Why Isn't GNOME Listening?

What has GNOME learned from user reactions to GNOME 3? Apparently, only how to ignore feedback.

February 13, 2012
By

Bruce Byfield

(Page 1 of 2)

Ten months ago, GNOME 3 was released. Since then, there has been a steady murmur of complaints, mostly about a design that forces all users to work in the same way. And what have GNOME developers learned from the experience?

Judging from Allan Day's recent blog entry, "A New Approach to GNOME Application Design," absolutely nothing.

All the complaints, all the extensions to revert to GNOME 2's behavior, all the interest in Linux Mint's Cinnamon, which recreates GNOME 2 on top of GNOME 3, and in planning new core applications, GNOME developers continue exactly as they began. They show no recognition that not all users think the way they do.

It's a persistence that's so unyielding and shows such little ability to learn that it borders on the perverse.

Day, who is a GNOME designer, makes the project's position very clear when he begins by saying "We want GNOME applications to be thoroughly modern, and we want them to be attractive and a delight to use," emphasizing appearance and perhaps a preoccupation with being as cool as everyone else, and ignoring functionality altogether.

Then he adds, "That means that we have to do application design differently to how we've done in the past" -- a conclusion that by no means follows, even if you accept his basic premise.

Anyway, who delights in a new interface for more than the first few seconds of viewing it? Most people are more concerned with whether it allows them to get their work done in the way they prefer.

Yet, while users are complaining about GNOME's basic design, Day talks about "evolving" a new approach based on that basic design, and -- perhaps flippantly -- of how some designs "have come to have an increasingly important place in our hearts."

In other words, if much is being done to make the basic design more generally acceptable, it doesn't rate a mention. To all appearances, GNOME is continuing as it has begun -- in fact, Day talks about solidifying the approach GNOME has chosen by writing a new version of the project's Human Interface Guidelines.

Meanwhile, you can see details of GNOME's approach in the rest of Day's blog.

Cures Worse Than the Diseases

Read More...
http://www.datamation.com/open-source/why-isnt-gnome-listening-1.html

Well then... I guess it's By By Gnome for me! And that is, for me, a sad thing to say. I've tried Gnome 3 out in Fedora 15 Live. And found it completely and utterly Useless. Besides all that, the interface is flat, ugly and impossible to find the basic Apps and Settings that I want and need:( Once upon a time... I fell in love with Gnome. In 2005, I was looking for a release from the Constraints of Windows XP and it's one Window Desktop. When I first Discovered Gnome, as the Default Desktop in Fedora 5 (or more exactly, Blag 5). I was Blown Away!:) I never Imagined that there was such a Wonderful Desktop out there! And Free too! Free to use, change and do as I wished, with... I have tried out several other Desktops over the years. KDE, LXDE, XFCE, LMDE and a few more, that don't come to mind right now. But, nothing compares to the ease, quick working, logical interface and good looks of Gnome 2, for me. With the 6 Workspaces that I have setup in mine, on, my Fedora 14 Systems. I can leave all of my Window Maximized and switch between them like lightning! I don't have to wade through Drop Down or Pop Up lists and I don't need no Spinning Boxes to make my Head Spin too, while working. Not that I've really seen any good efx in Gnome 3. But sure, Desktop Efx are Cool to look at, for about 5 minutes. Until my eyes start hurting and my head becomes dizzy. And Hey! I don't even own a Mobile Phone! So, why in the He-double-hockey Sticks would I want my 23 inch LCD - LED Monitor to look like or be laid out like and Even Worse... Not Work in a Logical Manner... Like a Mobile Phone Interface!??? Sorry Gnome... But Open Source Does Not Mean that you can Claim to Be Open, but Close us in to Your One and Only Way of Interfacing with Our Computers!!! It was fun while it lasted... But, I just Don't Love you any More:(... Sorry... I'll be sticking with my Gnome 2 in Fedora 14, for as long as I can. But, when the End of Life comes for Fedora 14. Then It will be time to say Good By to Gnome...

Don

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