GNOME-Designer Jon McCann about the future of GNOME3 | Hacker News Reader

GNOME-Designer Jon McCann about the future of GNOME3

derstandard.at

60 pointsdarkduck7 comments

McCann on criticism of Gnome 3:

Unfortunately on the internet - and in free software in particular - we have a lot of people whose voices aren't heard very loudly, and we have to take their needs into accounts as well as those who are vocal. And that's very challenging to do and very tricky to know what the less vocal people are looking for. So we have to remain sensitive to both sides.

So McCann doesn't have to listen to complaints from actual users -- he has a silent majority that understands Gnome.org's design choices. How very Nixon-esque.

I think he makes some valid points. At first I was a bit ticked off that he is redefining what operating system means somewhat. But he is right in many ways and what really counts is the user experience(End user and developer). What mainly defines the user experience is the environment and GNOME is one. He touches on more than that and he does not leave out what is lower on the software stack. His confidence in the vision they have reassures me a bit that the linux desktop is still on the right way.

Well, I'm not convinced that it's mainly the environment. You noted yourself that he also talks about lower stuff like suspend not working. And suspend/hibernate not working is not the fault of Gnome. It's because of Linux itself. If he on the one hand redefines the Operating System as being the whole experience, he should not forget that the technical base defines the user experience even more than the GUI (The GUI s only important if the base is working). I doubt that with his vision of what an OS is, with his what i see as negleting the technical base, this would be better. I don't think that Gnome itself "has the talent to do almost anything". They won't improve the kernel that much when a base-function don't work, or fix graphic-drivers when their compositor won't work cause of a glitch in them. The DE is a part of the use of an OS, an important part of the daily work, but not the whole OS.

PS: Using Linux for years, I never had a system with working suspend/hibernate. And I still have not, using the newest Ubuntu on my laptop. Which really is disturbing when reading about a GUI almost forcing you to use that broken function.

At this point, it's the "lower" level issues - suspend, graphics, sound - that are ruining the Linux desktop, even for us geeks.

They were the reason I gave up on Linux desktop two years ago and forked over the extra money for a Mac. Closing your laptop and knowing it will work when you open it later!

BTW, we got new Dell laptops at work last year and found they would degrade with every suspend/resume (e.g. audio glitches). Did I mention this was Windows 7?

Wow, that's an extensive interview. Looking forward to Gnome 3.2.

Indeed - interviews with good questions and substantial answers are so rare these days that this was really enjoyable to read. It also helped that this was not spread over 23 pages with a paragraph on each page.

I wonder if Gnome 3 will end up like The Gimp, UI-wise.

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