Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 6th Apr 2011 17:50 UTC, submitted by Cytor
The day is finally here, the day that the GNOME team releases GNOME 3.0, the first major revision of the GNOME project since 2002. Little of GNOME 2.x is left in GNOME 3.0, and as such, you could call it GNOME's KDE4. We're living in fortunate times, what, with two wildly divergent open source desktops.
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RE: Tested it for a few hours
by orestes on Wed 6th Apr 2011 19:03
in reply to "Tested it for a few hours"
Member since:2005-07-06
I have to give the Gnome team some credit here. They actually learned from their own 2.0 release and KDE 4.0 in that they've been replacing key components in Gnome 2.x with the new 3.0 libraries for quite some time now.
Now the question is whether distros will also have learned and show restraint in running out to make it the default desktop till it's fully ready
Edited 2011-04-06 19:04 UTC
RE[2]: Tested it for a few hours
by vivainio on Wed 6th Apr 2011 19:12
in reply to "RE: Tested it for a few hours"
Member since:2008-12-26
RE: Tested it for a few hours
by BluenoseJake on Wed 6th Apr 2011 19:10
in reply to "Tested it for a few hours"
Member since:2005-08-11
RE[2]: Tested it for a few hours
by No it isnt on Wed 6th Apr 2011 19:15
in reply to "RE: Tested it for a few hours"
Member since:2005-11-14
RE: Tested it for a few hours
by Fusion on Wed 6th Apr 2011 20:30
in reply to "Tested it for a few hours"
Member since:2005-07-18
I thought it was pretty good for a .0 release,
Absolutely agreed here! The GNOME 3.0 release is, by far, more stable and usable than my experience with OSX 10.0 and KDE 4.0...and certainly more pleasing than Windows VISTA was. One really cannot fairly compare GNOME 3.0 against KDE 4.6, OSX 10.6/7, or Win7 (basically Vista "done right")... every desktop *.0 release has significant usability issues... but based on its introduction, the GNOME 3.0 is a good start and strongly positions the platform to be great in the long-term.
The biggest problem for me was that it broke audio entirely, and after a while I got fed up trying to fix it, and switched back to KDE.
That may not be a GNOME-specific problem. Audio stacks are a bit convoluted in Linux, so unless the distro was tailored specifically for GNOME 3, you might find some quirky behavior. I could be wrong.
Some things do need to be fixed, especially in the GUI, as the whole Gnome Shell simply uses too much space.
This is/was my gut reaction as well... reflecting further, however, I think the designers might have done this intentionally. The overall shell design seems to lend itself very well towards tablet and touch-based hardware. I wonder if that (sort of "future thinking") drove this layout. [Though, they probably shouldn't bet the farm on one style. I would have preferred UI elements that adapt to the system being used---standard desktop, Tablet, portable, phone, etc.]
Overall though, component integration is well-delivered; UI is consistent; and notifications are really unobtrusive but usable. Window "snap" functionality is useful (wouldn't mind having keybindings defaulted for this though), and the type-driven app/doc finding functionality brings GNOME more on-par with Win7 & KDE4's app menu and OSX's spotlight.
The biggest hurdle is change: people, by default, tend to not like change. Sometimes benefits are less apparent simply because we're accustomed to working a specific way. And I'm guessing that, in areas where users are unable to adapt, the desktop will be changed to fill that usability gap. Time will provide those fixes... Gnome2.x,KDE4.x, and every major commercial desktop have thoroughly demonstrated that.
Come to think of it, especially with its "just type"-like actions, GNOME 3.0 sorta makes me feel like I'm working on an over-sized Palm Pre/WebOS. haha... so GNOME 3 is like a new cell phone---usability feels rigid at first because I'm used to my old phone; there's a different (but better) UI, and it's full of tricks and cool features that I'll discover over time. I think GNOME 3 will grow on me.
I'm definitely looking forward to see how user feedback, dev enhancements, and new infrastructural implementations land in future releases. I can't wait for 3.1, 3.2, and so on!
RE[2]: Tested it for a few hours
by phoenix on Wed 6th Apr 2011 21:20
in reply to "RE: Tested it for a few hours"
Member since:2005-07-11
This is/was my gut reaction as well... reflecting further, however, I think the designers might have done this intentionally. The overall shell design seems to lend itself very well towards tablet and touch-based hardware. I wonder if that (sort of "future thinking") drove this layout. [Though, they probably shouldn't bet the farm on one style. I would have preferred UI elements that adapt to the system being used---standard desktop, Tablet, portable, phone, etc.]
Overall though, component integration is well-delivered; UI is consistent; and notifications are really unobtrusive but usable. Window "snap" functionality is useful (wouldn't mind having keybindings defaulted for this though), and the type-driven app/doc finding functionality brings GNOME more on-par with Win7 & KDE4's app menu and OSX's spotlight.
Overall though, component integration is well-delivered; UI is consistent; and notifications are really unobtrusive but usable. Window "snap" functionality is useful (wouldn't mind having keybindings defaulted for this though), and the type-driven app/doc finding functionality brings GNOME more on-par with Win7 & KDE4's app menu and OSX's spotlight.
Actually, what you just described is pretty much exactly what plasma-netbook (the "small screen" desktop shell for KDE4).
Personally, and I haven't played with GNOME Shell much yet, plasma-netbook got things "more" right. Although, you do have to remove the default "launcher" bar and put back the default panel, taskbar, and systray to really make it useful.
I'm definitely looking forward to see how user feedback, dev enhancements, and new infrastructural implementations land in future releases. I can't wait for 3.1, 3.2, and so on!
Anyone tried GNOME 3.0 via an NFS-mounted / and /home? Does it work better than KDE4? Better/worse than KDE3? Better/worse than GNOME 2.x?
RE[2]: Tested it for a few hours
by No it isnt on Wed 6th Apr 2011 22:46
in reply to "RE: Tested it for a few hours"
Member since:2005-11-14
"The biggest problem for me was that it broke audio entirely, and after a while I got fed up trying to fix it, and switched back to KDE.
That may not be a GNOME-specific problem. Audio stacks are a bit convoluted in Linux, so unless the distro was tailored specifically for GNOME 3, you might find some quirky behavior. I could be wrong.
"
No, it was of course a PulseAudio problem. I don't think I had PulseAudio installed at all before, and used bare-bones ALSA, which never caused any trouble. When Pulse started on top of it, it seems to have muted one of the ALSA channels, and of course then the mixer didn't quite work and I couldn't see what was wrong. Or at least that's how it seemed after I uninstalled PulseAudio. I'll look into it some more when I reinstall it later. PulseAudio should be mature enough for general use now.
RE: Tested it for a few hours
by Mystilleef on Wed 6th Apr 2011 20:44
in reply to "Tested it for a few hours"
Member since:2005-06-29
When you are in the activities overview, just start typing the name of the application you want to launch. Typing will filter the available application icons to a manageable number and make it easier to launch the application. This is a not a smooth as it should and I'm surprised the devs didn't spend time ensuring this is less jerky than it currently is.
You should also add frequently launched application to the side dock to make launching easier.
You can also use <alt>F2 to launch applications if you don't want to switch to the activities overview mode. It's much faster. However, it doesn't have the autocompletion features that made the run dialog in GNOME3 so useful and powerful.
Your audio problems are most likely unrelated to GNOME Shell or GNOME. Your distribution probably failed to start the right audio services for GNOME.
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2005-11-14
I thought it was pretty good for a .0 release, at least one with such a radical departure from the previous version. Some things do need to be fixed, especially in the GUI, as the whole Gnome Shell simply uses too much space. For instance, instead of getting an app menu by the push of a button, you now get a exposé-like effect when pushing the pointer up into the top right corner, and from there you can get applications icons covering the entire screen instead of a simple menu. Naturally, this means you have to look over a much bigger area. Oh, and to change to a different app folder, you have to go all the way over to the right side of the screen and choose eg. Internet or Graphics.
The biggest problem for me was that it broke audio entirely, and after a while I got fed up trying to fix it, and switched back to KDE.
It's less flaky than KDE 4.0, less bloated than OS X 10.0 and Windows Vista, but a more radical change. Just for that, I think it's a decent start.
Oh, and despite some design tweaks needing to be made, it's not at all difficult to use. The launcher, especially, is just too spacious.