Seems that both Motorola and Google have interest in seeing the Linux mobile footprint evolve. With a combined contribution of $20,000, they are focusing on major changes for GNOME 3. “It will be more than a tweak,” Stormy Peters stated. “It will be the whole user experience, from the look and feel, to how files are managed to how it syncs with your mobile phone — really the whole package. It will be very much a change for users and how they use their computers.“
What’s up with the GNOME Linux Desktop?
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Well, for $20,000 that should just about pay for a new Trash icon. Maybe a cup of coffee, too!
Given that neither Google nor Motorola are known for their stellar UX design, are they really the sort of people we want to see putting design effort into GNOME?
I beg to differ. The UI design of Google Chrome is so minimalistic but yet well thought-out that it fits right into GNOME’s own design philosphy.
I hope by then KDE is halfway polished. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got high hopes for it, but I am starting to wonder when exactly we are to expect the “user-ready” version to arrive.
It wouldn’t be such an issue if it weren’t for the fact that the current distros are all pushing it as if it is ready. Kubuntu 8.10 for instance has made the KDE 4 spin the official long-term supported version….
hope they spend it all making the GTK at least half as good as QT 4…
and the rest will came
I assume that Nokia’s purchase of Trolltech, the company behind Qt, is pushing Motorola to become more interested in having a say in one of the free software toolkits.
But 20,000 is peanuts and will not get you very far. What would be truly revolutionary and ground shaking would be for Gnome3 to start from scratch reusing much of the power already built into Qt. Yes, different languages and a painful transition, but we would really stand a great chance of accomplishing a common desktop experience if we started building on shared technology.
How likely is this to happen? Not very likely at all, but one can dream.
By the way, seeing the experimental route that KDE followed with KDE4, I would not mind Gnome not leaping into the “let’s rewrite it all again” mindset and keeping the cumulative improvements that they have been delivering. I think there is lots of room for improving the existing desktop without a rewrite.
Edited 2008-11-06 15:53 UTC
It’s the latest in a long line of activity and initiatives that we have seen since the turn of the century…….and nothing has happened. Gnome has had plenty of sponsors and benefactors being appointed to various boards of directors and very little of any substance has been coded as a result of it.
Why they then decide to talk about KDE 4 in that article is beyond me because I don’t think it is relevant to the subject, and the rest after that seems to be some reassurance that Gnome 3 is happening when GTK 3 isn’t even on the drawing board, let alone coded and ready for Gnome 3 to be developed with.
Do they? I thought that the people who wrote the code decided what happened?
I don’t think you have the first clue what it will be, and that’s why I have a problem with projects who have a lot of these ‘advisory’ boards and committees that decide nothing in reality.
Two industry giants (one filthy rich and another hanging in there) combine forces and show their resolve to support GNOME with $20.000 🙂
What will GNOME do with all that money?
– Windows 98 inspired overall face lift?
– Windows XP inspired blue borders for all windows?
– Late jump to the Dock wagon since next windows will have it?
My money is on blue window borders.