Comments on: What should the GNOME Foundation accomplish in 2010?

By: Sasa Ostrouska

Sasa Ostrouska — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:47:42 +0000

Hi, less deps for the full project would be really nice to see. Compilling gnome from source is a pain, especially on Slackware where we do not have always the latest software from our distro.
Fixing bugs is also ok, but more would be to track your route well and follow it with creating the desktop up to the end. Create well and test well up to full functionalities if you plan something. Dont stop at the middle. Finish things. Now with gnome 3 you have a chance to fix and rethink well what was wrong in gnome 2.
Bring new ideas in, don’t just copy what other desktops have.
Network Manager is for sure a problem. Pulse Audio also is on its way, but still far away from what needs to be.
Thats my point of view, less deps as said before would permit us to deliver the newest desktop faster to our users on Slackware.
Rgds
Saxa

By: stormy

stormy — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 11:45:49 +0000

With regards to GDM ConsoleKit, from Brian Cameron:
Over
the GNOME 2.28/2.30 release cycles, Sun has invested a lot of effort
in making these work well on Solaris/OpenSolaris. In getting the code
to work, we had to address many of the cross-platform issues that
people are complaining about, so I think that people should find things
are improving. Also, it was in the 2.28 timeframe that I understand
Ubuntu started adopting the new GDM, so I am sure they are helping as
well.
Each distro has its own needs, so I am sure this work will not address
every problem, but ConsoleKit/GDM is getting a lot more cross-platform
attention recently.

By: Moebius

Moebius — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 23:31:39 +0000

I gave up on gnome this year after many years of tagging along as ui features disappeared or became hard to access. Now I am using startx/.xsession and xmonad. If you want me back you need to stop removing features in the name of the most neophyte users and deliver on “it just works.” If it doesn’t “just work,” then I need to be able to have access to config files and the like to make it work. Like if I connect to a projector, and then spend days trying to fix nvidia control settings! I know you like to think its true, but Gnome doesn’t know better than I do how best I might do my work. No more epiphany or gnome app of the day! I select my application based on my workflow and app features. Don’t pick any more favorites or remove features! Support me, the user, and maybe I will come back.

By: Rufus Polson

Rufus Polson — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:57:47 +0000

How about: Evict Mono.

By: Stefano

Stefano — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:15:07 +0000

Hi,
Thanks for sharing this. I use GNOME every day and really appreciate it.
I suggested Linux/GNOME to different people and some of them made the switch.
The main issues I’ve found when non tech people uses Linux+GNOME (Ubuntu) are:
1) Quality
I think this should be high in the list. Often new users find corner cases not well tested, with the result that the applications behave in a strange way, UI is not consistent and so on.
This greatly lowers the user experience, sometimes it seems that you are dealing with a fragile system, not a rock solid one.
2) Applications
I agree with you also on this area.
People that switches from other OSes have a pretty high requirement about application usability and functionality.
What I’ve found is that they actually are willing to try alternatives application. However, too bad, I’ve found that the alternatives are not powerful enough with respect to what the user was used before, or they are not stable and solid.
IMHO those are the two main areas on which we need to work in order to gain more users!
Thank you and keep up the awesome work!

By: average-linux-guy

average-linux-guy — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 07:27:14 +0000

I agree 10000% with everyone who votes on bug fixing and on less big words about world wide desktop domination. Dont worry about world domination, the best will eventually win!
note: world domination is not the same with world awareness, which is better.

By: Eddie

Eddie — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 07:11:23 +0000

Ref: Stephen Michael Kuhn’s comment. When I’ve tried to install themes from art.gnome.org, I’m always getting “it won’t look right because such-and-such an icon set” (which I can’t find anywhere!) “is missing.” People new to GNOME or any interface love to do things like that. If it proves to be too hard, they’ll worry about whether the more important things that people do with computers will be equally obscure or forbidding.
But on the flip side, learn from KDE 4. It was technically inferior to KDE 3, and also was so different that it seemed like the developers forgot about the people who had adopted and enjoyed its predecessors. Some of us like GNOME the way it is, and hope for bugfixes and incremental changes without sacrificing what is basically cool, crisp desktop.
Ref: David Stephens’s comment. “Grow the … brand” is corporate dialect at its most cringeworthy, so don’t say or write it. “User experience thought leader” is also dire.
Ref: Your original post. The goals in #2 are laudable but awfully ambitious. Better to tackle a few of them and do them well rather than tackle all of them and be mediocre.
As for #6, I don’t know that “openness” is a problem, but I’m a modest financial supporter and hear very little from GNOME.

By: gaboo

gaboo — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 06:04:21 +0000

“xxx leader” “zzz leader” bla bla bla. It hides all the good ideas.
What about some modesty and less marketing stuff ?

By: David Stephens

David Stephens — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:40:37 +0000

How about abandoning the committee buzzword vernacular when posting in public? That would be a great first step. I could not get past the “thought leader” bs before scrolling to the bottom to type this.
This type of buzzbabble speak really turns people off.

By: Stephen Michael Kuhn

Stephen Michael Kuhn — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 03:52:18 +0000

Fix the font rendering, widget toolkits, gtk theming, dialogue boxes and overall graphical desktop rendering/drawing so that a barebones, fresh-from-the-box Gnome desktop installation looks ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL – that should be first and foremost. Why? Because Microsoft and Apple have done just exactly that and for that reason, the aesthetics grab a new user (and entice old users). Market all you want, promote all you want – but if you continue to deliver a primitive “look and feel”, you miss the masses.