>> I feel sorry for the Gnome guys - they get crucified if they do or don't advance the platform I don't think this is true. They get crucified because they're

>> I feel sorry for the Gnome guys - they get crucified if they do or don't advance the platform I don't think this is true. They get crucified because they're trying to create a desktop experience for a market that doesn't exist. Their GNOME 2 user base were all workstation users who were using GNOME 2 in their day to day lives get get work done. Instead of making GNOME 2 better (under the hood) the GNOME developers decided to jump onto the tablet UI bandwagon and drastically change the UI. However, their user base simply didn't need this, they just wanted a more stable desktop top rather than a different one. In my opinion, the crucial mistake the GNOME developers made was forcing this new UI experience through peoples throats by chucking out everything they accomplished with GNOME 2. GNOME 3 should have been a separate project under a different name. If it really was that much better than GNOME 2 then at least people had a choice to switch. But now we can't and everyone is scrambling to find a GNOME 2 replacement..