GNOME Is Losing Relevance On The Linux Desktop

[SunnyDrake]

blasphemy and B... about Gnome3

Ok i have 10+ computers in service and in my own use with 5+ of them under linux.
Tuneup DE for efficient unobstructed workflow is my priority so what after a lot of use/tests i came to.
activities
workhorse: heavy memory/cpu usage(a lot web pages, java apps,servers, graphic editors,flash,bigfile view/edit often at same time with big uptime(weeks))
casual: movie/audio play,games,moderate websurfing, short uptime (1h-day)
I checked XFCE/twm/wm/ubuntu/GNOME/KDE's/Win6-7/and more stuff for any good under different hardware/tasks here are results:
PAST:
pda's:
different sizes, casual win mobile as only available functional env.
notebooks ff
15"F 1024x768 diskless usb boot/good cpu/256M/GF4mx fresh config every boot, casual
slax distro KDE 2.x worked like charm.
17"W 1366x768/2Gb workhorse Gnome 2.x
workstation ff
17"F low processing power Duron 1.66 256M workhorse XFCE4
15-20"F middle end PC workhorse Gnome2
NOWDAYS:
pda's/mids/netbooks:
3-5" touch devices casual android.
10" touch devices...casual rooted android/kde3 plasma active/(great but still have a lot of bug's regarding touch-screen support)
15"W netbook casual ubuntu-netbooks-remix/windowmaker
notebooks:
15"F 1Gb workhorse Gnome2
17"W 2Gb workhorse Gnome2
workstation ff:
27-32" 2-3Gb middle end workhorse Gnome3
27-32" 2Gb low processing power cpu's workhorse Gnome3

OVERALL:
best touch/mobile casual platform = android as it have best input functionality
best touch/mobile workflow platform = android, i have configs based on kde/gnome/wm/win7 but they lacks touch friendly DE (except plasma active/kde-netbook but still there is some serious issues which make configs unusable without keyb/mouse)
best k&m/workstation casual platform = gnome3/unity awesome usefull ergonomic interface that not impact much on performance,unity have some killer features like library indexing etc(and - is their sidebar onscreen i like gnome3 start more).. but in all other same as gnome3.
best k&m/workstation workhorse platform = same as above.i need to note that config based on Atom N450 and Gnome3 works as charm(well under Gentoo) with no performance issues.

[ExpectOpenBrace]

Gnome is not unique, all desktop managers are losing relevance - it's all about the Cloud. I'm a veteran of Gnome and XFCE and have happily replaced both with Chrome OS. Why? Not because there's anything wrong with them - I love the fabulous, beautiful minimalism I can achieve with XFCE - rather, everything I do is in the cloud these days. By letting go of the desktop, I have less to distract me, nag me and slow me down. Perhaps unfortunately, I'm no longer interested in my computer, I'm interested in my content and connections which are now no longer tied to my hard drive.

To avoid total irrelevance, Gnome should retool as a web application/portal. If Gnome could somehow leverage the cloud and offer something we want (that can't be adequately replicated by an existing web app), maybe it can survive - but I doubt it. It's had its time in the sun.

[n3wu53r]

Gnome is not unique, all desktop managers are losing relevance - it's all about the Cloud. I'm a veteran of Gnome and XFCE and have happily replaced both with Chrome OS. Why? Not because there's anything wrong with them - I love the fabulous, beautiful minimalism I can achieve with XFCE - rather, everything I do is in the cloud these days. By letting go of the desktop, I have less to distract me, nag me and slow me down. Perhaps unfortunately, I'm no longer interested in my computer, I'm interested in my content and connections which are now no longer tied to my hard drive.

To avoid total irrelevance, Gnome should retool as a web application/portal. If Gnome could somehow leverage the cloud and offer something we want (that can't be adequately replicated by an existing web app), maybe it can survive - but I doubt it. It's had its time in the sun.

ChromeOS is doing SOOO well...

The sales are doing terrible because it cannot be used for anything meaningful. All this cloud bullshit is a terrible Idea:
1) You need fast, uncapped internet that never drops. Very few people have this.
2) You don't mind every action being tracked.
3) If your internet drops you cannot use the computer, if the server has downtime you cannot use the computer.
4) If there is server failure leading to data loss on the server _your_ data is gone.
5) You only consume content, not create anything.
6) If you are paying for a proprietary app that runs in the cloud and the company goes defunct, the app is gone, forever. It is the ultimate DRM.

ChromeOS has been out for well over a year afaik and has been in development much longer, yet no other OS has followed suit with it's cloud based features. Hell, I doubt google even uses it in house!

[D0pamine]

Ninez: I agree. MATE is a waste of time, but I guess some people like to hang on to old things.

i should embrace gnome-shell/unity/cinnamon that rely on unstable/incomplete gpu drivers and cry when my power usage is too great?

just because something is new does not mean it is better!!

[n3wu53r]

i should embrace gnome-shell/unity/cinnamon that rely on unstable/incomplete gpu drivers and cry when my power usage is too great?

just because something is new does not mean it is better!!

What unstable drivers are you referring to?
They both work on Open source and proprietary drivers. So you are saying all the drivers are bad? If so then using something with GPU acceleration will really help, because of course you have a GPU but are not using any drivers at all right? Using Gnome Shell or unity requires your GPU to have a driver of some sorts. Or maybe you don't have a GPU, in 2012.
Even if you insist on not having GPU acceleration, just use gnome fallback.

[ExpectOpenBrace]

0) I don't care about sales
1) I enjoy a reasonably fast connection. Fast connection to the internet is inevitable and will come to all - it's in everyone's interest.
2) If you have anything to do with the web, you've given up your privacy.
3) Wrong.
4) Wrong. A copy of my data syncs with multiple computers.
5) Wrong. I write, animate, program - as anyone can. Although, I rely on a few Python scripts (by logging into an Ubuntu server) to interact with Google App Engine.
6) That's what standards and portability are for.

As I've intimated, I'm a hard-core, 100% (no Windows or Apple at all) linux devotee for the past 10 years. To me, the cloud is the future and there is enough of it now to compel me. Chrome OS is now mature enough to deliver a simply excellent computing experience for the vast majority of what I do (excepting the Google App Engine thing which I've personally cloudified). Linux for me survives as server technologies (accessible via SSH app), Ubuntu One cloud storage (accessible via Google apps) and the Google Drive infrastructure (all based on linux, still no linux native app unfortunately).

ChromeOS is doing SOOO well...

The sales are doing terrible because it cannot be used for anything meaningful. All this cloud bullshit is a terrible Idea:
1) You need fast, uncapped internet that never drops. Very few people have this.
2) You don't mind every action being tracked.
3) If your internet drops you cannot use the computer, if the server has downtime you cannot use the computer.
4) If there is server failure leading to data loss on the server _your_ data is gone.
5) You only consume content, not create anything.
6) If you are paying for a proprietary app that runs in the cloud and the company goes defunct, the app is gone, forever. It is the ultimate DRM.

ChromeOS has been out for well over a year afaik and has been in development much longer, yet no other OS has followed suit with it's cloud based features. Hell, I doubt google even uses it in house!

[blackiwid]

2) If you have anything to do with the web, you've given up your privacy.

You have to give up a part of your privacy shure, but you should control it a bit at least, or split it, use different usernames at least sometimes use different email-adresses... but I see the problem, its hard to find away that works against it, but total give up is not the solution.

We will find better ways, even if it gets worse short time the counter-reaction will be bigger... So still live without a facebook account, I use jabber with compression with my friends instead, so I know its a balance-act or something like that, it sneaked slowly into my live I use google mail I use google search, but then I DONT use google drive or google office or something like that, yes per email google knows most of my stuff anyway but at some point I will maybe move away and slowly replace all stuff I use google for when some technology stuff changes... So maybe if there is something like mail 2.0 maybe jabber as email2.0 standart I will not use google for that.


So I do not sync my files with google or something else, I wait for something like owncloud or other alternatives...

you have to give away stuff if you are not like some guy in the movie who have no live at all, but you should split that stuff, and give not all of it open, then its not the big problem.

But yes you can give up that freely if you like I just say what I think about that topic...

But I agree that you have to give up some of your privacy if you want to have a job or something... but this moster capatalism is failing right now... so such stuff can change soon...

[DMJC]

Idiots

Just as Microsoft Jumps the shark and gives Linux it's first real crack at gaining major desktop marketshare, Linux jumps the shark and pulls out the batshit crazy touchscreen UI junk. Who exactly is buying these new interfaces? You buy a tablet with either Android or iOS. There is no room for Linux/gnome in that market at this time. Stuff like home buttons on devices and other UI per device features are going to make tablet use with gnome a nightmare. Meanwhile anyone with a 24-30" LCD is now screwed because gnome handles window management in the most retarded manner seen yet. Sun put $200 Million into UI research to give us the gnome 2.0 interface. It just needs to be cleaned up and refined. Not reengineered into some Tablet OS Nightmare. That research made gnome into an easy to use simple desktop UI unlike KDE which was cluttered to hell especially in tables and other information dense display areas. Gnome 3 is a major step backwards and it's jeopardising the entire viability of Linux as a platform. Personally I won't be using gnome/linux until it gets fixed, it feels too awkward and annoying to use. You are doing it wrong when people using your platform for the last 10 years are dropping your platform because of UI.

[D0pamine]

What unstable drivers are you referring to?
They both work on Open source and proprietary drivers. So you are saying all the drivers are bad? If so then using something with GPU acceleration will really help, because of course you have a GPU but are not using any drivers at all right? Using Gnome Shell or unity requires your GPU to have a driver of some sorts. Or maybe you don't have a GPU, in 2012.
Even if you insist on not having GPU acceleration, just use gnome fallback.

why use a gpu to do mundane tasks such as posting on a forum? I don't always use modern hardware its true however all this compositing is little more than Yet Another Amusing Misuse Of Resources - please i really would love to see one instance of compositing providing me ( as the end user ) with an advantage over a standard WM

and gnome-fallback has reduced functionality so why not use mate and openbox or lxde ( openbox again ) or even e17

[D0pamine]

Just as Microsoft Jumps the shark and gives Linux it's first real crack at gaining major desktop marketshare, Linux jumps the shark and pulls out the batshit crazy touchscreen UI junk. Who exactly is buying these new interfaces? You buy a tablet with either Android or iOS. There is no room for Linux/gnome in that market at this time. Stuff like home buttons on devices and other UI per device features are going to make tablet use with gnome a nightmare. Meanwhile anyone with a 24-30" LCD is now screwed because gnome handles window management in the most retarded manner seen yet. Sun put $200 Million into UI research to give us the gnome 2.0 interface. It just needs to be cleaned up and refined. Not reengineered into some Tablet OS Nightmare. That research made gnome into an easy to use simple desktop UI unlike KDE which was cluttered to hell especially in tables and other information dense display areas. Gnome 3 is a major step backwards and it's jeopardising the entire viability of Linux as a platform. Personally I won't be using gnome/linux until it gets fixed, it feels too awkward and annoying to use. You are doing it wrong when people using your platform for the last 10 years are dropping your platform because of UI.

well said however we can form a new community based around the good work already done on gnome2 ( one big advantage free software has over proprietary software ) so all is not lost ...