Must Read: Mint 15: Today's best Linux desktop (Review)

Topic: Linux

The Three Faces of Linux Mint

Summary: The next release of Linux Mint -- Linux Mint 12, aka Lisa -- will feature three different takes on theGNOME desktop. GNOME 3.2, GNOME 3.2 adapted to look and work like GNOME 2.x and MATE,a GNOME 2.x fork.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

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And, why would you want to do that? Well, as you can see, GNOME 3.2's interface looks quite different. Many users really dislike this interface.

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Topics: Linux, Open Source, Operating Systems, Software

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  • Why are Linux developers so obsessed with stupid, unwanted new interfaces?

    I'm a big Linux fan and the Ubuntu/Mint series are particularly good. It's just such a shame that developers have messed about with perfectly usable interfaces to such an extent that one needs an extension to return them back to what they were - e.g. the aforementioned MGSE.<br><br>Gnome 3 is a mess and Ubuntu's Unity is simply horrid. Worse, the main alternative, KDE, was virtually unusable for almost three years because early versions of 4.x were no more than rough-and ready alphas.<br><br>Even today, in terms of real functionality and stability, KDE 4.x is only just getting back to where it was in 2007 with version 3.5.x.<br><br>One of the main reasons many of us use Linux is for its stability. We don't want fancy eye candy or stupid widgets. Yet developers seem determined to forge ahead with stupid new interfaces that hardly anybody wants at the expense of the stability that we all crave. Interesting to note that Linus Torvalds has abandoned both KDE and Gnome and gone over to the plain-vanilla XCFE, precisely for that reason.<br><br>That said, I'm running the latest KDE on Kubuntu Oneiric and it is actually pretty good now. But I'd happily sacrifice all the wobbly windows and transparent backgrounds for the rock-sold stability that I enjoyed back in 2007, pre KDE4.x.<br><br>Best wishes, G.
    mrgoose
    Reply Vote

    • RE: The Three Faces of Linux Mint

      @mrgoose

      Agree with all of this. I don't mind optional new interfaces at all and would have been happy to Unity available on tap to use or not, as I wished. But the way it was introduced was disappointing. I've stuck with Ubuntu 10.10 for now. I'll give it one more release and then see where to.
      harmlessdrudge
      Reply Vote

  • RE: The Three Faces of Linux Mint

    Absolutely agree with you Mr Goose. I just want simplicity and stability. Gnome 2 was perfect as far as I was concerned. I understand the direction Gnome 3 and Unity are heading (ie, tablet PCs) but why are desktop users being dragged along too? It's a strange world when software geezers are busy developing extra widgets to make new gizmos behave like old favourites. I can't handle it. I'm 40 next year. Am I getting old?
    Win8AnUglyDisaster
    Reply Vote

    • I dont think its YOUR age thats the problem.

      @johndow1
      I'm 45 shortly, and I've been around computers since I was 12. The biggest changes I've seen have all occurred lately in comparison - partly because of Moore's (business paradigm) Law. Mostly because programmers these days are all college students looking to stand out from their peers by taking a fresh swipe at things. And I think thats also the problem here.
      When I were a lad, programmers looked like Jeff Minter - what wasnt hair was beard, and what wasnt either was jacket formed from the carcass of a dead Yak.

      Its not just PCs either. Emulators have been written for just about every machine ever made during the 80s, so we can relive the glory days. And the kids love retro games, my 14 year old daughter plays a whole lot of games I used to enjoy on Atari, Amiga, even C64. And these are games no stupid girl would have played back then. ;)

      And although I'm right with you on tablets, the industry has convinced itself that PCs are dead, and are as a result trying to drag everyone away from the keyboard/mouse paradigm IMO before we have a replacement for them.
      Nothing beats pounding a Cherry if you want to impart a ton of information to a computer. Speech recognition doesnt quite cut it yet, and short of a direct neural interface, I dont know of another fast method of human communication we can co-opt.

      Perhaps its just me (I have AS) but I dont have a problem with any of the types of desk I use, from XP through 7, Ubuntu, SUSE and Puppy. Over time, they have become easier to use through sharing concepts - eg point at that, it does something - but I have noticed that branding plays a massive part, and the differences in how we do things are becoming part of our social structure.

      IT as a religion, whats with that?
      SiO2
      Reply Vote
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