Breaking News: Fedora 15 *Beta* leaked! Now with desktop icons!
The Alpha release of Fedora 15 is expected to hit the news on a few hours (the torrents are already up if you think it is a reason to hurry), which makes this leak even more sensational, as the Beta release is scheduled in about one month from now.
It was leaked from trusted sources the biggest feature that will hit the code in the meantime, based on user feedback, and the info is certain, it is proved by the screenshot below, taken from actually running code: icons will be returning to the GNOME 3.0 desktop.
The info is even juicier, not any icons will be provided but the default install of the Desktop (GNOME) Live CD will come with the set of icons which are more useful for any desktop user, shortcuts for downloading and installing proper desktops, like KDE, Xfce and LXDE and also for wiping the Linux partitions.
Unfortunately a large-scale user survey revealed most new potential users will choose the last option (returning to Windows), after the suicidal moves that happened inside the GNOME desktop with the migration from the 2.x to 3.x branch, this is why this option is the last in the list, with the hope a few will still remain as Linux users in general and Fedora users in particular.
An unconfirmed last-minute rumor tells until final the list may be completed until final release in May this year with another option, for downloading and installing Ubuntu with Unity, but it comes from a less trustworthy source, so keep it so far only as a rumor.
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I think this joke wont be taken nicely by most people, but it has a share of truth, probably the people that is really used to linux wont go back to windows, but will consider switching to other DEs.
ReplyDeleteBe sure to yum install @kde-desktop I've been trying it last couple of days and if you disable some resource-heavy options it works pretty nicely and has a pleasant look (however mine looks kind of GNOMish right now :P ).
Nice font quality, btw. My freshly updated F15-rawhide looks much worse, and absolutely smаshed by *buntu font rendering(good work, Canonical!). G-Shell feel pretty snappy on my desktop tbh.
ReplyDeleteGNOME user since RH 6.2
yeah! sad but true.
ReplyDeletehaving been a gnome user since forever, after trying gnome 3 for a while I believe i'm going to switch to Xfce or LXDE when upgrading to F15.
This is childish.
ReplyDeleteI do not want to trade fedora for ubuntu, but I shall be forced to do so :(((
ReplyDeleteoh cool!!! this actually makes it usable :))
ReplyDeleteKDE went through this when 4.0 came out. Now it's time they got their users back :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nicu in several areas, but I have chosen to shut up and stay low.
ReplyDeleteIt is too late in the project cycle to make drastic changes. The best thing now would be to get what ever done, stabilize it, and then open up for a debate.
Many things are changing at the moment. Some change factors:
- Gnome3
- GTK3
- KDE 4.x is becoming usable.
- Changes at Nokia.
- The success of Android.
- The potential of WebOS: Shared components of Gnome and KDE.
- New cheap hardware from many manufacturers. Touch screens, embedded, ARM, MIPS, X86, and more.
- The growing usage of Linux desktop and embedded technologies by Asian manufacturers.
- The fast and unpredictable growth of emerging markets.
- The general maturing components and platforms as a whole.
and so on...
Unfortunately there is going to be fewer and fewer places to hid from this interface without jumping ship to another Desktop Environment.
ReplyDeleteUnless somebody can make Xfce look and act like Gnome 2.xx!
I've been using KDE on Fedora 13 for a while and it works great, even though my machine is not the fastest horse in the stable. Been stable enough for me so far.
Sometimes I feel like the only person in the universe outside the development team who actually likes GNOME 3. And yes, I have used it. I'm not convinced by everything - I think the window decorations and GTK theme are pretty horrible, and the removal of the UI for configuring suspend-on-lid-close really seems to have raised some valid concerns, but GNOME Shell itself is awesome. Maybe not completely awesome in 3.0, but it'll happen with .2 or .4. As people have mentioned, KDE 4.0 was terrible.
ReplyDeleteAnd I tried KDE 4.6, and that was still terrible for me. Felt too much like Windows Vista. I love that GNOME are trying something different. I love that Canonical are too, although I don't get on well with Unity. That's why we have choices on the Linux desktop.
And remember, GNOME 3 and Fedora 15 still ship with gnome-panel and you can still use it if you prefer.
@dragonbite: i think Xfce will get there, in maybe a couple of years or so, which is too long
ReplyDelete@Matt: KDE 4.0 was not forced as a default in Fedora. The fallback panel is good for nothing, is just a poor resemblance of the 2.x panel, without any use and in the time remaining the developers announced their plans to make it even more like the shell.
ReplyDeleteYou're killing me brother. I saw this, laughed, and got soda on my keyboard. I am trying to work over here, stop it =).
ReplyDeleteLol, lucky didn't drink anything while reading this :-D Nice troll.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I see the point here.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't like Gnome 3, you can...
1. Not use it.
2. Contribute to making it better.
I've followed your blog for as long as it's been on Planet Fedora. I've seen the good work you've done for the community.
What do you expect to gain by posting such a negative message?
wakko: The impression gnome devs created is however slightly different — With gnome 3 you can:
ReplyDelete1. use it and shut the f... up
2. get lost (and possibly contribute to make different DE better)
Hence all the negative responses (just skim through fedoraforums.org and you'll see there's a ton of them).
@Martin -
ReplyDeleteConsidering that Gnome Shell has been in preview mode since *at least* Fedora 12 (i.e. more than a full year), why weren't these concerns voiced when Shell actually _was_ being designed? Why is it that the backlash is happening now and not 12+ months ago when it could have actually made a difference?
I can certainly understand that Shell is a big leap in a new direction, and that direction is not going to appeal to everyone. I get that, and disagreeing with the direction isn't a bad thing. I love to see healthy, productive discussion over the merits of design choices.
However, I find it more than a little disappointing that people who are, in all other respects, active contributing members of OSS appear to have failed to participate in the very open design and development process of Gnome Shell. So, now that the work has been done by others and the product is ready to ship, now is when everyone else is finally ready to contribute to a different design? Seriously?
Sorry, but I fail to see why the Gnome devs should be held responsible for everyone else not being interested in helping out when Shell was actively being designed, discussed, mocked up, and developed. At this point, I can understand why they're not really interested in fielding complaints for something that they've spent the last one to two years working on.
Gnome 3.0 isn't perfect (I like where it's headed, but I don't feel it's fully "baked" yet), just like KDE 4.0 wasn't perfect, and Fedora 1 wasn't perfect. That's life. We'll iterate and keep making it better. My recommendation is to look forward at Gnome 3.2 or 3.4, and identify how you can help Gnome improve on the tremendous amount of work they've already done.
Your text isn't centered under the icons. Should I file a bug?
ReplyDeleteAlso I would align to a grid, keep at least 1em of horizontal space between text blocks, and align the baselines. Visually the text below the icons is too far from them compared to the size of the outer bounding box of the icon/text pair. Tighten up the distance between the icons and text or better space the icons out farther. You might even want to consider center aligning the icons on the screen. Hope that helps.
ReplyDelete@wakko: for over a year we tried to make our voices heard but the GNOME developers just refused to listen, any criticism was dismissed as "stop energy".
ReplyDeleteif the shell is not ready yet and we have to wait until 3.2 or 3.4, then it should not be the default in Fedora yet, we should stay with a sane default until the alternative is good enough.
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ReplyDeleteWe should not send them back to Windows, but effectively this is what we do by offering a broken desktop. If was not for the freedom, but only about technical merits (and most of the new users don't care about freedom), even Windows XP is a much better desktop compared with GNOME 3.
ReplyDelete@wakko: The main thing that should be worked on is a working and fully functional "classic mode". I am no fan of Microsoft, but they did include a "classic mode" in their OS.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of users that do not want changes. My mother will demand a Windows computer if I give her Gnome3. The shell might become nice, but it should be a choice of a traditional desktop for the ones who want that.
It looks like the shell needs a lot of work to fit in to a conservative business setting. I can not see where companies like Red Hat and Novell is going with this.
A classic mode would have made me and my old mother happy. :-)
Just installed ubuntu 10.10. I think it should be good for about 3-4 years in the current state, so I'm just going to wait it out and hope microsoft starts giving away windows for free in the meantime.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous: so are you planning to stay 3-4 years with Firefox 3.x, OpenOffice.org 3.3, GIMP 2.6 and many other apps that will have useful feature release in the meantime? If that is your option, go for it... I for one need the new features.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention Ubuntu 10.10 will stop getting security updates in April 2012, so using it for 3-4 years is seriously *not* recommended. If you want to use a distribution for that long, use RHEL 6.0 (or a free clone; right now, Scientific Linux is your best bet), and find backports for commonly used apps like Firefox and Open/LibreOffice.
ReplyDeleteDesktop icons ? the ones that you always have too many of because you think if you put something on the Desktop you won't forget about it but forget that the Desktop is always covered by a maximized window ?
ReplyDeleteMaximized windows? only if i am away and doing casual browsing or some urgent Inkscape work, for something else is overlapping on a large wide screen, with icons handy to be dragged in the application window
ReplyDeleteThis one has even been picked up in a 'serious' post:
ReplyDeletehttp://mybroadband.co.za/news/software/19021-Fedora-shows-off-Gnome.html
MuahMuah
i don't understand, the article author didn't get this is a joke and the image made with GIMP?
ReplyDeleteFacebook goes through this negative spin every time they change the UI. Why should Gnome be any different. You guys are going to feel stupid about these comments when you finally break down and LEARN Gnome 3 and find you're loving it.
ReplyDeleteI see the facebook users annoyed more and more by the changes... but you compare apple to oranges, one is a company product and the other is a community project. And guess what? there are alternatives to GNOME
ReplyDeleteCool
ReplyDelete