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> GNOME is designed to avoid overwhelming the user with information overload as much as possible, which is a really important topic for usability for the averag

> GNOME is designed to avoid overwhelming the user with information overload as much as possible, which is a really important topic for usability for the average computer user. Therefore, it does not follow the traditional desktop paradigm, where there is a taskbar, desktop icons, and others - everything is put away until the user needs them. It almost reads as sarcasm. Even if we skip over the fact that an "average Linux user" isn't exactly an "average computer user," have you met... an average computer user? Try telling them that there are no desktop icons because it will only confuse them.

CoolCold 4y ago
Could be they are targeting average computer user, not average Linux user. May be it's right strategy for their goals.
tristan957 4y ago
Yeah I don't understand this point either. I would like to even see where this is cited. If this was actually the case, GNOME would look like Cinnamon, Elementary, or KDE Plasma, which all have interfaces the average computer user is familiar with given the popularity of Windows and macOS. Seems like a misinterpretation by the author.
doctor_eval 4y ago
In my experience, the “average” user has a billion* icons on their desktop. * rounded up to the nearest billion
kaba0 4y ago
Well, is the typical all-over-the-place windows desktop with 10 temporary folders, myDocFinalReallyFinal.docx, some no longer installed apps’ desktop icon and some installed apps no longer working desktop icon really useful? The only thing you have to know is the super key, or the top left corner. Then you will see your open windows and the available app list. There is plenty of bad things about gnome, but I think they do have a nice vision and they adhere to it well. On a laptop, to me Gnome is the most usable desktop environment out of any OS even.
jmnicolas 4y ago
My 71yo mother is a Linux user. She just use Firefox and a couple Sudoku apps, so not exactly a power user. Before she was a Windows user and I had to regularly maintain her computer. Not anymore since Linux. Thanks Linux.
- petepete 4y ago
  Mine too. Probably clocked 3,000 hours in Pysol.
shrimp_emoji 4y ago
It's a hangover of the old convergence mindset. Everything's going to become a tablet webapp, and Linux is finally going to be used by Average Folks. (That's why GNOME is basically a touch-based tablet DE.) In my opinion, that's a doomed vision, both technologically and in what will occur. You can't have convergence; you can't collapse UIs or OSes down to the lowest common denominator (a mobile tablet) and have it be as good on a desktop as a UI or an OS meant for a desktop. Moreover, Linux is, and will (sadly?) remain, an "engineering OS", which is great for developers and technical people but comparatively alien and limited for Average Folk (probably for the same metaphysical reasons as the UI/OS problem). You could say that Linux caters to the extremes: users who are SO simple that they don't even notice what OS they're on (they don't need to interface with AAA games or Netflix because they just "play sudoku") and users who are advanced enough to benefit from its technical focus. (But then again, the simple case is equally catered to by every OS, so I think "engineering OS" is the best way to look at it.) Average Folks are in the middle; they'll never touch a command line, and they want to play World of Warcraft or Call of Duty. Your actual Linux user is either a programmer or a sysadmin, either professional or amateur. They're statistically the most likely segment of the population to actually be on a desktop computer with multiple monitors and to be finicky about DE features, and that's precisely the user GNOME targets the least due to some mix of fumes of the Converge era and the "developer first" convenience of just not having features and keeping things simple and changing them at will, downstream be damned (GTK4+).

CoolCold 4y ago

Could be they are targeting average computer user, not average Linux user. May be it's right strategy for their goals.

tristan957 4y ago

Yeah I don't understand this point either. I would like to even see where this is cited. If this was actually the case, GNOME would look like Cinnamon, Elementary, or KDE Plasma, which all have interfaces the average computer user is familiar with given the popularity of Windows and macOS. Seems like a misinterpretation by the author.

doctor_eval 4y ago

In my experience, the “average” user has a billion* icons on their desktop. * rounded up to the nearest billion

kaba0 4y ago

Well, is the typical all-over-the-place windows desktop with 10 temporary folders, myDocFinalReallyFinal.docx, some no longer installed apps’ desktop icon and some installed apps no longer working desktop icon really useful? The only thing you have to know is the super key, or the top left corner. Then you will see your open windows and the available app list. There is plenty of bad things about gnome, but I think they do have a nice vision and they adhere to it well. On a laptop, to me Gnome is the most usable desktop environment out of any OS even.

jmnicolas 4y ago

My 71yo mother is a Linux user. She just use Firefox and a couple Sudoku apps, so not exactly a power user. Before she was a Windows user and I had to regularly maintain her computer. Not anymore since Linux. Thanks Linux.

petepete 4y ago
Mine too. Probably clocked 3,000 hours in Pysol.

shrimp_emoji 4y ago

It's a hangover of the old convergence mindset. Everything's going to become a tablet webapp, and Linux is finally going to be used by Average Folks. (That's why GNOME is basically a touch-based tablet DE.) In my opinion, that's a doomed vision, both technologically and in what will occur. You can't have convergence; you can't collapse UIs or OSes down to the lowest common denominator (a mobile tablet) and have it be as good on a desktop as a UI or an OS meant for a desktop. Moreover, Linux is, and will (sadly?) remain, an "engineering OS", which is great for developers and technical people but comparatively alien and limited for Average Folk (probably for the same metaphysical reasons as the UI/OS problem). You could say that Linux caters to the extremes: users who are SO simple that they don't even notice what OS they're on (they don't need to interface with AAA games or Netflix because they just "play sudoku") and users who are advanced enough to benefit from its technical focus. (But then again, the simple case is equally catered to by every OS, so I think "engineering OS" is the best way to look at it.) Average Folks are in the middle; they'll never touch a command line, and they want to play World of Warcraft or Call of Duty. Your actual Linux user is either a programmer or a sysadmin, either professional or amateur. They're statistically the most likely segment of the population to actually be on a desktop computer with multiple monitors and to be finicky about DE features, and that's precisely the user GNOME targets the least due to some mix of fumes of the Converge era and the "developer first" convenience of just not having features and keeping things simple and changing them at will, downstream be damned (GTK4+).