Re: My thoughts on fallback mode

[Allan Day <allanpday gmail com>]

On Tue, 2011-01-04 at 10:36 +0100, Johannes Schmid wrote:
> Hi Christopher!
> 
> > Besides... did modularity ever enslave a GNOME developer? Never. I expected 
> > more than a statement like that.
> 
> This modularity prevents to create a solid user experience in various
> ways because everything needs to be compatible with random components
> that cannot even be tested properly.

It also makes high-quality, cutting-edge design extremely difficult (if
not impossible). Besides if the design doesn't Just Work, then we've
failed anyway: 99% of users will never customise their panel, let alone
change WM.

Also, remember that GNOME Shell has a bunch of design requirements that
weren't made of the GNOME 2 desktop: an expanded range of target
hardware (netbooks, tablets, etc), embedded messaging, more nuanced and
stylish visuals. You can't fulfill all of these new requirements *and*
cater to all the old ones too. The game has changed, and switching WM or
a UI for panel customisation doesn't fit into that new game.

There will undoubtedly be GNOME 3 users who miss the ability to switch
their window manager or rearrange their panels. I'm sure that nobody
involved with GNOME 3 wants to alienate them. Let's be clear to those
users: we want you to use GNOME 3, and we're sorry that you'll miss some
of the things you've got used to in GNOME 2. But times have changed, and
we want GNOME to be a competitive mass market product. There really
wasn't much of a choice. Even if you do miss some things about GNOME 2,
though, we still think that GNOME 3 has enough exciting new features to
make it worth the switch.

Besides, GNOME Shell actually has some pretty advanced features for
those who want to tinker. Theming seems to be pretty easy, and Shell
plugins can do exciting things. It's just that that side of things
hasn't got going yet.

Allan
-- 
Blog: http://afaikblog.wordpress.com/
IRC: aday on irc.gnome.org