Phoronix has it right; I think the GNOME folks exist in some alternate reality. And to be clear, I absolutely love Gnome 3, even more than Gnome 2, which is not a typical stance on these versions. I find the entire desktop environment to be thoughtful, efficient, and cohesive.
Despite how pleased I am with Gnome 3, its original design goals, and its future direction, the thought that Gnome could begin to find mainstream acceptance is absurd. Yes, there are lots of anecdotal evidence of non-nerds successfully using the Gnome interface (some of which is my own) -- predicting a 10% market penetration (let alone 20%!) smells of pure crazy.
Worse, trying to plan for initiatives like this and a full stand-alone Linux distribution diverts already scarce resources away from the main experience and true work that needs to be accomplished in the future. I applaud the unified, bundled apps Gnome is adding, including both apps for normal people (mail, calendar, notes, photos, and music) and highly technical ones like a virtualization clients. These are features of a desktop operating system that need to be in place for it to have a comfortable user experience. Make that a compelling story and more distributions will pick up the platform, contribute to its development, and expand its penetration in the software market. Make it so compelling, easy to use, customizable and easy to integrate into enterprises and hardware companies are much more likely to offer solutions leveraging Gnome.
"Build it and they will come."
Just make the product. You can't force or plan for the world to accept you. Make the best damn interface the world has seen and the users will come. In droves. My fingers are crossed and heart is with you.
Despite how pleased I am with Gnome 3, its original design goals, and its future direction, the thought that Gnome could begin to find mainstream acceptance is absurd. Yes, there are lots of anecdotal evidence of non-nerds successfully using the Gnome interface (some of which is my own) -- predicting a 10% market penetration (let alone 20%!) smells of pure crazy.
Worse, trying to plan for initiatives like this and a full stand-alone Linux distribution diverts already scarce resources away from the main experience and true work that needs to be accomplished in the future. I applaud the unified, bundled apps Gnome is adding, including both apps for normal people (mail, calendar, notes, photos, and music) and highly technical ones like a virtualization clients. These are features of a desktop operating system that need to be in place for it to have a comfortable user experience. Make that a compelling story and more distributions will pick up the platform, contribute to its development, and expand its penetration in the software market. Make it so compelling, easy to use, customizable and easy to integrate into enterprises and hardware companies are much more likely to offer solutions leveraging Gnome.
"Build it and they will come."
Just make the product. You can't force or plan for the world to accept you. Make the best damn interface the world has seen and the users will come. In droves. My fingers are crossed and heart is with you.
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