A quote from this article on ZDnet made me think of Gnome 3 as it relates to my use of it.
The biggest problem with Windows 8 is that it wasn’t born out of a need or demand.
I don’t have a need for it. After moving on from Fedora I switched to Red Hat Enterprise Linux as my regular desktop. Yes, there were a few applications that were missing, but those were usually applications not related to getting my job done or daily productivity. Red Hat Enterprise Linux really does everything I need to do and is based on Gnome 2.
Maybe there were architectural or maintenance reasons for creating and developing Gnome 3 after Gnome 2. I don’t know. I do remember talking to one of the Gnome developers at the time who said it was going to usher in a new paradigm of what using a computer and an operating system meant.
I don’t see it. To me the iPad and Apple’s mobile operating system have been much bigger and useful paradigm shifts. Perhaps Android too, though I haven’t had a chance to try it.
No matter how many times I’ve tried Gnome 3, it just doesn’t click with me. The notion that I should have to install a tweak tool and go to a website to install any number of plugins beyond the base install to reach a solid working desktop, just doesn’t compute for me. It’s time consuming and frustrating and doesn’t meet my expectation of what a good user experience is supposed to provide.
My most recent experience was with a new Lenovo x220. The default fonts and screen were just two small out of the box–definitely smaller compared to Gnome 2 and other Fedora 17 desktop environments (I tried three of them). I’ll raise my hand as one of the people who asked Paul Frields for help changing the font size because I couldn’t figure out how to do it. It’s cool a search box gets you to the right place, but doesn’t that miss the point of a good user experience for basic settings?
Maybe I’m getting too old or maybe I’ve lost the passion and interest I used to have for configuring Linux. I just want to install an operating system and use it–not install it and then spend a number of days tweaking and searching for answers it so it’s productive and useful.
It seems Linus Torvalds feels the same way.
Leave a Reply