11 ms·

GNOME 3 Released

178 points by sciurus 16y ago

sciurus 16y ago
The press release is at http://www.gnome.org/press/releases/2011-04-gnome-3.0-released.html http://www.gnome.org/press/releases/2011-04-gnome-3.0-releas...
- bdhe 16y ago
  The link is broken. This is the working link: http://www.gnome.org/press/2011/04/gnome-3-0-released-better-for-users-developers-3/ http://www.gnome.org/press/2011/04/gnome-3-0-released-better...
  - sciurus 16y ago
    Thanks for catching that! It looks like they launched a new design for http://www.gnome.org/ http://www.gnome.org/ in conjunction with the release. That must have altered the URL for the press release they had published earlier in the day.
    - lucasr 16y ago
      We'll be setting up redirects for the old press releases to the new website soon. We just had so many things to sort out today for the release that these small things end up slipping out. Cheers!
      - watmough 16y ago
        Will Gnome 3 still be in Ubuntu? I'm unclear on how the changes relating to the desktop will actually change the experience. Congratulations to the Gnome team though! It does look great.
        lucasr 16y ago
        Have a look at jdub's comment on the item about Ars Technical review of GNOME 3. He summarizes pretty well what will happen (or not happen) in Ubuntu with regards to GNOME 3: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2419435
mishmash 16y ago
gnome3.org is down for me, but http://www.gnome.org/gnome-3/ http://www.gnome.org/gnome-3/ works. edit: and the torrent to the openSUSE with "optional" GNOME3 is: http://software.opensuse.org/114/en http://software.opensuse.org/114/en
dermatthias 16y ago
gnome3.org seems to be unaccessible right now. Any news on a official (as in official from the GNOME people, not Canonical) repo / .deb for Ubuntu 10.10? I'm using Awesome WM since a about a year and I'm really happy with it, but it looks kinda good and I want to give it a shot.
- jasonlotito 16y ago
  The URL is fine for me. Maybe it's just an issue from your location.
augustl 16y ago
Seems like gettimg started is easy too, at least on Arch Linux. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GNOME_3 https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GNOME_3
lallysingh 16y ago
They really should concatenate some of those videos together. Each one individually is a little underwhelming.
- antidaily 16y ago
  at the very least, get rid of the personal intros and "one of the hundreds" bit.
  - kleiba 16y ago
    Why?
    - antidaily 16y ago
      gets old after the 3rd time.
ChuckMcM 16y ago
Did anyone else find putting these two features next to each other unfortunate: * Messaging built-in Communication is an important part of the modern desktop, but it's a hassle when you have to switch windows to reply to a message. * GNOME 3 is designed to reduce distraction and interruption and to put you in control. Our new notifications system subtly presents messages and will save them until you are ready for them,...
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
Kudos 16y ago
Their new site is gorgeous
demetris 16y ago
The webfont used (Cantarell) does not look good in Windows. The texts are almost unreadable: http://op111.net/u/misc/20110407-win7-fx4-gnome.org.png http://op111.net/u/misc/20110407-win7-fx4-gnome.org.png — (It looks fine on Linux.) Cantarell, by the way, is also the UI font of Gnome Shell. Not a bad UI font, I think, but it has a narrow glyph range (about 400) and only includes Latin. Moving to the larger picture, my impression from the Gnome Shell desktop up to now is that it is an interesting experiment, trying to rethink as it does a lot of stuff that we have grown to take for granted in desktop environments. But it is not necessarily a good desktop experience. Up to now (I have used it for about 40 hours in total) I find it tiring and distracting, rather than distraction-free. Switching between app windows, e.g., is not a pleasant experience for me, with all the action I see on the screen and that I have to take myself each time I want to switch. (Alt-tabbing avoids all that, but I don’t always switch windows with Alt+Tab.) Another thing that does not help me, and that I find strange as an design decision, is the position of the clock right in the middle of the topbar. It causes me stress; I feel like time is hunting me. In general, Gnome Shell seems to me to offer an experience more tuned to small rather than large screens. In a 2560*1600 screen, say, and if you prefer using the mouse rather than the keyboard, the distances you have to travel are ridiculous. I expect the whole thing to improve in the next couple of years or so, but I am curious to see how much it can improve given its basic design principles.
- jrockway 16y ago
  UIs like this are not for power users. They use xmonad or awesome or dwm or ratpoison or ... This is for someone who turns on their computer, does some work, and then stops using their computer. They do not want to bother themselves with a lot of learning. Simple actions that can be easily learned and improve speed (like keyboard shortcuts) are in reach. But more "confusing" concepts like virtual desktops without visual cues are not what they go for, even though pressing M-1 is much faster than moving your mouse to some picture of window. The idea is "how can we make computing accessible to the average person", not "how can we make demetris not feel stress on his 2560x1600 screen". Once you reach a certain level of interest in optimizing everything, you have to use tools to build your own desktop environment, because you are a unique flower, and only you can decide what you want. You've reached this point, so GNOME is not for you.
beck5 16y ago
Why are the videos on the site so small, make it big and show off what you have made! You can see them here on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRHAio98n-g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRHAio98n-g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRHAio98n-g&feature=relmfu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRHAio98n-g&feature=relmf... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip9Bgjaspjs&feature=relmfu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip9Bgjaspjs&feature=relmf... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lepXx1kDelo&feature=relmfu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lepXx1kDelo&feature=relmf... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSuRy7TRHPc&feature=relmfu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSuRy7TRHPc&feature=relmf... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxOQj5eBRCY&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxOQj5eBRCY&feature=relat... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4fhsgZbgKk&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4fhsgZbgKk&feature=relat...
_frog 16y ago
Does anyone else find the tagline "Made of Easy" to be a bit silly and poorly thought out?
- DrJokepu 16y ago
  It's playful, it clearly and strongly communicates a single underlying concept. I think it's good.
  - _frog 16y ago
    It's just such a grammatically poor phrase and it gives the impression that the entire project lacks polish and thoughtful design.
    - epochwolf 16y ago
      So it matches what some people in this thread think of the project so far?
    - lepht 16y ago
      Maybe you just need to think different
RandyHelzerman 16y ago
Who cares about gnome? I mean really. To first, second, and third order approximations, nobody will ever use it. The ipad2 sold over 2 million units the first month out. The next billion users of the internet will interact with it over their cell phone. Might as well publish an article about somebody who is making a nice set of switches for the front panel of a pdp-11 using mahogany wood or something.
- Gentleman_Ryan 16y ago
  And you wouldn't love a new set of PDP-11 switches?
- Lennie 16y ago
  My guess is you are looking for a discussion of ChromeOS ? This isn't that discussion. :-)
- ambiguity 16y ago
  At least a third of the people on Hacker News. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2303726 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2303726.
riffraff 16y ago
I really like gnome3, but I'ts kind of sad to realize the main video on the frontpage (for a wonderful new desktop experience) shows only two desktop applications: gedit editing an html file, and firefox with firebug to fix that same code. And a fake IM session with a loremipsum in it. I understand the gnome desktop may not have many shiny artisty apps as OSX, but this feels a tad too nerdy.
- hartror 16y ago
  You do realise where you are posting right?
  - squidsoup 16y ago
    We're not representative of the linux userbase anymore - increasingly it is used by students, home users and office workers that aren't necessarily technical. That's the demographic they should be appealing to and they're more interested in social and media related apps.
    - threepointone 16y ago
      >We're not representative of the linux userbase anymore. > increasingly it is used by students, home users and office workers that aren't necessarily technical. citations, please. it's one thing where the developers of gnome/linux WANT it to be used by this demographic, it's another to claim that it's happening (and to claim that HN users don't use it anymore).
      - Lennie 16y ago
        I just know, statcounter claims Linux has 1% worldwide desktop website-visitors and Wikipedia has statistics that say: 2% of the Wikipedia visitors is a Linux-desktop user. Half of that is an Ubuntu user. All mobile (non-desktop) users combined statcounter claims is also around 1%
indrora 16y ago
Wow. Gnome 3 looks worse than Gnome 2 did. I say that with love and kindness in my heart though, as I'm a hardcore openbox user. openbox+tint2+nitrogen. (edit: Okay, Gnome3 and E17 are "Almost" looking alike: They're shiney and don't do much more than that.)
rwmj 16y ago
It seems no one here has actually tried using GNOME 3 for any period of time. I gave it a couple of days and switched over to XFCE. I found it incredibly annoying as a developer desktop (perhaps a minority user these days?). It's very hard to switch between applications, virtual desktops are basically broken, you can't have shortcuts for launching apps/programs, no focus-follows-mouse, and the GNOME developers don't give a damn.
- dman 16y ago
  Its just released, so give us sometime to get our pitchforks out.
- TillE 16y ago
  If developers are a minority of Linux users, surely it's still a large minority. Sadly, KDE3 was the last desktop I actually enjoyed using. KDE4 is still (still!) broken and useless and ugly.
  - sigzero 16y ago
    What KDE are you using? The current version is miles away from the initial 4 release. I don't think it is hardly broken, useless and ugly.
- CoffeeDregs 16y ago
  A few days ago, I added experimental to my Debian apt list and apt-getted for about an hour until gnome-shell was working. Very unstable, partially configured, not really revolutionary, etc. Headed back to Gnome 2 only to find out that GTK 2 and GTK 3 have a hard time co-existing. Twas very difficult to get my system back to normal. I'm an idiot; don't be like me.
- bkor 16y ago
  You can change all that. Install GNOME tweak tool. If the setting is not there yet (not sure about shortcuts), either file a bug or look at dconf-editor until that time. Regarding "don't give a damn" and per http://planet.gnome.org/ http://planet.gnome.org/: I am GNOME :-)
iamcalledrob 16y ago
Gnome really needs help with their typography (and design in general). Gradients, docks and shiny icons do not make a well designed product. It's clear to see it suffers from the curse of open source software – design by committee, and the featuritis that results from that. There's often "flashy" chrome in OSS, but no solid interactions behind to back it up. It's equally important what you choose to leave out from your product, as what you include. It seems Gnome has included the kitchen sink.
- dman 16y ago
  Believe me - in the open source world Gnome is the one that leans towards minimalism.
  - zyfo 16y ago
    Minimalism in what sense?
    - dman 16y ago
      UI fading into the background. Working things around so that there are fewer User preferences. Default desktop themes which are sober and not overly jazzy.
      - mtogo 16y ago
        How? Compared to LXDE (for example), GNOME seems cluttered and slow to me. Not at all minimalist.
  - chalst 16y ago
    I've found Sawfish+twm to be a sufficient window manager for my purposes.
- _frog 16y ago
  I think the reason that open source software is so often poorly designed is this committee approach where no one person can lead the design team. Strong leadership is extremely important when designing a good UI and I feel a lot of open source projects forget this. Also this leader needs to be thick skinned and self confident enough to take criticism from others on the project but also assert their own subjective views.
deadcyclo 16y ago
I don't use GNOME because I find it way to heavy and bloated (I run X and the stumpwm manually). It would however be very interesting to know how early adapters find GNOME 3 compared to previous GNOME versions in terms of bloat and speed. I also understand that GNOME 3 can be used very keyboard driven. AAAnybodywo swears to the keyboard like me have any opinions?
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TuxPirate 16y ago
Does anyone have instructions on how to build this beast?
- MatthewPhillips 16y ago
  Not to be a smart ass but... ./configure, make, make install.
- hendi_ 16y ago
  We have a tool called "jhbuild" that keeps track of all the dependencies and stuff. In short, just get jhbuild from git.gnome.org, build it and do a "jhbuild bootstreap && jhbuild build". More complete instruction can be found in the wiki: https://live.gnome.org/Smoketesting https://live.gnome.org/Smoketesting If you want to just check out gnome-shell without the other Gnome 3 stuff, you can find instructions on http://live.gnome.org/GnomeShell http://live.gnome.org/GnomeShell
  - lucasr 16y ago
    If you want to get started with Jhbuild, you probably want to have a look at the official manual: http://developer.gnome.org/jhbuild/stable/
- lucasr 16y ago
  If you really want to build the whole thing for hacking purposes, yes, Jhbuild is probably what you want. But if you just want to give GNOME 3 a try, I suggest you to simply run one of our live images here: http://www.gnome.org/getting-gnome/
alanh 16y ago
Looks quite heavily OS X inspired, with Windows 7’s window arrangement feature. In theory, that should make for a great desktop environment.
MatthewPhillips 16y ago
Love it! Can't wait to use it. I wonder what the impact is going to be now that Ubuntu is doing it's own UI thing. That's the vast majority of Linux users; so who becomes the premiere Gnome 3 distribution? I was hoping to get a System76 as my next desktop but now I'm not sure; depends if Gnome3 is included in Ubuntu's repos going forward.
- skymt 16y ago
  Fedora 15 is most likely to be the Gnome 3 showcase. Its release on May 24 is nicely timed to allow them enough time to integrate Gnome Shell. As a desktop distro it's second in popularity only to Ubuntu, which makes it the most popular distro to choose Gnome Shell as its default UI. But all this shouldn't affect your hardware purchases. A System76 machine should run Fedora just as well as it does Ubuntu.
- wazoox 16y ago
  Gnome Slackbuild 3.0 has been available for slack 64 for a while, and the stable release hit the mirrors recently. See http://gnomeslackbuild.org/ http://gnomeslackbuild.org/
naner 16y ago
Ryan Paul's review on Ars might be more useful: http://arstechnica.com/open-source/reviews/2011/04/ars-reviews-gnome-30-a-shiny-new-ornament-for-your-linux-lawn.ars http://arstechnica.com/open-source/reviews/2011/04/ars-revie...
hendi_ 16y ago
I couldn't find an obvious link on the gnome(3).org sites, but there are detailed release notes: http://library.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/3.0/ http://library.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/3.0/
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
sigzero 16y ago
"Window bars don't offer any minimise/maximise window controls; however, this functionality is still available by right-clicking on a window's top bar. GNOME and GTK+ development veteran Owen Taylor explained the reasons for removing the controls in a comprehensive email. In this email, the developer indicates that workspaces may make it unnecessary to minimise windows." I don't think I like that one. I minimize all the time even with workspaces. To relegate to a right click is just going to confuse the novice end user.

178 points by sciurus 16y ago

The press release is at http://www.gnome.org/press/releases/2011-04-gnome-3.0-released.html http://www.gnome.org/press/releases/2011-04-gnome-3.0-releas...

bdhe 16y ago
The link is broken. This is the working link: http://www.gnome.org/press/2011/04/gnome-3-0-released-better-for-users-developers-3/ http://www.gnome.org/press/2011/04/gnome-3-0-released-better...
- sciurus 16y ago
  Thanks for catching that! It looks like they launched a new design for http://www.gnome.org/ http://www.gnome.org/ in conjunction with the release. That must have altered the URL for the press release they had published earlier in the day.
  - lucasr 16y ago
    We'll be setting up redirects for the old press releases to the new website soon. We just had so many things to sort out today for the release that these small things end up slipping out. Cheers!
    - watmough 16y ago
      Will Gnome 3 still be in Ubuntu? I'm unclear on how the changes relating to the desktop will actually change the experience. Congratulations to the Gnome team though! It does look great.
      - lucasr 16y ago
        Have a look at jdub's comment on the item about Ars Technical review of GNOME 3. He summarizes pretty well what will happen (or not happen) in Ubuntu with regards to GNOME 3: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2419435

mishmash 16y ago

gnome3.org is down for me, but http://www.gnome.org/gnome-3/ http://www.gnome.org/gnome-3/ works. edit: and the torrent to the openSUSE with "optional" GNOME3 is: http://software.opensuse.org/114/en http://software.opensuse.org/114/en

dermatthias 16y ago

gnome3.org seems to be unaccessible right now. Any news on a official (as in official from the GNOME people, not Canonical) repo / .deb for Ubuntu 10.10? I'm using Awesome WM since a about a year and I'm really happy with it, but it looks kinda good and I want to give it a shot.

jasonlotito 16y ago
The URL is fine for me. Maybe it's just an issue from your location.

augustl 16y ago

Seems like gettimg started is easy too, at least on Arch Linux. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GNOME_3 https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GNOME_3

lallysingh 16y ago

They really should concatenate some of those videos together. Each one individually is a little underwhelming.

antidaily 16y ago
at the very least, get rid of the personal intros and "one of the hundreds" bit.
- kleiba 16y ago
  Why?
  - antidaily 16y ago
    gets old after the 3rd time.

ChuckMcM 16y ago

Did anyone else find putting these two features next to each other unfortunate: * Messaging built-in Communication is an important part of the modern desktop, but it's a hassle when you have to switch windows to reply to a message. * GNOME 3 is designed to reduce distraction and interruption and to put you in control. Our new notifications system subtly presents messages and will save them until you are ready for them,...

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

Kudos 16y ago

Their new site is gorgeous

demetris 16y ago

The webfont used (Cantarell) does not look good in Windows. The texts are almost unreadable: http://op111.net/u/misc/20110407-win7-fx4-gnome.org.png http://op111.net/u/misc/20110407-win7-fx4-gnome.org.png — (It looks fine on Linux.) Cantarell, by the way, is also the UI font of Gnome Shell. Not a bad UI font, I think, but it has a narrow glyph range (about 400) and only includes Latin. Moving to the larger picture, my impression from the Gnome Shell desktop up to now is that it is an interesting experiment, trying to rethink as it does a lot of stuff that we have grown to take for granted in desktop environments. But it is not necessarily a good desktop experience. Up to now (I have used it for about 40 hours in total) I find it tiring and distracting, rather than distraction-free. Switching between app windows, e.g., is not a pleasant experience for me, with all the action I see on the screen and that I have to take myself each time I want to switch. (Alt-tabbing avoids all that, but I don’t always switch windows with Alt+Tab.) Another thing that does not help me, and that I find strange as an design decision, is the position of the clock right in the middle of the topbar. It causes me stress; I feel like time is hunting me. In general, Gnome Shell seems to me to offer an experience more tuned to small rather than large screens. In a 2560*1600 screen, say, and if you prefer using the mouse rather than the keyboard, the distances you have to travel are ridiculous. I expect the whole thing to improve in the next couple of years or so, but I am curious to see how much it can improve given its basic design principles.

jrockway 16y ago
UIs like this are not for power users. They use xmonad or awesome or dwm or ratpoison or ... This is for someone who turns on their computer, does some work, and then stops using their computer. They do not want to bother themselves with a lot of learning. Simple actions that can be easily learned and improve speed (like keyboard shortcuts) are in reach. But more "confusing" concepts like virtual desktops without visual cues are not what they go for, even though pressing M-1 is much faster than moving your mouse to some picture of window. The idea is "how can we make computing accessible to the average person", not "how can we make demetris not feel stress on his 2560x1600 screen". Once you reach a certain level of interest in optimizing everything, you have to use tools to build your own desktop environment, because you are a unique flower, and only you can decide what you want. You've reached this point, so GNOME is not for you.

beck5 16y ago

Why are the videos on the site so small, make it big and show off what you have made! You can see them here on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRHAio98n-g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRHAio98n-g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRHAio98n-g&feature=relmfu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRHAio98n-g&feature=relmf... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip9Bgjaspjs&feature=relmfu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip9Bgjaspjs&feature=relmf... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lepXx1kDelo&feature=relmfu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lepXx1kDelo&feature=relmf... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSuRy7TRHPc&feature=relmfu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSuRy7TRHPc&feature=relmf... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxOQj5eBRCY&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxOQj5eBRCY&feature=relat... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4fhsgZbgKk&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4fhsgZbgKk&feature=relat...

_frog 16y ago

Does anyone else find the tagline "Made of Easy" to be a bit silly and poorly thought out?

DrJokepu 16y ago
It's playful, it clearly and strongly communicates a single underlying concept. I think it's good.
- _frog 16y ago
  It's just such a grammatically poor phrase and it gives the impression that the entire project lacks polish and thoughtful design.
  - epochwolf 16y ago
    So it matches what some people in this thread think of the project so far?
  - lepht 16y ago
    Maybe you just need to think different

RandyHelzerman 16y ago

Who cares about gnome? I mean really. To first, second, and third order approximations, nobody will ever use it. The ipad2 sold over 2 million units the first month out. The next billion users of the internet will interact with it over their cell phone. Might as well publish an article about somebody who is making a nice set of switches for the front panel of a pdp-11 using mahogany wood or something.

Gentleman_Ryan 16y ago
And you wouldn't love a new set of PDP-11 switches?
Lennie 16y ago
My guess is you are looking for a discussion of ChromeOS ? This isn't that discussion. :-)
ambiguity 16y ago
At least a third of the people on Hacker News. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2303726 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2303726.

riffraff 16y ago

I really like gnome3, but I'ts kind of sad to realize the main video on the frontpage (for a wonderful new desktop experience) shows only two desktop applications: gedit editing an html file, and firefox with firebug to fix that same code. And a fake IM session with a loremipsum in it. I understand the gnome desktop may not have many shiny artisty apps as OSX, but this feels a tad too nerdy.

hartror 16y ago
You do realise where you are posting right?
- squidsoup 16y ago
  We're not representative of the linux userbase anymore - increasingly it is used by students, home users and office workers that aren't necessarily technical. That's the demographic they should be appealing to and they're more interested in social and media related apps.
  - threepointone 16y ago
    >We're not representative of the linux userbase anymore. > increasingly it is used by students, home users and office workers that aren't necessarily technical. citations, please. it's one thing where the developers of gnome/linux WANT it to be used by this demographic, it's another to claim that it's happening (and to claim that HN users don't use it anymore).
    - Lennie 16y ago
      I just know, statcounter claims Linux has 1% worldwide desktop website-visitors and Wikipedia has statistics that say: 2% of the Wikipedia visitors is a Linux-desktop user. Half of that is an Ubuntu user. All mobile (non-desktop) users combined statcounter claims is also around 1%

indrora 16y ago

Wow. Gnome 3 looks worse than Gnome 2 did. I say that with love and kindness in my heart though, as I'm a hardcore openbox user. openbox+tint2+nitrogen. (edit: Okay, Gnome3 and E17 are "Almost" looking alike: They're shiney and don't do much more than that.)

rwmj 16y ago

It seems no one here has actually tried using GNOME 3 for any period of time. I gave it a couple of days and switched over to XFCE. I found it incredibly annoying as a developer desktop (perhaps a minority user these days?). It's very hard to switch between applications, virtual desktops are basically broken, you can't have shortcuts for launching apps/programs, no focus-follows-mouse, and the GNOME developers don't give a damn.

dman 16y ago
Its just released, so give us sometime to get our pitchforks out.
TillE 16y ago
If developers are a minority of Linux users, surely it's still a large minority. Sadly, KDE3 was the last desktop I actually enjoyed using. KDE4 is still (still!) broken and useless and ugly.
- sigzero 16y ago
  What KDE are you using? The current version is miles away from the initial 4 release. I don't think it is hardly broken, useless and ugly.
CoffeeDregs 16y ago
A few days ago, I added experimental to my Debian apt list and apt-getted for about an hour until gnome-shell was working. Very unstable, partially configured, not really revolutionary, etc. Headed back to Gnome 2 only to find out that GTK 2 and GTK 3 have a hard time co-existing. Twas very difficult to get my system back to normal. I'm an idiot; don't be like me.
bkor 16y ago
You can change all that. Install GNOME tweak tool. If the setting is not there yet (not sure about shortcuts), either file a bug or look at dconf-editor until that time. Regarding "don't give a damn" and per http://planet.gnome.org/ http://planet.gnome.org/: I am GNOME :-)

iamcalledrob 16y ago

Gnome really needs help with their typography (and design in general). Gradients, docks and shiny icons do not make a well designed product. It's clear to see it suffers from the curse of open source software – design by committee, and the featuritis that results from that. There's often "flashy" chrome in OSS, but no solid interactions behind to back it up. It's equally important what you choose to leave out from your product, as what you include. It seems Gnome has included the kitchen sink.

dman 16y ago
Believe me - in the open source world Gnome is the one that leans towards minimalism.
- zyfo 16y ago
  Minimalism in what sense?
  - dman 16y ago
    UI fading into the background. Working things around so that there are fewer User preferences. Default desktop themes which are sober and not overly jazzy.
    - mtogo 16y ago
      How? Compared to LXDE (for example), GNOME seems cluttered and slow to me. Not at all minimalist.
- chalst 16y ago
  I've found Sawfish+twm to be a sufficient window manager for my purposes.
_frog 16y ago
I think the reason that open source software is so often poorly designed is this committee approach where no one person can lead the design team. Strong leadership is extremely important when designing a good UI and I feel a lot of open source projects forget this. Also this leader needs to be thick skinned and self confident enough to take criticism from others on the project but also assert their own subjective views.

deadcyclo 16y ago

I don't use GNOME because I find it way to heavy and bloated (I run X and the stumpwm manually). It would however be very interesting to know how early adapters find GNOME 3 compared to previous GNOME versions in terms of bloat and speed. I also understand that GNOME 3 can be used very keyboard driven. AAAnybodywo swears to the keyboard like me have any opinions?

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TuxPirate 16y ago

Does anyone have instructions on how to build this beast?

MatthewPhillips 16y ago
Not to be a smart ass but... ./configure, make, make install.
hendi_ 16y ago
We have a tool called "jhbuild" that keeps track of all the dependencies and stuff. In short, just get jhbuild from git.gnome.org, build it and do a "jhbuild bootstreap && jhbuild build". More complete instruction can be found in the wiki: https://live.gnome.org/Smoketesting https://live.gnome.org/Smoketesting If you want to just check out gnome-shell without the other Gnome 3 stuff, you can find instructions on http://live.gnome.org/GnomeShell http://live.gnome.org/GnomeShell
- lucasr 16y ago
  If you want to get started with Jhbuild, you probably want to have a look at the official manual: http://developer.gnome.org/jhbuild/stable/
lucasr 16y ago
If you really want to build the whole thing for hacking purposes, yes, Jhbuild is probably what you want. But if you just want to give GNOME 3 a try, I suggest you to simply run one of our live images here: http://www.gnome.org/getting-gnome/

alanh 16y ago

Looks quite heavily OS X inspired, with Windows 7’s window arrangement feature. In theory, that should make for a great desktop environment.

MatthewPhillips 16y ago

Love it! Can't wait to use it. I wonder what the impact is going to be now that Ubuntu is doing it's own UI thing. That's the vast majority of Linux users; so who becomes the premiere Gnome 3 distribution? I was hoping to get a System76 as my next desktop but now I'm not sure; depends if Gnome3 is included in Ubuntu's repos going forward.

skymt 16y ago
Fedora 15 is most likely to be the Gnome 3 showcase. Its release on May 24 is nicely timed to allow them enough time to integrate Gnome Shell. As a desktop distro it's second in popularity only to Ubuntu, which makes it the most popular distro to choose Gnome Shell as its default UI. But all this shouldn't affect your hardware purchases. A System76 machine should run Fedora just as well as it does Ubuntu.
wazoox 16y ago
Gnome Slackbuild 3.0 has been available for slack 64 for a while, and the stable release hit the mirrors recently. See http://gnomeslackbuild.org/ http://gnomeslackbuild.org/

naner 16y ago

Ryan Paul's review on Ars might be more useful: http://arstechnica.com/open-source/reviews/2011/04/ars-reviews-gnome-30-a-shiny-new-ornament-for-your-linux-lawn.ars http://arstechnica.com/open-source/reviews/2011/04/ars-revie...

hendi_ 16y ago

I couldn't find an obvious link on the gnome(3).org sites, but there are detailed release notes: http://library.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/3.0/ http://library.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/3.0/

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

sigzero 16y ago

"Window bars don't offer any minimise/maximise window controls; however, this functionality is still available by right-clicking on a window's top bar. GNOME and GTK+ development veteran Owen Taylor explained the reasons for removing the controls in a comprehensive email. In this email, the developer indicates that workspaces may make it unnecessary to minimise windows." I don't think I like that one. I minimize all the time even with workspaces. To relegate to a right click is just going to confuse the novice end user.