Re: Metacity, Mutter, GNOME Shell, GNOME-2.28

[Sandy Armstrong <sanfordarmstrong gmail com>]

On 03/24/2009 11:30 AM, Xavier Bestel wrote:
> On Tue, 2009-03-24 at 13:53 -0400, Owen Taylor wrote:
> > On Tue, 2009-03-24 at 18:33 +0100, Xavier Bestel wrote:
> > > On Tue, 2009-03-24 at 10:28 -0700, Sandy Armstrong wrote:
> > > > On 03/24/2009 08:47 AM, Owen Taylor wrote:
> > > > > Using Compiz to create a GNOME desktop using GNOME applications, the
> > > > > GNOME control-center, and so forth will of course remain possible. We
> > > > > have no current plans to create hard dependencies on GNOME Shell within
> > > > > the GNOME desktop (just as there are no hard dependencies on gnome-panel
> > > > > now.)
> > > > Yeah, but I can still use gnome-panel in compiz.  I understand the
> > > > reasoning here, and don't have any suggestions or anything, but it's a
> > > > bit disappointing that the new desktop experience will be so tied to the
> > > > window manager.
> > > Asking to leave all the compiz goodness will be a tough sell :)
> > What in particular would you miss? We're not looking to take goodness
> > away from you, we are looking to replace it with better goodness (*).
> >
> > - Owen
> >
> > (*) Better here means, in particular, better integrated with GNOME.
> > Hopefully more concentrated on consistent design and usability. Probably
> > not quite as pretty, at least initially. Though there's no inherent
> > reason we can't match Compiz bling for bling; we have access to the same
> > hardware capabilities and a better programming environment.
>
> Admittedly I never tried gnome-shell. When I first tried compiz, I found
> the bling really just that: bling. I used it for a while, then came back
> to metacity - oh the horror ! Once you're accustomed to wobbly windows
> and workspaces-on-a-cube, there's no going back. The feeling of a
> "solid" desktop, with tangible windows is true usability, not just eye
> candy. There's more: non-computer-savvy people can't really grasp the
> workspace concept with metacity, whereas with compiz's cube (or one of
> its variants) it's obvious to them.
> Yes, metacity has a compositor. It's better but still far away.
>
> Of course I'm open to other ways to map my mind to the multiple
> applications running on my desktop, like most. But if gnome-shell feels
> clunky, if it looses the objects-I-can-touch feeling that compiz has,
> it's gonna be a tough sell.

I agree completely with Xav.  I have come to rely greatly on the Scale 
plugin (like Expose in OS X).

There are also several animations that are either helpful directly or at 
least add to that tangibility Xav describes:
* Animations on Window open, close, minimize, and maximize
* Animations on appearance and disappearance of menus
* Animation when moving a window between desktops

I have tried switching to Metacity because I do occasionally experience 
unrecoverable hangs with Compiz's Scale plugin, but I lose too much 
productivity.

I am looking forward to trying out gnome-shell soon so I can give more 
specific feedback.

Sandy