Gnome 3

Gnome 3 is out. Gnome 3 is in the latest Fedora Linux and replaces the Gnome 2 most Linux users use. Have you used Gnome 3? What is your opinion?

Most Linux users use Gnome as their user interface. KDE is the main alternative and is far less popular. There are some other alternatives but their use is miniscule.

Gnome 2 was the King for 9 years. The world's most popular Linux distribution is Ubuntu and Ubuntu is promoting unity as a replacement for Gnome 2. Fedora is one of several Linux distributions that are popular but not as popular as Ubuntu. Fedora chose Gnome 3 to replace Gnome.

Gnome 3 and Unity look similar with both designed to look like the Android phone interface which looks a bit like the iPhone interface. If you use a very small screen and the screen is touch sensitive, there is an advantage in using Gnome 3 or Unity. Gnome 3 appears to be a better choice than Unity for that one situation.

For almost everything else, The Gnome 2 interface, now called Gnome Classic, is a better choice.

The Gnome 3 Web site is set up to promote Gnome 3 but is really slow because everything is presented as video instead of Web pages. You have to wade through the swamp of slow old video. Some slow draggy Gnome fade in then some kid talking about nothing. Most of the important data is audio and audio is four time slower than simple text.

Save time. If you have a spare computer, it is faster to install Fedora 15 with Gnome 3 than it is to listen to endless videos then go and search out answers to all those questions not covered by the video.

One big leap forward for Gnome 3 should be the use of workspaces. Linux, Unix, and Mac have always suffered from really messy desktops with people wasting a lot of time reorganising windows to try to present one application as a unified screen. The unified screen is the default in Windows and is a big reason why so many people switch back to Windows after trying Linux. There are no examples of workspaces used to fix the messy splattered desktop problem.

There are lots of examples online of Gnome 3 with the splattered desktop. Unfortunately I do not have time or a computer spare to test Gnome 3 workspaces.

One stupid Gnome 3 promotion page says Gnome 3 is better because under Gnome 3, one application blends into the background. How stupid is that? If the application is useful, you want it distinctively readable. If it is not immediately useful, you want it minimised.

Gnome 3 appears to be headed down the path of overlays and other things where nothing is easy to read and everything is a distraction. Think of those distractions as the equivalent to browsing the Web while driving your car. You end up focusing on everything except driving.

Gnome 3 looks better than Unity but Unity has so many problems that being better than Unity is not a complement. Unity is a pig to configure and it is easiest to switch Unity off. I expect Gnome 3 to be more popular, have more support, and better flexibility. You should eventually be able to change Gnome 3 easier than Unity.

Give Gnome 3 six months use in Fedora so Fedora can fine tune it then test Gnome 3 in Fedora 16.

There is a repository providing Gnome 3 for Ubuntu 11.4. An installation of Gnome 3 on Ubuntu 11.4 is possible but may fail. Rolling back from a failed Gnome 3 installation may be difficult.

Conclusion

From what I see of Gnome 3 and Unity, Gnome 3 is the better long term choice but Gnome 2 (Gnome classic) is the better choice for a while.