a long time. They seat at a desk top, where you REST your arms.

References:
http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/04/hands-on-gnome-34-arrives-introducing-significant-design-changes/
http://afaikblog.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/a-new-approach-to-gnome-application-design/

1 comment:

  1. GNOME 3 has become something of a polarising moment for the popular Linux desktop. In chasing visions of tablets, touchscreens and the mythical "everyday user", the GNOME 3 Shell has left many Linux power users scratching their heads, wondering why the GNOME developers decided to fix a desktop that wasn't broken. XFCE is solution.
    Just what is it about Xfce that's drawing in the GNOME refugees? Well for one thing Xfce can easily be customised into something that's visually no different than good old GNOME 2.x.

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