Should 9.10 Be Full-Blooded Gnome?

[Mark76]

I've read that Empathy will be replacing Pidgin as the default IM client in Karmic. But should the developers stop there? Or should they replace other platform agnostic apps with their Gnomic equivalents? How would you feel if the default browser was Epiphany or the default office suite was Gnome Office?

Personally if it means a more integrated look and feel to the desktop I think it'd be a good idea.

What do you think?

[Simian Man]

I personally prefer Gnome Office to OpenOffice, but people who need features or MS compatibility are better off with OpenOffice.

And Firefox is so crazy popular, I really can't see replacing it with Epiphany.

[magmon]

I answered before I read it all, change my vote to a no lol.

[kostkon]

No way, a terrible idea :P

[Ozor Mox]

No. Ubuntu intends to have a good set of tools out of the box, and that means picking the best ones, not just picking them because they happen to go together. Whilst there is absolutely nothing wrong with Epiphany or Gnome Office, most people would probably consider Firefox or Open Office to be the more full-featured products.

[running_rabbit07]

I defiantaley prefer not to force FF out of the picture. Though the uncertainty of 3.5 being there is killing me, because 3.5 doesn't like my Ubuntu right now and the Alpha 3 still doesn't have 3.5 either. I also like having XFCE out there for those who want or need it. I have tried KDE and give it a failed rating but there are people who do like it so we must keep an open system for all.

[Mark76]

No. Ubuntu intends to have a good set of tools out of the box, and that means picking the best ones, not just picking them because they happen to go together. Whilst there is absolutely nothing wrong with Epiphany or Gnome Office, most people would probably consider Firefox or Open Office to be the more full-featured products.

True. I'm actually surprised no one has noticed that Gnome doesn't have a presentation program yet.

Surely a major oversight? :?

[Giant Speck]

It's certainly not going to change my user experience. I'll just install Firefox and OpenOffice right after installation.

[keiichidono]

No, it's a terrible idea.

[Mr. Picklesworth]

I do find Firefox to be a usability problem as far as opening files outside the web browser is concerned. Why it doesn't just use the existing, well defined specification to find the right app to open is beyond me. As is, it's broken; Firefox rarely knows how to properly open downloaded files.

Thus, that's one Really Important feature that Epiphany has managed to do properly but Firefox has not. When Firefox opens downloads right, I'll be a lot happier with it. As it is I do use the thing, but never recommend it for casual users because I know that, if I do, one day I'll be stepping them through something like this:
'Choose to Save a file, then right click it in the Downloads list and choose Show in Folder, then find the file again in the Downloads folder, then open it via Nautilus which actually knows what it's doing.'
Even Chromium does this right.

As for GNOME Office, I much agree there. OpenOffice is a pig, it is not easy to use, and it is incredibly detached from the rest of the experience. It's featureful, but it also duplicates all the bad interface ideas from Microsoft Office. Abiword (or Lyx!), Glom and Gnumeric are all awesome applications that absolutely deserve some love. They don't have all the features, but they have sane, well designed interfaces and perform the general tasks most people need.
Alas, we so far lack a really capable presentation app, and even OpenOffice Presentation is a bit lacking in features.

Oh, sure, OpenOffice and Firefox are familiar, but people (to a point) aren't coming here because they want familiarity.

[DeadSuperHero]

I vote no. I want my Muggle Half-blood KDE in there, too.

[windows-killer]

I've read that Empathy will be replacing Pidgin as the default IM client in Karmic. But should the developers stop there? Or should they replace other platform agnostic apps with their Gnomic equivalents? How would you feel if the default browser was Epiphany or the default office suite was Gnome Office?

Personally if it means a more integrated look and feel to the desktop I think it'd be a good idea.

What do you think?

I prefere more mainstream apps like:

Firefox
Open office
Pidgin
Gimp
You get the idea

[running_rabbit07]

I do find Firefox to be a usability disaster as far as opening files outside the web browser is concerned. Why it doesn't just use the existing, well defined specification to find the right app to open is beyond me. As is, it's broken; Firefox rarely knows how to properly open downloaded files.

Thus, that's one Really Important feature that Epiphany has managed to do properly but Firefox has not. When Firefox opens downloads right, I'll be a lot happier with it. As it is I do use the thing, but never recommend it for casual users because I know that, if I do, one day I'll be stepping them through something like this:
'Choose to Save a file, then right click it in the Downloads list and choose Show in Folder, then find the file again in the Downloads folder, then open it via Nautilus which actually knows what it's doing.'

As for GNOME Office, I much agree there. OpenOffice is a pig, it is not easy to use, and it is incredibly detached from the rest of the experience. It's featureful, but it also duplicates all the bad ideas from Microsoft Office except the file format. Abiword (or Lyx!), Glom and Gnumeric are all awesome applications that absolutely deserve some love. They don't have all the features, but they have sane, well designed interfaces and perform the general tasks most people need.
Alas, we so far lack a really capable presentation app, and even OpenOffice Presentation is a bit lacking in features.

Oh, sure, OpenOffice and Firefox are familiar, but people (to a point) aren't coming here because they want familiarity.

My biggest win for Open Office is that it awakened me to open source and then to Linux. I have yet to check out the office programs offered for gnome, but in the end, if I can't save files to .doc and forward them to my professors, then I can't use them. But, now that I know about these programs, I will be checking them out.

I have been using Epiphany and I like it, though it looks very simple, it gets the job. done.