GNOME 3 Final Released; ‘Made of Easy’

It’s been called a “significant redesign”, and for good reason. GNOME 3.0, released today, looks nothing like the GNOME desktop of the past, and for devout users, a completely new user interface awaits. Gone is the bottom taskbar, and typical menu system. Instead, GNOME 3.0 is designed to maximize screen real estate, look pretty during use, and allow users to be more efficient.

I’ve never been a big fan of GNOME, but 3.0 intrigues me. As mentioned, it’s a complete revamp, so it’s not as though I could use it and then compare it to GNOME 2.x, because both are starkly different. The biggest change for GNOME users might be the total removal of a typical menu system. To launch an application, it will either have to be placed in the left-mounted launcher, or by searching for it by name and launching it that way.

At first glance, GNOME 3 doesn’t look to me like it’d be a more efficient desktop environment to use, but I am going to hold off judgement until I can actually devote time to testing it out. Unlike GNOME 2.x and KDE, the lack of a menu system means that to launch anything not on the launcher bar, you will need to navigate a pop-up box or type it into the search. This automatically is a hit against 3.0 for me, because if your hand is already on the mouse, moving it to the keyboard to type something in is not that convenient.

The overall theme is one of the most attractive parts of GNOME 3.0, with dark, rich colors used throughout. The window theme itself is not dark, however, so it offers a nice contrast. Given that one of the goals of GNOME 3.0 is to offer users maximum space to work, I do find it a little strange that the window title area of each application is rather large in comparison to GNOME 2.x and again, KDE.

At the time of this writing, GNOME 3.0 isn’t quite out, but it’s set to be at 4PM EST. I plan to get the desktop environment a go in the weeks to come, either with my Gentoo install if it becomes available in the repository, or by checking out some other distro that pre-installs it, such as openSUSE. I’m hoping that it’s going to prove as nice to use as it is nice to look at.

Groton, MA, April 6 2011: Today, the GNOME Desktop project released GNOME 3.0, its most significant redesign of the computer experience in nine years. A revolutionary new user interface and new features for developers make this a historic moment for the free and open source desktop. Within GNOME 3, GNOME Shell reimagines the user interface for the next generation of the desktop. This innovative interface allows users to focus on tasks while minimizing distractions such as notifications, extra workspaces, and background windows.