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Episode 2: The Gnome Wars
Sunday, November 20th, 2011 02:40 pmIn my post "Distromania", I promised a review of Gnome 3, but didn't deliver. Now there are more reviews of Gnome 3 out there than predictions that 2012 will be the Year of the Linux Desktop (which are about as convincing as the more common prediction that the world will end in 2012). But I'm still going to weigh in, because I think Gnome 3 has been treated unfairly.
The first unfairness came of course, with Ubuntu's decision to make Unity their standard desktop, and their refusal to listen to the thousands of Linux users who, with a unity unusual in this Balkanised community, screamed "Unity is a steaming pile of penguin droppings!" Even KDE users took the opportunity to say, "Jeez, I'm glad I'm using KDE and not that steaming pile of penguin droppings." Having one of the most popular distributions ditch you just as you roll out your spanking new interface is like taking out a mortgage on a new house to be presented with divorce papers.
Initially, Ubuntu lost more users than Gnome, with an exodus to Ubuntu clones like Linux Mint which were still using Gnome 2, the interface we all know and love. But Gnome 3 then got tarred with the same brush as Unity (and Windows 8, for that matter). This is an easy mistake to make, considering that Unity is basically just another Gnome shell. Everything under that stunningly ugly interface is still Gnome. But Gnome 3 really isn't anything like Unity. Unity is a kind of botched Mac GUI with an extra level intended to make up for the lack of a menu. Gnome 3 is whole different approach to the desktop.
I have to admit that the first time I saw Gnome 3, I didn't like it. I didn't hate it as much as this reviewer but it didn't grab me, largely because it made me think "smartphone". But various factors made me persist with it, notably the ugliness of Unity, the fact that I still don't really understand KDE, and the incompleteness of Enlightenment. (OK, there are also XFCE and LXDE, but they're kind of boring - I use them on my P4 office machine, but at home I want something with enough bloat to give my four processors a workout.) Persistence paid off, and I learned to stop worrying and love the Gnome. It's weird but it actually works, and the main reason it works is that underneath the trendy tablet-style GUI, it's really a return to the command line.
Yes, you heard that right. I use the dock for a few programs I open frequently, and even then only if my hand is already on the mouse, letting me quickly sweep up to the hot spot in the top left corner then down to the conveniently large icon. (By the way, to those who hate Gnome's ginormous icons, I agree they would look better smaller, but bigger means easier to hit when performing wild mouse movements.) The rest of the time, it's good old-fashioned command-typing, but with very few keys. Here's what I do to open my favourite programs: hit the Super (Windows) key then ...
Of course, there are problems with Gnome 3, the main one being that they released it before it was ready. Gnome 3.0 was really a beta release, and even 3.2 is still kind of RC. We could do with more customisation options, but that applies in spades to Unity (which could be a half-decent interface if they just added options to hide the dock and replace the horrible Mac-style master menu bar with normal menus). At the end of the day, we owe it to the Gnome developers to cut them some slack. It's new, it's quirky, it's sometimes annoying, but in the end there's no place like Gnome.
The first unfairness came of course, with Ubuntu's decision to make Unity their standard desktop, and their refusal to listen to the thousands of Linux users who, with a unity unusual in this Balkanised community, screamed "Unity is a steaming pile of penguin droppings!" Even KDE users took the opportunity to say, "Jeez, I'm glad I'm using KDE and not that steaming pile of penguin droppings." Having one of the most popular distributions ditch you just as you roll out your spanking new interface is like taking out a mortgage on a new house to be presented with divorce papers.
Initially, Ubuntu lost more users than Gnome, with an exodus to Ubuntu clones like Linux Mint which were still using Gnome 2, the interface we all know and love. But Gnome 3 then got tarred with the same brush as Unity (and Windows 8, for that matter). This is an easy mistake to make, considering that Unity is basically just another Gnome shell. Everything under that stunningly ugly interface is still Gnome. But Gnome 3 really isn't anything like Unity. Unity is a kind of botched Mac GUI with an extra level intended to make up for the lack of a menu. Gnome 3 is whole different approach to the desktop.
I have to admit that the first time I saw Gnome 3, I didn't like it. I didn't hate it as much as this reviewer but it didn't grab me, largely because it made me think "smartphone". But various factors made me persist with it, notably the ugliness of Unity, the fact that I still don't really understand KDE, and the incompleteness of Enlightenment. (OK, there are also XFCE and LXDE, but they're kind of boring - I use them on my P4 office machine, but at home I want something with enough bloat to give my four processors a workout.) Persistence paid off, and I learned to stop worrying and love the Gnome. It's weird but it actually works, and the main reason it works is that underneath the trendy tablet-style GUI, it's really a return to the command line.
Yes, you heard that right. I use the dock for a few programs I open frequently, and even then only if my hand is already on the mouse, letting me quickly sweep up to the hot spot in the top left corner then down to the conveniently large icon. (By the way, to those who hate Gnome's ginormous icons, I agree they would look better smaller, but bigger means easier to hit when performing wild mouse movements.) The rest of the time, it's good old-fashioned command-typing, but with very few keys. Here's what I do to open my favourite programs: hit the Super (Windows) key then ...
- f (Firefox)
- si (Simple Scan)
- l + right arrow (Libre Office Writer)
- t (Terminal)
- and the longest, sho (Shotwell)
Of course, there are problems with Gnome 3, the main one being that they released it before it was ready. Gnome 3.0 was really a beta release, and even 3.2 is still kind of RC. We could do with more customisation options, but that applies in spades to Unity (which could be a half-decent interface if they just added options to hide the dock and replace the horrible Mac-style master menu bar with normal menus). At the end of the day, we owe it to the Gnome developers to cut them some slack. It's new, it's quirky, it's sometimes annoying, but in the end there's no place like Gnome.
