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Having a quick read through the platform and desktop changes, there are a lot of "performance" related changes - stopping using more than one gconf client, only loading a set of SVGs once etc. This is all good work for the speed and memory consumption of the Gnome Desktop. Keep it up devs 
Missing:
1.) Scroll wheel action.
2.) Vertical/Horiz Maximization
3.) Button reordering (is this done?)
I don't consider a wm useful until it has #2
. And it can't be said to conflict with HIG, it's something you only notice if you know about it.
Are the buttons reorderable yet? I haven't checked that for quite a while.
I'm sure others could list complaints. I've never met anyone who loves metacity and doesn't mean they love metacity themes.
Seriously though, that's my last stumbling block on using Gnome. I've always had glitches when trying to pop-in xfwm4, so I think I'll wait until metacity works well. And I imagine if I use gnome with xfwm4 on a dual head I'll lose some of the things I like about Gnome (taskbar that works correctly with multiple monitors).
1). I don't understand this one. But you can use the scroll wheel to change/focus windows when the mouse pointer is over the taskbar, or to change/focus virtual desktops when the pointer is over the workspace widget on the taskbar. And I think it has been this way since 2.10?
2). Hasn't this been in metacity since its inception? Go to Preferences -> Keyboard Shortcut Keys to setup the Vertical/Horizontal maximizations.
3). Again, hasn't this always been in metacity. You can use the GConf editor to configure this.
Yes, Metacity can do max vert. and horiz, but only with the keyboard and not by using the middle and right mouse-buttons like almost every other WM does.
But whats much worse then all the good features it lacks and the annoyances it adds like the stupid minimize-animation is the horrible horrible speed.
Most people probably dont even notice it and conclude that gnome or X are slow but its just sucky Metacity.
Try xfwm4 (from xfce4) or any other WM and you will see that switching between Windows goes noticable faster.
>Yes, Metacity can do max vert. and horiz, but only
>with the keyboard and not by using the middle and
>right mouse-buttons like almost every other WM does.
But the middle and right mouse-buttons are already mapped to standard X/GTK+ functions. Middle to paste and right for activating context menus. Middle clicking on the window decoration will also switch windows, but middle clicking is widely used for paste operations on Unix.
>But whats much worse then all the good features it
>lacks and the annoyances it adds like the stupid
>minimize-animation is the horrible horrible speed.
>Most people probably dont even notice it and
>conclude that gnome or X are slow but its just
>sucky Metacity.
If the animation bothers you, why don't you turn it off?
>Try xfwm4 (from xfce4) or any other WM and you
>will see that switching between Windows goes
>noticable faster.
How much faster? 0.0002 nano seconds?
You should try GNU/Linux with GNUstep and then you'll see how to do these things right.
Much much faster redrawing than anything I've ever experienced with any system yet (it even beats OS/2 (eComStation) and Syllable and SkyOS). It does however proof that X.org and GTK+2 isn't the reason for slowness in Gnome.
To turn off animation:
In gconf-editor:
Go to /apps/metacity/general/ and enable "reduced_resources". It takes effect immediately. It turns off animations, gives you a wireframe when moving and/or resizing windows.
It shouldn't be necessary for good performance, but it is. You could also switch to another WM and gain extra performance without trading off functionality.
I run KDE at work and Gnome at home so I can check out the latest features of each.
No way is KDE more consistent!
Sure, more programmes (Kile, etc) but sometimes Gnome has software that KDE doesnt (Eclipse, Gimp, etc). It all depends on what you want to do.
They are both good desktops from my experience
YAY for the FOSS desktop!
For those interested to follow gnome2.14 status on debian/unstable:
http://www.0d.be/debian/debian-gnome-2.14-status.html
!!!
Gone out to the internet wild jungle. Found some footprints and followed them... Could catch the 'beast'. A Bloody good exemplar of it's class.
I'm taking the bastard home... Got all the stock that I need for the rest of the month...
The GNOME 2.14.1 footprints showed that the steps are going in the right direction. It was easy!!!!
Ol' bits hunter!
!!!
!!!
"heh, very entertaining. i like."
----
Thanks, guy. I appreciate that you liked it, and you appreciate my style. Although, there were a grammar mistake...
I am a writer and a poet, among other things...
HMMM... shouldn't you have given me a positive point for my opinion about the GNOME new release in a literary style, then?... OK, anyhow.
!!!
Gotta say, I keep my Ubuntu Dapper install updated daily. The other day I had to switch the machine off (don't do that very often!), and when it came back on and I logged in, Gnome was running in <3s. I was shocked! I've been used to waiting 15-20s for Gnome and it's panels to be loaded. They've destroyed login time. Epiphany started in <2s, compared to 5s+ before. It's all so much faster and snappier.
Add to that everything is generally so consistent. Most things work really nicely and most of my needs are covered except for proper DVD support in GStreamer. Once that works, I'm installing Ubuntu for my parents.
Gnome finally feels grown up. It's beautiful.




