I think the reason why GNOME is starting to lose relevance is two-fold
1- Their interface isn't something that "hardcore Linux users" like at all (they tend to prefer the traditional desktop, or something technically simple like xfce or awesome or whatever), unlike gnome 2
2- The people who would probably like GNOME 3 are most likely the type who would also use Ubuntu, and Ubuntu switched to Unity, so that's a huge loss in market share, I think.
As much as I hate what the developers did to GNOME 3, I still think it would be a shame to see it go, as it used to be probably the most popular DE out there, and I hope all the best for it.
I agree to this. I've also tried 4.7 and 4.8 and I still seem to have the same issues. I keep reading a lot on the internet how amazing KDE is and how it's the better of the DE avaliable for Linux, but I don't know how they're doing it.. it just seems rather unpolished with me whenever I use it. There's a very noticeable latency when compared to other DE's, loits of graphical errors here and there, and I did have to tweak a lot of my settings in order to get it to work nicely. The desktop effects are annoying too (everything just keeps fading into each other, it looks wierd), and when you disable it (which I'm thankful for the option), the whole desktop seems to slow down.
Mind you, I still think it's better than Unity and GNOME 3, and the amount of effort they've put into the desktop is just admirable as it really is full-featured compared to what other DE's offer, but for now I'd much rather use GNOME 2 (or MATE)
The negative reaction to KDE 4.0 was because KDE4.0 (and the first early versions of KDE4) really were bad. Things were broken, stuff didn't work, lots of features from KDE3 just weren't there, and in general it felt as if the KDE team focused more on looks rather than functionality (which is what a lot of DE developers seem to be doing these days). Now it's not like that anymore, they seem to have listened to the criticism and have greatly improved upon it over the years.
As for the question of how I would react if a new user tries a new DE, I would naturally display my bias as I'm only human.. but I'd make them try out other DE's and let them decide for themselves. A lot of users tend to pick the "prettier" looking DE, but as we all know, pretty doesn't always mean better.. otherwise Metro UI would be the most amazing desktop evironment ever.
1- Their interface isn't something that "hardcore Linux users" like at all (they tend to prefer the traditional desktop, or something technically simple like xfce or awesome or whatever), unlike gnome 2
2- The people who would probably like GNOME 3 are most likely the type who would also use Ubuntu, and Ubuntu switched to Unity, so that's a huge loss in market share, I think.
As much as I hate what the developers did to GNOME 3, I still think it would be a shame to see it go, as it used to be probably the most popular DE out there, and I hope all the best for it.
Originally posted by devius
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Mind you, I still think it's better than Unity and GNOME 3, and the amount of effort they've put into the desktop is just admirable as it really is full-featured compared to what other DE's offer, but for now I'd much rather use GNOME 2 (or MATE)
Originally posted by finalzone
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As for the question of how I would react if a new user tries a new DE, I would naturally display my bias as I'm only human.. but I'd make them try out other DE's and let them decide for themselves. A lot of users tend to pick the "prettier" looking DE, but as we all know, pretty doesn't always mean better.. otherwise Metro UI would be the most amazing desktop evironment ever.
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