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Comment by PommeDeTerre | Hacker News Reader

The GNOME crew just do not get it.

There is near-universal hatred for everything about GNOME 3. We aren't talking about nitpicking, either. People outright hate everything about GNOME 3.

Existing GNOME users are fleeing to Xfce, KDE and other environments like never before. GNOME 3 surely isn't bringing in that many new users, if it has even brought in any.

It's clear that the GNOME project is tearing itself apart. Most long-time users have given up hope of things getting better. We can't blame them, considering that each GNOME-related announcement brings bad news (even if the GNOME developers mistakenly consider it to be good news).

This announcement just reinforces the feeling that bad ideas rule at the GNOME project these days.

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I'm not sure what you're saying is true. I, personally, am a huge fan of GNOME 3 and everything the project has done and plans on doing. Most of my friends (Linux users) are also satisfied, and have no major problems with it. But we usually don't talk about it on Hacker News or other message boards, because we're happy with what we have.

People who are unhappy are much more likely to speak out than those who are content. Clearly, GNOME 3 has annoyed a lot of people, judging by how many people are angry. But I think that generalizing and saying there's "near universal hatred for everything about GNOME 3" is a bit unfair.

Would you mind talking about it a bit more then? Tell us what aspects of Gnome 3 are great and what's great about them?

The main reason I don't buy what you're saying is that no other widely-liked open source software project suffers from this sort of silence from "satisfied" users.

I often hear and see people advocating the use of KDE and Xfce, for example, even in discussion that isn't directly related to them. It isn't isolated to desktop environments, either. People who are happy with Linux Mint, for instance, are very willing to express their like in public.

In general, highly satisfied users will openly say good things about the application, project, distribution or system that they enjoy using.

But we don't see that spontaneous expression of enjoyment when it comes to GNOME 3. In fact, the only time I ever see people claim to like it is when somebody says or posts something about how GNOME 3 is generally disliked by most. There are always two or three people who'll say that they like it. However, their number always pales in comparison to the far greater number of people in the same discussion who express dislike or outright disgust for GNOME 3.

I think the fact is that GNOME 3 is widely hated. That doesn't mean that there aren't a few token users who do enjoy it. But given the significant backlash toward it, the high degree of negativity whenever it's discussed, and the lack of traction it has gained so far, I think it's pretty safe to say that it isn't seen in a good light.

Agreed. People should use what they want to use. I personally hate KDE. I find that particular UI to be the most insane and ugly mess I've ever used. That doesn't mean I go to KDE related thread and talk about how the KDE people don't get it and don't listen to their users.

What annoys me are these comments by people claiming to represent "Gnome's users". No, they represent some of Gnome's users - a group that does not include me.

You do realize that many of the people who speak out against GNOME 3 the loudest are long-time GNOME users who suddenly found their productive and usable desktop environment had been torn apart and replaced with an inefficient, tablet-oriented mess, correct?

I think that they do represent GNOME's users extremely well. The fact that the GNOME project is currently trying to reach out to less-technical users shows that they don't make up an important part of the GNOME user base.

Driving away the most advanced GNOME powerusers, especially those who have the abilities necessary to contribute to its continuing development, is one of the worst things the GNOME project is doing these days.

I love GNOME 3.

Me too.

I love Cinnamon[0] a fork of GNOME3.

[0] http://cinnamon.linuxmint.com/

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