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jm4 4 days ago

GNOME. You have to install an extension to get a dock at all. Almost nobody runs vanilla GNOME because it's missing basic things. They refuse to have a system tray. I don't particularly like the system tray, but that doesn't change the fact that some apps continue to run the background when you quit them by closing the window. Up until recently, you had to install a system tray extension so you could properly quit programs like Steam. Finally, the GNOME developers added functionality where you can see background apps and close them, but it's hidden behind a few clicks. A clipboard manager is another one. KDE includes it by default. GNOME? There's an extension for that. And the problem with extensions is they always break every single time GNOME is updated.

reissbaker 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

This generally isn't my experience with GNOME.

You have to install an extension to get a dock at all.

No, there's an auto-hiding dock built-in. Pressing the Super key acts like better version of Apple's Expose feature: it shows the windows you have open, auto-opens the dock, and focuses the application launcher search bar so you can just start typing and launch an app.

You had to install a system tray extension

I'm sure you needed to at some point, but (as you mention), that's no longer the case: it's built in by default.

clipboard manager

If you mean clipboard history... That's true. Although macOS doesn't have a built-in clipboard history viewer either, and I never particularly missed having one. There are plenty of GNOME extensions with clipboard history if you want one.

Generally speaking I like GNOME much more than KDE, since GNOME's gesture support is much better than KDE's. I also personally dislike Windows-style infinitely-nesting-menu taskbars, which is what KDE uses, whereas GNOME is more macOS-like (although it has its own, IMO slightly cleaner style... And of course, it's much more modifiable than macOS).

jorvi 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

> No, there's an auto-hiding dock built-in. Pressing the Super key acts like better version of Apple's Expose feature: it shows the windows you have open, auto-opens the dock, and focuses the application launcher search bar so you can just start typing and launch an app.

So, not a Dock.

People don't want their whole desktop to fly everywhere and zoom out when they just want to quickly switch or launch an application with the mouse. They just want to mouse over the bottom of their screen and click.

Same for launching an application via keyboard / doing a calculation / finding an emoji. People just want something akin to Spotlight (think uLauncher on Linux). Something lightweight that pops over and allows them to quickly do the thing, without a lot of visual clutter happening and then happening again in reverse.

samtheDamned 19 hours ago | parent [-]

> People don't want their whole desktop to fly everywhere and zoom out when they just want to quickly switch or launch an application with the mouse. They just want to mouse over the bottom of their screen and click.

for switching between programs, gnome is designed around workspaces instead of stacking and covering windows so you aren't expected to fly into the expose view to switch apps you just swipe to the side to your other program (or scroll in the corner with the mouse, or press meta+alt+left or right).

For launching programs just press meta and type the first couple letters of it's name. This is exactly the same how I open software on windows, and imo it's quicker due to not taking my hands off the keyboard.

I think it's silly to look at a new desktop and be mad at it for not behaving exactly like other desktops. If you grew up using computers that behaved like gnome you'd likely be just as uncomfortable with a stacking based desktop like windows.

abhinavk 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> No, there's an auto-hiding dock built-in. Pressing the Super key acts like better version of Apple's Expose feature: it shows the windows you have open, auto-opens the dock, and focuses the application launcher search bar so you can just start typing and launch an app.

It either requires using a keyboard or moving your mouse to the opposite direction of where the dock appears.

prettymuchnoone 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

bit unrelated, but the newest version of macOS (Tahoe) does now have a clipboard manager

wkat4242 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

They also hide menus under annoying hamburger menus meaning an extra click every time. And have huge fat window handles taking up space for no reason which you can't change. Probably nice if you have a touchscreen but I don't.

Ps gnome doesn't even have a clipboard manager? Wow I use this every day.

jm4 4 days ago | parent [-]

Nope, no clipboard manager. There’s a nice extension called pano with a bunch of ridiculous dependencies that’s loaded with features. The one built into KDE is good enough for me.

GNOME looks great, but it’s just so damn frustrating to use. It’s such a weird combination of attention to detail and a focus on usability while completely missing the mark in other areas. I don’t even mind the intended workflow. That’s fine. It’s the rough edges like the hamburger menus you mentioned, extra clicks, inability to change things I expect to be able to change, etc. You have to install gnome-tweaks just to change the font.

I wouldn’t even mind the extensions either if they didn’t break during every update. Best case scenario is you have to re-enable the extension, log out and log back in. Worst case is it doesn’t work anymore and now you’re missing important functionality that the developers couldn’t be bothered to include.

pjmlp 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

GNOME wasn't like this, I favoured GNOME during the whole Gtk+ vs Qt licensing wars, and even wrote an article to The C/C++ Users Journal as kind of advocacy for Gtkmm.

Eventually with their desired to push JavaScript all over the place, instead of improving Vala, the whole desktop redesign, and the issues that features standard in GNOME 1.0 are nowadays the extension mess you mention, made me don't care any longer.

For a while I moved into Unity, then XFCE, and then nothing, as my Linux usage now is constrained to headless (server/containers), or the consumer distributions of WebOS and Android.

However if I ever going back to having a Linux desktop, it will surely be a decision between everything else except GNOME.

Lio 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I can’t speak for anyone else but I’m quite happy without a system tray.

Having everything behind the meta button works well IMHO.

serf 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

The whole point of the extension system was to get the base install smaller and more minimized for people that don't need the feature -- I think that's an entirely fair tradeoff given how easy extension installs have been early on in gnome3.