3 ms·

what's missing that was removed in 2->3?

soulofmischief 3y ago
If you have used GNOME 2 for an extended period of time and then moved to GNOME 3, I think you'd find the shorter list of what wasn't removed. The idea was a vast plugin ecosystem which would allow development of desktop features to be more distributed. The problem was, some of the most basic features (like a taskbar for displaying open windows, or panels, or applets, or sane window management tools) were left out. At some point it becomes a security and performance nightmare when the idea is that to achieve a normal desktop experience, you need dozens of user-supplied scripts. Of course that's not a problem in practice, because even with user plugins, several basic features continue to be missing. And the fact that most of these plugins are just recreating functionality that already previously existed should really tell you something about GNOME team's design philosophy. To quote Linus Torvalds, GNOME 3 is a "total user experience design failure". https://www.datamation.com/open-source/gnome-2-vs-gnome-3/ https://www.datamation.com/open-source/gnome-2-vs-gnome-3/
- moojacob 3y ago
  For more context Linux Torvalds moved back to GNOME in 2013, a year after that article was posted. From https://www.phoronix.com/news/MTMxNj https://www.phoronix.com/news/MTMxNj: > He says that GNOME 3.x has been improving and that when pairing the desktop with the right extensions, it's a rather pleasant desktop. He specifically points out Frippery and GNOME Tweak Tool as making a huge difference to his experience.
  - soulofmischief 3y ago
    Thank you, I didn't know that and didn't mean to misconstrue his opinion. GNOME Tweak Tool is a critical part of a usable GNOME experience, but I wouldn't dare call that a good user experience because it's a non-starter for the majority of casual users.
  - pmontra 3y ago
    I stayed for a long time on Gnome Flashback, the Gnome 2 look alike. I moved to Gnome 3 when I was sure that there were enough extensions to recreate a sane Gnome 2 desktop. Did they waste all their work? Mostly. Did they waste the time of the people that had to undo their work? Definitely.

If you have used GNOME 2 for an extended period of time and then moved to GNOME 3, I think you'd find the shorter list of what wasn't removed. The idea was a vast plugin ecosystem which would allow development of desktop features to be more distributed. The problem was, some of the most basic features (like a taskbar for displaying open windows, or panels, or applets, or sane window management tools) were left out. At some point it becomes a security and performance nightmare when the idea is that to achieve a normal desktop experience, you need dozens of user-supplied scripts. Of course that's not a problem in practice, because even with user plugins, several basic features continue to be missing. And the fact that most of these plugins are just recreating functionality that already previously existed should really tell you something about GNOME team's design philosophy. To quote Linus Torvalds, GNOME 3 is a "total user experience design failure". https://www.datamation.com/open-source/gnome-2-vs-gnome-3/ https://www.datamation.com/open-source/gnome-2-vs-gnome-3/

moojacob 3y ago
For more context Linux Torvalds moved back to GNOME in 2013, a year after that article was posted. From https://www.phoronix.com/news/MTMxNj https://www.phoronix.com/news/MTMxNj: > He says that GNOME 3.x has been improving and that when pairing the desktop with the right extensions, it's a rather pleasant desktop. He specifically points out Frippery and GNOME Tweak Tool as making a huge difference to his experience.
- soulofmischief 3y ago
  Thank you, I didn't know that and didn't mean to misconstrue his opinion. GNOME Tweak Tool is a critical part of a usable GNOME experience, but I wouldn't dare call that a good user experience because it's a non-starter for the majority of casual users.
- pmontra 3y ago
  I stayed for a long time on Gnome Flashback, the Gnome 2 look alike. I moved to Gnome 3 when I was sure that there were enough extensions to recreate a sane Gnome 2 desktop. Did they waste all their work? Mostly. Did they waste the time of the people that had to undo their work? Definitely.