We need to talk about GNOME.

I've been planning to make this video for a while, so there we go.
In this video I come out as a GNOME apologist and try to justify all the sins that GNOME developers have committed.

[continuum_mid]

Whenever I use KDE I miss GNOME and whenever I use GNOME I miss KDE.

[krazykat]

I couldn’t care less about what DE or WM someone uses. Linux is all about CHOICE, and if GNOME is what someone chooses then more power to them. It’s none of my business. 🤷‍♂️

[aadityathapa]

Gnome really killed my DE hopping and WM hopping. I used to use KDE plasma but I was doing more customizing rather then doing the job. I love vanilla gnome for its simplicity and usability.

[grfhumpf]

Whenever I think about installing GNOME or KDE, I think again and stick with XFCE.

[derekcope]

Gnome has come a long way, but I'm still happy with XFCE or LXQT.

That feeling when you realize Gnome changed 8 years ago, and you are still calling it "the new Gnome UI" 🤐 Feeling old...

[joschafinger]

When the desktop icons were abolished, I missed them for about a week. By now, I can't stand them.

[sara_m]

tip: turn off the places you don't need to search, from gnome settings, the search will become faster.

[BitPuffin]

Don't try stock gnome! You'll get stock-gnome syndrome!


(just kidding)

[aikiwolfie]

The host is missing a really important point about how Gnome changed when he says "Gnome isn't meant to be used like that". A lot of the users who were using Gnome back when Gnome shell first dropped, had been using Gnome since it's first iteration. What we wanted from Gnome were bug fixes. We got a whole new UI instead. Which wasn't even targeted at the core user base. It was very clearly targeted at tablet users and still is. So Gnome devs burned their core users and just cast them aside. That's always going to leave a bad taste.


Gnome devs then made that situation worse by deliberately breaking compatibility with third party themes. Even with minor updates themes used to break. And there was no good reason for it. And as far as I can remember. Third party extensions were never really meant to be a thing either.


Nautilus used to be one of the most powerful file managers that could be found on a Linux desktop. Now it's been gutted to the point where it can't even create a text file without the user taking the time to create a template first. For a text file. Gnome devs think this is an amazingly powerful feature.


Do you want to deploy a desktop background system-wide for all users? In the old days you could just drop that wallpaper in /usr/share/backgrounds and it'd be there for all to use. Now you need to edit 2 XML config files before Gnome will even see the thing.

[lwgl_xyz]

Gnome has caused me some headache, but its simplicity saved me a lot of headache.

One thing I love is the adwaita theme. Just unifies the system with code editor themes and looks pretty and modern.

[JeFi]

Respect to the Zorin devs for making it usable! I'll stick with KDE though. It's exactly what I want from a DE.

[TrungPham-ryhb]

Moved from GNOME 3 to KDE Plasma. Never look back

[thexavier]

Great video! I don't hate Gnome. But there are somethings which I don't like about Gnome.

1) Very thick title bars/multiple title bars. When I'm opening Firefox, I'll have 1 Gnome bar, 1 firefox title bar and 1 Firefox tab bar. This gives the impression that 1.5 inch of the screen is basically wasted. Also, the title bars in gnome is quite thick by default. I changed it by using Dash to Panel extension
2) The floating side panel thing - I don't like it poking out as it's distracting. The goal of a DE is to be practically invisible but yet allow him to focus on his work.
3) The activities tab - When I press it, there is too much motion and change in the screen. I rather have simple static previewable windows in the bottom. However, Gnome's Alt-tab is fine. I changed it by using the Arc menu extension.

Other than these gripes, I have no problems with Gnome which make it "unusable". There are plenty of keyboard shortcuts for power-users. It's snappy.

PS : I don't use Gnome very often. I use i3 :P

[anlofdeath]

I used to use Gnome, I do like the environment. I was curious about tiling WMs so I tried i3, I love it and prefer the workflow and will probably not go back.

[leonardocafferata]

GNOME: Making "You're using it wrong"TM open source.

[MB_X]

I just can't switch away from gnome. Every time I use a other DE I miss the finish, simplicity en consistentie. I'm currently using Zorin OS( About a weak before that Pop OS also love that os) and love it, I just changed the start menu to the gnome overview.

[Lanzetsu]

HAHAHAHA Man I love your video! I came back to Linux after almost 8 years and that is exactly what happened when trying different distros and DE. At some point I installed Ubuntu and spent 3 DAYS installing extensions, customizing them... and still some things were amiss or at the end it was awesome as I would like but the animations were awful so I turned them off... then I thought on the 4th day when testing Mandriva with KDE "You know what?! Screw Ubuntu with Gnome" and formated the partition, installed Mint with Cinnamon and in 1 hour I did the same I already did in 3 work days of Gnome 3 to make it work like that.
If you ask me Manjaro with Gnome3 come with almost all the important extensions, so you can customize them out the box and feels wayyy better and natural. The fun fact is... why keep beating a dead horse? Why keep doing something one way when most people will go for changing it ASAP? Gnome3 should come by default with at least some options/extensions and try to have them in mind when updating.

[Mmmm_tea]

its more like removing the floppy drive and saying "it's ok because we are working on usb"
don't remove icons if you don't have something instantly ready to replace it with
also I dont want to have to spend 20 minutes on a fresh install to make my DE usable, if I did I would still be using windows !

[MGThePro]

Here are my two cents on Gnome:
Firsly, the start menu/launchpad thing. I don't see how being fullscreen gives it more functionality. Ironically the windows start menu has shown that you don't need a fullscreen menu to include programs, files and web search results. Besides not needing it to be this big, it is simply uncomfortable having all the icons so far apart (most FPS players have fairly low mouse sensitivity, at least csgo players), so that results in way bigger movements to achieve something that is easier in other DEs.

Secondly, other desktop environments also serve its purpose well without a lot of customization (I personally use mostly stock KDE with only minor theming and the start menu closer to that of older Windows versions), but at least those are customizable. Gnome seems like it's hacked together and almost falling apart with the little customizability it has to offer. (and requiring javascript extensions)
And last but not least, I personally believe a DE should be complete with and without keyboard shortcuts. I'm a guy who uses relatively few shortcuts, but with many major and beginner distros using Gnome by default newcomers who are used to Windows (and therefore probably fewer shortcuts) will most likely be struggling when their system is not mouse-oriented.

ps: blah blah not native english speaker, hopefully my point gets across. 100% subjective though, I won't judge gnome users