Gnome removes maximize and minimize buttons from program windows.
afaikblog.wordpress.com
afaikblog.wordpress.com
Now, a minimise button I do use, and my windows neatly get hidden away behind the icon they belong to (it's an option in OS X and I love it). Now, when I move my mouse to a corner of my desktop and activate exposé I get to see all of these windows as thumbnails.
Removing minimise is in my opinion definitely disruptive, sometimes it is nice to clear all the windows off the screen, using different workspaces is not always the right answer.
I assume that the overview they are talking about (and having read the linked email) looks and acts like Exposé does on the Mac, while nice, a lot of full screen applications and it becomes difficult to select the right window because the thumbnails get too small. The suggestion offered in the email looks a lot like what Mac OS X does.
I do hope that when Gnome 3.x is available in your standard Linux distributions that turning the minimise button back on is available.
It was broken since... System 6, at least
> Now, a minimise button I do use
It's useful if you have stuff on the desktop (like I do). If the desktop is nothing but wallpaper space, then minimizing windows make little sense - just get your windows on the front (which is hard to do without a dock)
I like the drag to snap option. I only hope Gnome folks don't accidentally step on a patent land mine laid by those free-software lovers at Microsoft.
At times (especially at work) I will have many different windows open at the same time. Exposé at that time will become very cluttered and it will be very hard to find the window I want, minimising removes that because now the windows I do want are bigger than the small minimised ones.
From looking at more screenshots from Gnome 3 it looks like their "activities" overview is a lot like Exposé.
When I have to use more than one window, I use the "Always on top" option on the WM. Since it's usually a terminal, I can make it small and leave it near a corner or on another screen.
Having said that, Xcode seems fond on lots of windows. I don't think my approach would work.
OS X doesn't have a maximize button. The purpose of the green button on OS X is to size the window based on the content, not on the screen size. For example, for a browser window it generally maximizes height and sets width to the minimum size that does not require a horizontal scroll bar.
I use Ubuntu on my work laptop. I need to be productive on my work computer, and I just don't have the time or inclination to futz around with drastically changed desktops and unlearn 15 years of muscle memory and comfort level. My computer needs to be familiar and simple to me so that I can spend time building and deploying apps, not trying to remember how to minimize a window or what hotkey is the 'switch workspace' key (since I don't use even them right now).
Also, something I've found extremely useful at both work and home is the compiz "Grid" plugin, which allows you to set up easy keyboard shortcuts for window placement. I think it can be found in "compiz-fusion-plugins-extra" on bunters. A video of it in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHMKhiZmlV0
Last week I tried KDE 4.5.1 that comes with Ubuntu (I do so every now and then to see if I'll move back). After 30 minutes of trying to get Network Manager to start a VPN connection, and Googling for answers and reading the docs, I gave up and started the VPN connection from the command-line.
Now, I'm confused, how hard can it be to start a VPN connection? I clicked, I right-clicked, I reapplied the settings. Or it so simple that this long-time user can't figure it out?
It's also been more stable for me than recent versions of Gnome and as a bonus it's much lighter on system resources.
Regardless, I'm glad to see innovation in linux gui and expect it will be disableable through some hack or another.
I am glad we are seeing some change. We have been stuck with the same windows on a desktop metaphor since the Lisa. I understand this, at least, means someone is trying something new.
Minimize, however, is being dropped because there's just nowhere to minimize too. I rarely use minimize and this wouldn't be a big deal for me.
Looking at the gnome 3 design can't help wondering if someone shouldn't be thinking of putting it on a tablet eventually (or rather working on a tablet directed branch) - might meet the "open" needs of hackers more than android.