Thursday, August 23, 2012

Gnome Shell 3.6 beta

I've said I like Gnome 3 but I don't think it's perfect. One aspect that is less than perfect is the message tray. Gnome Shell beta has been released today, and I notice that the message tray has been redesigned:

* Implement message-tray redesign:
  - Restyle the message tray [Ana, Allan, Florian; #677213, #682342]
  - Move the desktop upwards when showing the tray [Debarshi; #681392]
  - Add a close button to notifications [Ana, Jasper; #682253]
  - Add a keybinding to toggle the tray [Debarshi; #681392]
  - Make the tray keyboard navigable [Debarshi; #681519]
  - Add dwelling at the bottom of the screen to open the tray [Owen; #682310]
  - Don't time out banners when the user is inactive [Marina, Jasper]
  - Misc fixes and cleanups [Jasper, Marina]

It's good that Gnome has been listening to people's comments, but for Debian users, Wheezy has been frozen and Debian Stable Gnome users won't see these improvements for more than two years of Gnome 3 use. Gnome users wanting to keep up with Gnome 3 developments either need to use a cutting edge distribution like Fedora, or accept getting stuck with a sub-optimal release for years as they read about new developments if they use a distribution with a longer life like Debian Stable.

This is what I have called the Linux Dilemma. I'm pulled both ways- I'm tempted by a stable system but also curious about new developments. It results in me running Debian Stable and Debian Testing on the same laptop, after using Fedora for a couple of versions.

For those similarly curious, worldofgnome.org has a list of updates upcoming in Gnome 3.6, as well as a review with screen shots.


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