I've been a Gnome fan for a while and this version continues in the ideals set in the Gnome 2 guidelines. THe developers made designed choices and followed through and 1 year from now we'll look back and wonder why we ever complained.
As Macs and Windows boxes are dis-similar so is Gnome, KDE and XFCE. But the secret to success here is choice.
I'm one of those persons who upgrades at the first oppertunity. I like to use things that may even be in alpha stage so I can't be as critical as you are. I started using the spatial view with an open mind and the speed has outweighed it's short comings for which they are work arounds by the way. Evolution I have had issue with for ages regarding inline encryption. However the defacto standard is to the contrary especially among modern mail clients including mutt. Evolutions menu's and settings have been very stable as far back as the 0.9 release. Their locating for encryption setting also makes logical sense and this is what Gnome programming is about.
As an admin I have multiple mail accounts. Some with different keys and as such I see the advantages of the evolution teams design. I've also followed the developers mailing list in the past and I have to respect those guys. Their thought process is exceptional and decision making very practical.
With Gnome in General it's the same thing. If Desktop distros want to compete in the market they must not be merely seen as clones of Windows or Mac. It must be unique in its own way, intuitive and fast.
The first time I used a Mac I thought the whole design interface was crap not to mention the 1 button mouse. I to know Mac users who despise MS Windows design. Therefore I can understand your pains using Gnome afterall page flipping was my love and metacity got rid of that. However I understand the reasons behind that move.
I am fortunate to not have had any major problems. However being an early GNU/Linux adopter in gerneral perhaps means my experiences become less involved with each release. I triple boot on my laptop with Win98 and XP and I did an upgrade as oppose to a fresh install (that'll come later).
Personally I like Gnome. The new stuff will take getting use to (think Mac to Windows or vice-versa) and I'm up to the challenge. 6 months down the road we'll all wonder how we lived without it.
Audio<nobr> <wbr></nobr>.. non issue using both OSS and Alsa. Therefore I have to believe this is a user issue in which case you are the user. However I also used Alsa in many previous kernels in the 2.4 series and in FC1 and Redhat 8&9 so I knew/know my hardware very well.
OOo<nobr> <wbr></nobr>.. Dissing an app, one of the few office suites that have pdf export because of file sizes of 100k is a rediculous in the days of 250Gb hdd. Not that this is not an excuse but it's a feature the developers have worked hard on and are working hard on to give you an additional feature<nobr> <wbr></nobr>... at no cost. Please don't bite the hand that feeds you. Note - this is not a show stopper just a gripe you have.
Gimp<nobr> <wbr></nobr>.. Not broken. And lots of serious work have been done in the Gimp and some not so serious. For a free app with volunteer developers who love what they do to produce such a master piece is wonderful and I love the Gnome2 port. Give credit where it is due. I'm sure if we plugged a few million into their budget it'll meet everyones needs.
Conclusion: What is important and obvious here is that you have no knowledge of Gnome desktop guidelines. Gnome 2 is young and to be honest still in it's beta stages. But the beta is soooo good, stable and visually appealing that adoption has occurred. The guidelines are important in understanding the development direction. The average user could care less, but you are not the average user. But with each release expect improvements (whether you call them improvements) to be made and things to be different. Enter with an open mind and explore the new desktop. You like most others have become to comfortable in your Gnome version x.x. Expect change and discover the reasons decisions are made. You don't need to agree. Just to understand. If you did your review may have been completely different. As an early adopter I knew what I was in for. I was very impress when I saw the final result and certain show stoppers fixed. All software has bugs but are they all relevant to the user experience.
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Re:The author responds
Posted by: Administrator on May 30, 2004 09:25 AMAs Macs and Windows boxes are dis-similar so is Gnome, KDE and XFCE. But the secret to success here is choice.
I'm one of those persons who upgrades at the first oppertunity. I like to use things that may even be in alpha stage so I can't be as critical as you are. I started using the spatial view with an open mind and the speed has outweighed it's short comings for which they are work arounds by the way. Evolution I have had issue with for ages regarding inline encryption. However the defacto standard is to the contrary especially among modern mail clients including mutt. Evolutions menu's and settings have been very stable as far back as the 0.9 release. Their locating for encryption setting also makes logical sense and this is what Gnome programming is about.
As an admin I have multiple mail accounts. Some with different keys and as such I see the advantages of the evolution teams design. I've also followed the developers mailing list in the past and I have to respect those guys. Their thought process is exceptional and decision making very practical.
With Gnome in General it's the same thing. If Desktop distros want to compete in the market they must not be merely seen as clones of Windows or Mac. It must be unique in its own way, intuitive and fast.
The first time I used a Mac I thought the whole design interface was crap not to mention the 1 button mouse. I to know Mac users who despise MS Windows design. Therefore I can understand your pains using Gnome afterall page flipping was my love and metacity got rid of that. However I understand the reasons behind that move.
I am fortunate to not have had any major problems. However being an early GNU/Linux adopter in gerneral perhaps means my experiences become less involved with each release. I triple boot on my laptop with Win98 and XP and I did an upgrade as oppose to a fresh install (that'll come later).
Personally I like Gnome. The new stuff will take getting use to (think Mac to Windows or vice-versa) and I'm up to the challenge. 6 months down the road we'll all wonder how we lived without it.
Audio<nobr> <wbr></nobr>.. non issue using both OSS and Alsa. Therefore I have to believe this is a user issue in which case you are the user. However I also used Alsa in many previous kernels in the 2.4 series and in FC1 and Redhat 8&9 so I knew/know my hardware very well.
OOo<nobr> <wbr></nobr>.. Dissing an app, one of the few office suites that have pdf export because of file sizes of 100k is a rediculous in the days of 250Gb hdd. Not that this is not an excuse but it's a feature the developers have worked hard on and are working hard on to give you an additional feature<nobr> <wbr></nobr>... at no cost. Please don't bite the hand that feeds you. Note - this is not a show stopper just a gripe you have.
Gimp<nobr> <wbr></nobr>.. Not broken. And lots of serious work have been done in the Gimp and some not so serious. For a free app with volunteer developers who love what they do to produce such a master piece is wonderful and I love the Gnome2 port. Give credit where it is due. I'm sure if we plugged a few million into their budget it'll meet everyones needs.
Conclusion: What is important and obvious here is that you have no knowledge of Gnome desktop guidelines. Gnome 2 is young and to be honest still in it's beta stages. But the beta is soooo good, stable and visually appealing that adoption has occurred. The guidelines are important in understanding the development direction. The average user could care less, but you are not the average user. But with each release expect improvements (whether you call them improvements) to be made and things to be different. Enter with an open mind and explore the new desktop. You like most others have become to comfortable in your Gnome version x.x. Expect change and discover the reasons decisions are made. You don't need to agree. Just to understand. If you did your review may have been completely different. As an early adopter I knew what I was in for. I was very impress when I saw the final result and certain show stoppers fixed. All software has bugs but are they all relevant to the user experience.
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