15 March 2011

The Thunderdome - A GNOME Wars Comic

thunderdome - retarded gnome

Watching the FOSS blogosphere, is pretty much like news television before some elections: two sides throwing mud at each other, trying to win you on their side, but in the end, no matter who wins, you still be screwed. Really, as in politics the lesser of two evils is still evil, in GNOME the lesser of two retards is still retard.

And as in politics the people reaction is not to vote, also in software it can be not to upgrade. Honestly, I don't care what will happen in the Ubuntu camp, but I am pessimistic about the Fedora camp: even if the users revolt for, pulling a number completely out of my ass, only half of the regular downloads, the poisonous people won't get fired, they will talk their employer into the excuse as a normal trend of people moving to mobile device and will make it even worse.

18 comments:

  1. Realy I agree that gnome-shell has terrible design bugs but nicu you are...
    trololol

    ReplyDelete
  2. when the answer to your complaints is "deal with it", you do what you can.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your metaphors are really nice ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank god gnome 3 and unity aren't the only options ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. hahahahahaa Good One. Well, at least for me, I never Liked Gnome very much. And now this is coming... C'mon, 3D effects support mandatory for Gnome Shell and/or unity?? if you have a strong enough computer for that, then use KDE. those two contenders up there in the comic suck badly :S

    ReplyDelete
  6. Salut... Si eu sunt fan de Fedora, si linux in general. Traiesc in Elvetia de 7 ani si sunt administrator système unix. Am un site internet www.tuxgeek.org si as vrea sa stiu daca esti interesat de o colaborare pentru a deveni editor pentru situl meu ?! Nu am avut nici o data sansa sa dau de romani interesati de linux. Daca te interesaze trimite-mi un mail (linuxhackk[at]gmail.com)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'll reiterate the comment I made on another blog in response to one of your comments:

    You have a perfectly viable alternative if you loved Gnome 2.x and want to keep it the way it was: EXDE.
    http://exde.org

    They are looking for contributors, and (at least IMHO) your design skills would be of much better use to create the visual identity of your dream DE than in snarky comics (although they can be fun as well :)

    Gnome-Shell and Unity are not for you, every one got it. Now how about growing up, pulling your sleeves and helping those who are making what will ultimately be for you?

    ReplyDelete
  8. EXDE is a project that will die in a couple of months. From what I see, the successor to GNOME 2.x is Xfce.

    What I take problems with the Shell is being pushed down our throats as a default and we being told "deal with it". That's why I have no slightest intention to stop.

    ReplyDelete
  9. > "EXDE is a project that will die in a couple of months."

    Only if everyone thinks so instead of helping. ;)

    > "What I take problems with the Shell is being pushed down our throats as a default and we being told "deal with it". That's why I have no slightest intention to stop."

    But how is that different from any other software evolution?

    In every case, some people "do" and some other "consume". Those who consume never have their say in what the others do, unless there is a customer/provier or employer/employee relationship.

    Neither are the case for this situation, and since (correct me if I'm wrong) you're neither paying the Gnome^WWany FOSS developper nor are their manager, how can you expect anything from any project you use?

    I really don't see how it's different this time and it warrants so much fury, when it's in fact always been the case that those who do get to decide, in a true FOSS meritocratic fashion.

    ReplyDelete
  10. the people steering GNOME now refused collaboration from people not sharing their vision... in a normal software evolution you come with a design, gather feedback and then adjust your design according with that feedback. this does NOT happen with GNOME 3.

    and sorry, you are calling me a consumer of FOSS? i may not contribute punctually to GNOME these days, so what? it is not an island, it is linked with many other software projects.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm not calling you a consumer of FOSS, I said you are (just like anyone else) a consumer of many FOSS projects.

    What I'm saying is that those who "do" do not "have to" listen to those who consume. And in this very specific case, you're part of the latter group.

    I know you are part of the former group in other situations, and that means you can feel free to ignore any of my feedback on any FOSS project you're actually "doing" when I'm only "consuming". I can be disappointed about it, but I won't have any right to flame you for that, unless I put my money where my mouth is and either a) pay you to do what I want or b) fork your project and (try to?) show you how it should be done.

    Right now you're just wasting everyone's time (including yours!) and you won't achieve anything except maybe a few more white hairs and increased chances of a heart attack (all this anger can't be good for you ;).

    Come on, go back to being the Nicu we love, the one who produces awesome artwork for the projects he cares about, and stop worrying about the other ones. (and yes, if you are so disappointed by Fedora and Gnome, just go where you're happy, you'll do lots of awesome anywhere I'm sure, and it's all that matters :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. A project that does not care for its consumers is a dead project, software has no purpose if it does not satisfy its users, even the "scratch the itch" traditional FOSS model is doing that.

    Now GNOME is pretending to cater to new users, to beginners, to consumers (the goal is people on mobile devices, who by definition are consumers) but they to that by claiming they know better from a few books and not listening.

    How can i stay silent then the projects i care about are ruined?

    If I waste your time, then why do you read and comment on my blog? You don't see there is no way to change my mind?

    Now i do seriously think to forget about about FLOSS, Fedora, GNOME and such, John McCann and his buddies pretty much ruined it for me and focus on nude photography with non-free license.

    ReplyDelete
  13. @nicu and bochecha: The problem with EXDE is that right now it seems to be nothing more than announcement and roadmap. So right now it strikes me as more productive to contribute to xfce than either exde or gnome.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Martin is right, GNOME is too big of a project for one person (as EXDE is) to be able to handle it, on the other hand, Xfce is smaller and with smaller goals and already have a team *and* already receiving an influx of GNOME refugees.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I don't understand the panic. From Ubuntu's perspectuve, you are not obligated to use Unity on 11.04. You can still choose Gnome Panel at GDM login.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Yeah, you can delay the upgrade half a year more, then you will still have to deal with the crap

    ReplyDelete
  17. > "How can i stay silent then the projects i care about are ruined?"

    That was my point: you cared about Gnome 2.x (the DE), but not about what Gnome (the broader project and community) is becoming.

    So you can either help prolonge Gnome 2.x (EXDE) or move somewhere else (XFCE) and do something to help either of those projects.

    Right now, it's like you're a teenager whose girlfriend has been cheating on him and you keep bitching about her to all your friends. You've mourn your loss, now move on, forget about her and find a better woman for you. That would be a much saner thing to do, and it could even make the two of you happy. :)

    Cheers, and thanks for the great artwork you've been producing all those years. If you ever decide to leave Fedora (and I hope you won't), you won't be forgotten.

    ReplyDelete
  18. The GNOME project was hijacked by a small group of people, with those people gone it can shine again. It is becoming a monstrosity because of them.

    ReplyDelete