What People Are Saying About GNOME [Part 3]

2401: Kill the changes in Gnome 3, particularly the sidebar, it is horrible.

2402: 1. Allow uses to move the launcher from the left edge to a different edge.

2. Add more configuation options instead of forcing the user into the gconf-editor.

3. (I don't have a third suggestion).

I feel like GNOME has reinvented itself as an interface most suited for notebooks/tablets/phones. It feels clunky on my desktop. After trying to use it for several weeks, I recently migrated to LXDE on my desktop (still using it on my netbook).

2403: More configuration options.

Seriously listen to your users.

2404: Only one; an easier way to manipulate (add/delete/edit) start/main menu entries.

I would really like to decide for my self if and how to utilize the desktop background and where I want my task bars to be located at. I also want the freedom to choose my color schemes for the desktop environment I am currently using.

2405: Activate the Num lock per default, smaller titlebar, put some settings which are only available in the tweak tool to the standard settings dialog

Dear GNOME team,

just don't give a fuck about people who cry a river about the new Gnome 3 - they did likely not even give it a chance...

2406: panels back

2407: Better organization for settings
Improved customization

I've seen people use Unity, and watched more than enough videos of it to know that it is a MAJOR step backward for desktop users. It might be the bee's knees for tablets, but it is absolutely USELESS on a desktop. You had a good thing going in the 2.x series. I gather there was more than a little API cruft, but isn't that just an unavoidable consequence of long-term projects?

Go back to what works. Stop treating your users like idiots.

2408: More reachable/effective interface customization options.
Non search-centric user interface.

2409: 1. My number one feature request is a way to find extensions for the desktop easily through the popup/overlay screen. With it being written in Javascript it's fairly easy and lightweight to patch but you provide absolutely no ability to share these patches with others in a prominent way.

2 and 3. I have a sneaking suspicion that I'd be able to fix every other gripe with the desktop if you'd just make it easier for others to tweak. So do that one.

Generally solid for an early release. Thank you for not including the side application bar thingy in the Unity release, it's a horrible waste of screen real estate on my small 13' monitor.

2410: I really like a lot of the desktop/cloud integration stuff that Ubuntu has been doing, though I don't know how much of that is tacked-on to Gnome (esp since they've now branched off to Unity). I like the apps like Empathy, Gwibber, and Evolution/TBird, except the only one I really use with any regularity is Empathy for gTalk / FB Chatting.

Before Ubuntu launched Unity, I was a big fan of the Avant Window Navigator, and would always recommend it to my friends. It surprised me that such a feature was not native to Gnome.

I don't know what the Team's attitude is towards the end-user, but I can say with certainty that the ability of the linux desktop to function usably is *really* important for bringing in new users. Compiz adds enough glitz for it to be taken seriously by the casual user, but the "start menu"-based navigation seems a little dated; particularly when editing said "start menu" is a bit of a chore. (would gladly take inline editing over alacarte)

As a hobbyist developer, I wish there were more tools for developing basic gnome apps. I've played with Glade and the other one (I forget the name) and they're ok. As much as I dislike Visual Studio because of it's unnecessary complexity with some things, I can't argue against the simplicity with which you can create an application. MonoDevelop has taken steps in that direction, at least.

2411: Improve Alt Tab to go through all windows individually.
Put the minimize button back with Better running task management.
Let me shutdown without logging out first.

Gnome 3, while it looks pretty, removed a number of useful features for power users. I believe that it's a good direction for people who don't do many things at once (in that you can full screen/focus on the item at hand), but I'm a power user (linux administrator) and cannot have a single task in front of me, I need to have multiple windows on screen at the same time. The notification area is useful except that it's questionable to access and does not raise alerts on, say incoming messages and alerts that it does raise, once gone cannot be pulled back up.

2412: 1. Get rid of Unity
2. Get rid of Unity
3. Get rid of Unity

Get rid of Unity. Seriously, I hate it. I'll go back to Windows before I use it.

2413: Revert the shitty things you did in Gnome 3 and give back a desktop that is actually usable for power users. Why the fuck there is no possibility to change the fonts without installing some more crap?

Fork Gnome 2 and do it to provide a useful working environment. Right now XFCE does a far better job in that then Gnome.

2414: Add a theme manager.
Improve evince annotation with text boxesand symbols (like arrows) (merely for educational use, e.g. university courses slides).
Better support for older video hardware.

I really like the new desktop and i know it is not done already (like KDE 4 in its early stages), however i would concentrate more in critical bugfixing than add exotic functions (like sushi, or documents). I prefer to have a functionless but more stable DE than a "complete" but instable one.

2415: * power options available somewhere, documented
* obvious guide for "we changed $X to be hidden at $y when migrating from rev $a to rev $b"
* some sort of troubleshooting wizard for upgrade induced horked files => inability to have a sane environment. I can't tell you how many times I've had to mv as many dot gnome-ish files out of the way and start from bloody scratch because of this

2416: I think the vision being pursued by gnome3 and gnome-shell is commendable. I personally support it because though the major changes introduced from the 2.x line have caused a lot of angst among the users, the changes also allow the gnome desktop system to evolve and improve beyond what we currently have.

However, one source of frustration to users that should be avoidable is the loss of functionality in the new desktop. Examples include: loss of applets (this is major), loss of the ability to move the clock around and loss of the VPN 'lock' on the network icon when connected. These are issues that impact me personally and I am sure there are others.

I think that for the next releases work should focus on adding back in these sorts of core functions. Please note that I have not used gnome 3.2; I went back to the 2.x line after trying to use 3.0 for some weeks.

I thank you for your hard work on gnome, and look forward to new releases.

2417: I would stop taking away important options from the users.
Also, your not-so-recent insistence on compatibility with certain Microsoft technologies wasn’t only unnecessary, but also slowed things down.

No, not really. But I will use this answer to say that ever since the transition from 1.4 to 2.0, I’ve noticed a steady trend where choice is taken away from the user, and in a bad way. This is, incidentally, the main reason I stopped using Gnome even though I used to prefer it to KDE.

2418: icons in panel keep shifting not matter how often I move them and lock to panel - so I'd stop panel icons movings.
make it easier to add and remove panels as i find adding secondary panels a fiddle.
I'd stop people working on gnome shell which is usability backstep because regular users have no concept of applications or what they're called, and instead get them to keep working on 2.x series as it works very well and is familiar to a broad range of users

Stop working on Gnome Shell it's a usability idiocy. it might be great for geeks who know what applications they have installed and what they do. For regular use it is much much slower to use and for people who don't know the names of applications (e.g. any non linux geek) it's virtually impossible to use.
Equally, mouse driven interfaces are good for non geeks, mouse driven interfaces are good for elderly or disabled or people who aren't familiar with keyboard uses - I can touch type and use keyboard shortcuts everywhere, but normal, regular uses just don't. EVER.anything that suggests "you just type the first few letters of the application you want to use" has never actually seen a non linux geek use a computer. Most people don't know or care to know what their web browser is called - to most people it's just the thing that makes the internet work.
Please Gnome Devs. Get out and watch real people, non geeks, non touch typists use a computer (any computer with any OS). Watch how they struggle with all these every day things that we all take for granted, then get them to use Gnome 2 and then Gnome 3 and watch them struggle with 3 and Gnome Shell

2419: 1. GNOME shell sucks, preserve panels.
2. Emphasize support for power users, don't turn a great project into something which functions like a consumer appliance or kiosk.
3. Better support for hardware acceleration.

GNOME shell sucks, when the panels are depreciated I'll be migrating to XFCE.

There are plenty of bloated, RAM-hogging options on Windows and OSX for people who need hands held and can't exist without alpha transparency and glassy art chewing up their system's resources.

Change for the sake of change might be exciting for bored developers and art students but it is terrible for people trying to get things done.

When something has lasted a long time, chances are it's done for a reason - like it works.

Not everything needs to looks like a phone or consumer tablet.

GTK# is underappreciated. More development on the bindings and visual IDEs will make GNOME more versatile

2420: -Things can be simplified without ignoring power users. Some defaults are really annoying.
-The file chooser

-Don't change things too much or I'll switch to KDE4, which is finally becoming usable. I currently use Gnome at work and KDE4 at home.

2421: 1. More Mac OS X-like window controls (especially Exposé grouped by application)
2. Draw desktop icons by default, turn it off optionally
3. Speed up Déjà vu for backups

Keep up the good work !

2422: More customizable, go back to old style, make desktop easier to use; not simple, easy.

I don't think it will do any good.

2423: Revert to gnome2

2424: Don't dumb it down. I haven't tried Gnome 3 but I'm rather afraid to as I've heard, UI-wise, you're doing something similar look-and-feel to Unity, which I can't stand. It hijacks desktop space. The desktop environment is like the OS: we shouldn't notice it.

2425: Better dependency resolution, I still find packages that can't be installed because of other missing dependencies (repeat...)

I find things like the decision to remove preview from screensavers or adopting a not-yet mature (audio) technology to be steps backwards. There needs to be better dialog between Gnome maintainers and the general community. Another example of the "we know best" attitude was spatial browsing.

Talk to your community, listen to what they say, you don't have to adopt it but you should at least be cognisent to what they are saying. Don't introduce change for change's sake (like Microsoft's Ribbon) or if you do, provide a user-friendly way of reverting.

2426: 1) re-enable desktop icons by default, instead of hiding the setting three menu layers deep - this was a default behavior that my user's workstations depend on, and I can't update on them and have most of their interface vanish without a trace.
2) Last time I had time to check the documentation, it was all still for gnome 2.x
3) I don't currently have a third thing I would change

2427: - Config options more accesible.

And uhmm..
- Faster is always a plus.

Please, more focus on backwards compatibility.

2428: 1. Make some more applets available in GNOME3 form, i.e. character selector applet
2. Keep notifications visible until you've had a chance to see them
3. Toggle to set status based on whether you are logged in or not

I think GNOME3 is a great step forward, and it looks nice and extensible, so keep up the good work.

2429: Less bloat.
Switch to Thunar instead of Nautilus.
Give up on Gnome Shell.

Quit making people hate you.

2430: Keep Gnome 2 until Gnome 3 is absolutely 100% ready and that means Gnome 3 can be easily turned into Gnome 2 for power users.

Making Gnome for anything but power users is like making a porn movie for the pope. Wrong audience.

2431: 1 and 2 AND 3 : I understand they need to move forward but providing a normal desktop (*with icons and folders*), panel, task switcher, widgets and the rest of the usual stuff is a must if I'm to continue using it.

In short -- they can call it Gnome 15 but unless it provides a normal desktop mode I will not be using it.

I have nothing against Gnome 3 or Unity and I appreciate some people like them. I am not one of them and will not be. I must have a proper desktop evnironment and will switch DEs and distributions or refuse to upgrade until I find a viable, good-looking, fully-functional and supported *desktop* environment.

BTW -- my answers above about being satisfied with Gnome were all relevant to Gnome 2 which I'm using at the moment.
Also: if the question 'How do you compare your current GNOME version with the version from one year ago?' was about difference between G2 and G3 then again -- I said 'no change' as I keep using G2.

2432: 1. Separate tablet and desktop UIs. Tablet- and netbook- friendly UIs are good, but some people are still desktop users with large displays and multiple displays.

2. Stop removing configuration choices. Provide beginner and expert modes to shield beginners from complexity without removing choice.

3. Make GNOME work better with other window managers again.

2433: Better use of notification area, displaying status of running/background apps.
Improve system config applets to at least where they were in GNOME 2.3x.
Fire the QA/usability zombies, hire actual users, and listen to them.

STOP TAKING FEATURES AWAY! Stop dumbing-down the menus and dialogs. We like to have options available to us, even if they're hidden on some "advanced" tab. Not everybody wants to turn their powerful desktop into a tablet/touchpad made for idiots.

2434: I appreciate the effort of simplifying the interface but Gnome went too far and is no longer relevant for the power user.

Make Gnome more configurable through the GUI.

2435: Return to the Gnome 2 style interface which I was rather happy with and a return to emphasis on customization.

Once again, return to something more akin to the Gnome 2 interface. 3 is unintuitive and extremely annoying for handling the multiple constant applications I run on a daily basis.

2436: Get rid of the stupid new interface.

Provide more customizability.

Get rid of the stupid new interface (yes, so important it gets listed twice)

Actually listen to what your users want instead of deciding it for them.

2437: Keep it in Ubuntu

2438: go on with your great work!

2439: Gnome stays out of my way. Please keep it that way.

2440: 1. More control over the windows and the workspaces (f.e. different workspaces on different monitors).
2. Getting the old GDM Settings-Dialog back.
3. Drop the System Settings dialog, the menu is perfectly fine and working great.

I know, you guys are busy building Gnome 3...but it would be nice to have the option to fall back to a *real* Gnome 2 experience. While I see the need for change and that there are other options and possibilities...not everyone would like to switch to a completely different environment just to avoid Gnome 3.

2441: Graphics are very very slow
More configuration options
Ability to turn off composing

2442: well polished gnome 2.X desktop metaphor but based on GTK3, not gnome shell

2443: keep it simple

2444: I'd make sure I don't have to shut down my Japanese input method to use a terminal. Is steals most of my keystrokes.

2445: In Gnome 3 give me some sort of possibility to always show a taskbar. Switching between apps, which I do very often, becomes slow.

2446: Ditch gnome 3 junk, my laptop is not a tablet !

2447: 1) Make it easier to customize desktop. Quit trying to hide all of the "knobs and buttons" that can be used to customize it. Simplicity is good to a point, but gnome has gone well beyond that point.
2) Fix evolution. It has become slow, unreliable, and less useful.

2448: 1. User accessible configuration, if for no other reason than appeasement.

2. Profile management for user configurations, including a maintained canonical profile to ensure availability of the GNOME design vision.
3. Mutter doesn't cooperate with more than one X server, even if it doesn't control the others. I know its a lot of work, but please fix it.

Thanks, and keep up the good work.

2449: Include a simple image editor! In Windows (and I hate to compare), the Paint program is quick and easy to use. In GNOME all we have after install is (possibly) GIMP, which takes a good 10 seconds to start and is basically useless for a quick edit. I often forget that GNOME doesn't include a simple image editor, and it surprises me literally every time.

The only other thing I would suggest changing is making GNOME more lightweight. The only desktop environment I have considered changing to is Xfce, the sole reason being that it uses less RAM.

Thank you! My first experience with Linux on the desktop was 5 years ago with KDE, and looking back, it was garbage compared to where GNOME is now. I now install GNOME on every machine I have (that needs a desktop environment =P) and I appreciate that without the hard work and dedication of the community none of this would be possible.

I'm not sure where GNOME is headed with version 3 as I have heard various opinions but haven't tried it yet myself; however, I know I can forget about Unity and KDE until I do.

Thanks again!

2450: Stick with Gnome2.x
Abandon Gnome3.
Terminate Gnome3 with extreme predjucdice...

Beware, unity is evil.

2451: Performance, usability (without killing all features, a bit like Mac OS X manages to do), look (Not bad, can be better).

Stop trying to copy unity! Linux should not be easier to use than Mac OS X. People want their features available and easy to find.

Non power user will just be expected to leave them alone!

2452: 1) Gnome Shell (What the heck is this?)
2) Bring back old style Gnome
3) Get rid of the design team

Listen to what users tell you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Everyone doesn't have a touch panel on his rig so making a user interface so obviously touch oriented without a decent fall-back to a traditional desktop is insane!
You should not limit your sight to people who are challenged using a computer as doing so will let the more computer savvy users feel dumbed down. Design is great but too much of it leads to catastrophe and reduced usability.

2453: Less graphics.
More keyboard shortcuts.
More configurability.

Stop pushing Unity. If you actually know how to use a computer (not just Linux), it's horrible. I have not upgraded in a couple of years to avoid Unity, and will probably switch to XFCE (or even back to WindowMaker) if I am forced to use Unity.

2454: 1. Better support for tiling windows
2. Less relying on the panels
3. Better keyboard controls / less mouse dependent

I used to use Gnome, but switched to Musca or EvilWM (backed by GTK and Gnome via gnome-settings-daemon) on all my Linux boxes, because I dislike having to take my hands from the keyboard. That being said, Gnome is by far the smoothest, nicest and most comfortable DE of all the major ones (KDE, Enlightenment, Xfce, etc.) I just wish it wasn't so hard to make it fit me perfectly. Anyways, keep up the great job --- what you're doing is invaluable to the entire Linux-community. Thanks!

2455: Go back to gnome 2.x style, away from 3.

Go back to gnome 2.x style, away from 3.

2456: GNOME 2.x, I have no suggestions, it was a pleasure to use.

GNOME 3.x, I am sorry, but you have completely screwed up GNOME, since the latest version being forced by Ubuntu and many others, I have started to look into other alternatives like KDE. Please, rethink Unity.

2457: better looking menus, better touchpad support

2458: Go back to the model where users had more control over the functionality and appearance.

Try not tu unify GNOME to a single UI, the power of Linux came from the ability to customiza anything we wanted, leave the option to the users to access the tools anyway they want.

2459: Configurability - it's getting harder and harder to change the interface and behaviour

Functionality - GNOME Shell seems ironic in aiming to reduce distraction while adding significant distraction to my interaction with the computer

Choice - every version seems to take away choice from the user

I've observed the conversations between GNOME team members and users about changes the users did not like. Many times the GNOME team members came across as I-know-better-than-you-so-shut-up. While change is good, it must come with an obvious benefit. The latest changes introduced by GNOME Shell (in my opinion) have been geared toward the non-technical user (okay) but at the expense of the technical user (NOT okay). It would be nice if GNOME could provide a profile for the user and then set up the interface based on that, e.g.
New user - current GNOME shell, tuck away config stuff
Advanced user - choice of interface (e.g. GHOME "fallback", GNOME Shell, custom) and expose configuration more clearly

2460: 1. deliver a highly configurable environment (like gnome 2.x)
2. get a decent iconpack by default
3. ...

new mentality of uncustomizability sucks big time.

2461: Easier theme support and integration with gnome-looks.org

Make the fallback mode for gnome3 the SAME (not similar to) as gnome2.

Give the Dia project some love.

Lots of people complain about gnome3 or bug support and what not. But please don't forget that everyone is very grateful for the work the gnome team has done. You have put together a fantastic desktop, keep up the good work!

2462: 1) Revert Gnome 3.X from whatever fantasy land it's from to the Gnome 2.X design.

2) Better Application integration options.

3) No matter how Gnome may evolve, always offer a WIMP style interface.

Plenty, but they're mostly rant-based on whatever lapse of reason resulted in Gnome 3's many changes. So to save your eyes, I'll just say this - you have a huge community of users, many of which are very tech-savvy and intelligent folks. Before embarking on radical changes, talk to them - see how they feel about them. If there is uproar, don't ignore it - listen to it and if need be, go back and make amends.

2463: I feel not really qualified to answer this, as I did only little programming with Gnome (in Python) and that was 5 years ago, but then it was somewhat awkward and complicated to use. Having some easy-to-use API like WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) would be cool, so if it does not exist, I'd vote for implementing it.

The other thing I would do is to work with Unity and KDE (and of course other Desktop Enviromnent vendors) to have a single, unified API allowing to write applications which integrate nicely everywhere.

I view the fragmentation of the Linux desktop as the biggest problem right now, since that makes it very hard for app developers to target a large enough userbase, therefore leading to inferior applications. For example, what is the point of having two almost feature-identical CD/DVD burning tools (Brasero and K3B)? A lot of duplicated effort went into this, and the result is we have two burning tools, each with its own shortcomings. It would be better if we had just one, but with all the features and none of the bugs ;)

2464: 1. App's windows need to have a more acessible management so we do not need to take on "activities" all the time when running 4 applications. I'm inclined to like more how unity take this.

2. Search for an application is horrible. Filters are at the other side of screen.

2465: 1) Bring back the configurability lost in the move to 2.0 (and more so in 3.0).
2) See 1.
3) See 2.

1) Stop pretending that one desktop configuration can be perfect for both someone who's never used a computer and someone who's been using computers for 20+ years.
2) Either learn that 'zero-configuration' realistically means 'no configuration necessary in most cases', not 'no configuration possible when it doesn't work right', or implement the DWIM() function. You cannot have 'No configuration possible' and 'always does the right thing' unless the software can read the users mind to know what's needed.

2466: Merge with compiz, fix glitches in compiz. Delete gnome3.

2467: dont force me to use gnome3

2468: 1.Graphical User Interface
2.Better desktop docklets
3.Better Language Support

Great going and lot of improvements. Performance is a huge plus compared to earlier version. However, GUI and Language support can be improved.

2469: Make window title bars smaller (take up far too much real estate for practical use on small screen appliances).

2470: 1. Better configuration tools, or more logical grouping.
2. Add more customization options.
3. Profit!

Keep up the good work, and keep innovating.

2471: I would keep it how it is; I like the top/bottom panel setup, the notification apps, etc.

I much prefer the ease of use of Gnome 2.x to Gnome 3.x, and I wish we could keep Gnome classic alive.

2472: I'd put a larger focus on getting evolution working properly with more recent versions of Microsoft Exchange. Currently outlook is my primary use of windows, and because of it I require two computers.

Don't try so hard to emulate the Mac experience, I don't believe it to be a suitable platform for serious Unix users. Also, always ensure we can warp gnome to our will in most imaginable ways, it's quite important that I can override and manipulate the behaviour of my environment.

2473: 1) take off desktop for tablets in Gnome 3.x! ;-)
2) let and make easier desktop customization

Yes…
Stop thinking about new and "modern" but with "more focused options" framework…
And continue on stability and speed!

:-)

Thanks for your questions!

2474: Easier system for reporting bugs including tool to search out duplicate bugs already reported (with more intelligence)

Keep up the good work and maintain the stability! Thanks.

2475: I haven't used Gnome 3.x much, so I shouldn't comment on that.
I have avoided Gnome 3.x, but maybe because I'm getting old and resistant to change. But workspaces are a very important part of how I use my desktop, and Gnome 3 weakened my control of my workspaces. Or maybe I just haven't learned how to take back control.

Even though I have avoided G3, I don't mind your willingness to make big changes. Obviously, change hurts and has a real cost to users. But progress requires change. Just be careful that change is progress, and not just change. Keep up the great work.

2476: 1. Provide better option than current fallback mode for gnome 2.x type of user interaction eg ominipresent multidesktop multiwindow as opposed to the heavily "activity" focus metaphor of 3.x

2. If you make me use 3,x please don't make it completely dependent on availability hardware acceleration and essentially incompatible with a wide range of hardware that I continue to support

3. Don't impose a mission critical component of any Linux desktop distribution on users without thorough bug testing eg fonts, setup, ...

Please listen to users such as Linus Torvalds regarding success of Gnome 3.x

MacOS and Android provide better implementations of the Gnome 3.x application centric concept.

I don't need or want a tablet or phone optimnized windowing system for my laptop or desktop

In sum like Torvalds, I found Gnome 3.x design damaging to my productivity. Also I found its implementation to be buggy and incompatible in practice with much of my hardware

2477: Fix the file manager. It's slow and doesn't have good context menu handlers for files. I.e. encrypt, edit with $EDITOR, extract archive here, create archive from folder, Cut/Copy/Paste/Rsync etc.

Make it fast. It used to load faster than windows, now, not so much. Whippy effects are good if they're done in hardware. Maybe auto optimize for best performance or best appearance.

Networking needs to run BEFORE you log on. It's not easy make this work.

2478: Make a desktop enviroment not only for small devices. GNOME 3 is horrible to use on a 24" monitor. GNOME 3 would on the other hand probably work well on netboks and tablets.

2479: Remove gnome shell, make all application more configurabile

2480: If you decide to become a tablet or phone OS, fine, it's your project and your time. But then don't try to pass it off as a Desktop environment.

Touch/Tablet and Desktop are two distinct different use cases. Gnome basically does neither well, since it tries to do both, which will in my opinion never really work out.

2481: I would add more advanced support for window layout, drag to sides to make it fill half the screen, to the top for full screen, or some similar system. I am otherwise satisfied with what it does right now. I would make many changes to gnome 3, but they would near enough turn it back into gnome 2.

Gnome is an excellent desktop, but the new versions are forcing change upon users when there is little need and no proven benefit.

2482: 1. Fire whomever designed the 3.x shell. 2. Fire whomever decided to make the 3.x shell the main interface. 3. Try to find some way recovering the functionality of 2.x without losing all the work that went into GNOME 3.x.

Get rid of GNOME 3.x shell. If I want a GUI that is trying to be a tablet UI I would just use a tablet! The GNOME 2.x interface is actually efficient and does not get in my way. However, the GNOME 3.x interface is in my way and "dumbs" down the experience too much to actually get work done!

2483: lack of options
ignoring its user base
reputation for lack of options and ignoring user base

2484: - make evolution usable
- kill Gnome 3.x

2485: 1) stop trying to do things that should be handled by the underlying system, for example by a completely gnome independent demon.

2) Make the window manager more powerful and more configurable.

3) Reduce the overall bloat, reduce memory use, speed things up.

It seems to me that not just gnome, but a lot of so called "modern desktop environments" suffer from certain degree of "not invented here" syndrome, and try to invent new, often more complicated, ways of doing things that worked perfectly well before. Please, please, try to minimize that.

2486: For my needs Gnome 3 is just not useable

2487: I would add more and better utilities for experienced users.
I found that in the switch to gnome 3 that it was more difficult to figure out where to make changes.
I would like to see gnome run a little lighter.

I've moved almost exclusively to xfce because of its smaller footprint and because it seems more intuitive to me. That said, I've been using linux since the late 90s and have little need for a prettier interface so I'm not sure that I'm the target demographic for gnome anymore.

2488: Add autotrash options when right-clicking on the Trash and choosing Options : http://www.logfish.net/pr/autotrash

Keep up the good work, Gnome is CLEAN and SIMPLE, keep it that way.

2489: Allow different window managers
Create a tiling window manager mode

2490: Make it more like gonme 2.

2491: Left column launcher/task bar instead of bottom task bar.

Improve notification area and HUD (make it dismissible for #&%*'s sake).

Make desktop icon creation/use more intuitive.

I have not tried Gnome 3 yet. It could be that it would improve my impression of it.

I have been very happy with the Windows 7 taskbar. I put it on the left column, with small icons and all my most used programs pinned to it. It has practically everything I need within one or two clicks, and takes very little screen real estate.

One other thing, I find drop down menus to be annoying, particularly multilevel menus. Good mouse dexterity should not be required to operate the interface.

2492: 1. It should work fine on Radeon cards. Catalyst is known to not work, but the open source driver is also not perfect. I know this is the fault of the drivers, but Gnome should work around them, or should avoid the non-working stuff. Unity/KDE4/Gnome2/XFCE works fine, so Gnome3 should too. I know this is hard, but if it would be easy everyone would do it.
2. It should have some official repository of extensions. Hunting down extensions from different places is very bad. There should be a group of them (online on some site or packaged, doesn't really matter) that work together. (I heard something about this beeing worked on, great! :) )
3. Migrate all config/cache/user files according to the XDG specifications, with an option to remove ALL the old files. (I saw some progress on this, I don't know how extensive this work is)

Heads up, you are doing a great job. You can't please everyone., and some of the people will never be satisfied no matter how hard you try. So don't worry about them. As long as the fallback mode is kept, nobody has any reason to complain.

2493: Proper handling of multi monitor setup, where each physical monitor gets its own virtual desktops (see Enlightenment)

Drop NetworkManager, it's the most anoying piece of software ever created and the first thing I get rid of on every new install

Decrease memory usage

Unity is a waste of time & resources, please leave imbecile UI projects to specialized teams like OLPC

You're thinking much like microsoft - users are stupid, we should take care of them. Well guess what, people come to linux exactly to avoid this attitude. Linux users want to be in control of their machine and not vice versa. Thinking like this, it would be best if you'd take your desktop and port it over to windows. I heard KDE can run on top of windows, so why not :)

Which reminds me - your security is also a joke and would fit on windows much better.

2494: In GNOME 3, I hate having to search for things. I want to place icons where I can quickly (one or two clicks) get to them. I often run 10-20 apps at the same time. These apps need to be quickly accessible. I "get" how searching is more efficient if you don't know where something is, but when you use it all the time one puts it where one wants it.

The 3D requirement for GNOME 3 taxes my 4-year-old laptop's Intel chipset and the fan runs almost constantly. Booting into Windows, it runs when I use Flash (or other intensive app) on its attached large monitor.

2495: more configurability;

better support for older video cards;

multi-seat support

2496: Add keyboard shortcuts back. (Super + T => terminal)
Add more keyboard shortcuts for moving windows, like in Windows 7 (Super + Up Arrow => Toggle Max, Super + Left Arrow => Snap Window To Left)
Add ability to customize the top bar without having to install extensions.

Gnome 3.2 is a step in the right direction, but more of the customizability that was taken out in the switch needs to come back.

2497: I just want my old desktop and panels and normal menu as it was in Gnome 2.

I was really happy with Gnome 2, but now my distro switched to Gnome 3. I find Gnome 3 unusable. I use XFCE now, which isn't even half as good as Gnome 2 was, but still better than Gnome 3.

2498: Scrap Gnome 3, admit you were wrong, drop mutter in favor of compiz

It's not to late to avoid having your lunch eaten by XFCE, also OSX is a far better at being OSX than Gnome is, but that's ok Gnome 2.x is much better at being Gnome than anything else out there.

2499: Moré configurability

2500: Three things I would change:

I wish Gnome had a better interface to make settings changes, but I wish that about Linux DE's and OSX in general. I like Gnome much better than KDE, but KDE does have some cool tools and utilities. I didn't like Gnome 3 that much when I first tried it, but then I discovered extensions and I started to see that with the right ones it could be a great DE. Especially once the extension because available in the repos and more are created. I think Gnome 3 is much better than KDE 4 and Unity. After saying that I don't think I was that unhappy with Gnome 2. One of the reasons I don't use other DE's (in Linux) more is because I find them hard to configure and make changes.

I would change nautilus because I think the file manager is pretty important. I think I tend to go to the command line more than I should because of file managers in general. Maybe more Midnight Commander-ish features with multiple windows to copy files between locations and filter the views.

More integration with compiz!! POP POP, BLING BLING!!