Why all the Gnome Shell Hate?

[Grinage]

I have to say I've tried to get along with Unity, we just don't mix well although a lot of people new to linux and those who pay my bills tend to love it. Every now and then I'll try installing it, and I have to say that in the latest release it is stable and functions without significant glitches and for basic work, checking email, and occasional play Unity is great, when I need to find an obscure program I haven't used in months to solve one particular customer's problem I begin to dislike Unity intensly and in the end Gnome3 vanishes from my box rather quickly. It's kind of a strange evolution for me, I started off hating Gnome on other Linux distros then I discovered Ubuntu and I began falling in love with Gnome after years of disliking it, then Unity came along and KDE or Kubuntu was my immediate fall back, perhaps it's just that we're all creatures of habit. For me Gnome3 and I have just had a really bad and painful breakup.

[montag dp]

I'm pretty happy with Gnome 3.6.

A lot of the hate directed at Gnome Shell seems to smell a great deal of fanboyism and a desire just to pile on. Shell isn't perfect, yet I see many erroneous and unfactual attacks posted by people who either have not used it or who are just lying. In addition, people rant about default settings that can be altered without bothering to find out that they are, in fact, default settings that can be changed.

If someone had a great deal invested in a highly tweaked Gnome 2 setup, I can understand they would be upset that Gnome 2 died.But, the demise of Gnome 2 and the design of Gnome 3 are two separate events. The death of Gnome 2 illustrates that Linux users really have little influence on the course of events. If we did, if a critical mass of Gnome 2 users existed two years ago, we might have had a voice in the course Gnome took. But, we lack that influence in Gnome or any other similar project. As it stands, users have more say in the future of Windows and OS X than in Linux because those companies will, sooner or later, change their products in response to poor sales. Money is an effective transmission medium for user likes and dislikes. Linux has no equivalent.

This is true, but at the same time I believe the developers are motivated to get as many people using their "product" as possible. The Gnome guys can't possibly like the fact that a huge percentage of people who were on Gnome 2 just a year or two ago are now using a different DE. Sure, that's not as strong a motivator as money, but it's definitely something.

[jerome1232]

This is true, but at the same time I believe the developers are motivated to get as many people using their "product" as possible. The Gnome guys can't possibly like the fact that a huge percentage of people who were on Gnome 2 just a year or two ago are now using a different DE. Sure, that's not as strong a motivator as money, but it's definitely something.

+1, nobody develops something and says "Oh cool, nobody likes what we've done, let's keep right on making something nobody likes".

[screaminj3sus]

I am just lovingggggggg Gnome 3 here. This desktop is for the younger users of linux. Doest look all old and worn out like the other DEs. Unity kinds of, you know, like takes up too much screenspace when it opens.

This Ubuntu Gnome remix roxs. Looks all modern.

I found unity is one of the best DE's when it comes to screenspace, its very optimized for lower res widescreen monitors, making it a great laptop interface. The global menu and the way maximised windows integrate with the top panel saves a lot of vertical screen space, and the launcher on the left can be set to autohide.