Re: Module semi-proposal: gnome-shell

[Christian Neumair <cneumair gnome org>]

[orignally and accidentally just sent to Owen Taylor in private]

Dear Owen,

2009/11/2 Owen Taylor <otaylor redhat com>:
> This should be read as a semi-proposal: at this point I don't think
> gnome-shell is going to be ready to be shipped as a final component on
> the 2.30 schedule. But getting it into people's hands is important for
> having it be ready for GNOME 3.

Reading some of the responses, major concerns wrt accessibility,
theming and some other topics regarding "quality control" have been
raised. I'd like to add another one: All the current desktop
components (including the panel) have undergone usability studies from
major companies (Sun etc.) and many individuals. Maybe you could point
out similar usability studies for the shell? A proper investigation of
usability is a prerequisite for not making GNOME 3.0 worse than GNOME
2.30. Most developers just seem to say "try it out" when they are
faced with concerns about replacing a well thought-out system with one
that doesn't seem to be, but didn't we drop this naive kind of
development since the arrival of GNOME 2.0? I have serious concerns
when we introduce a new desktop component with rave and fanboyism, but
without any good arguments.

We have enough polished UIs that do not improve productivity -- just
try out KDE 4! We don't want no other KDE 4!

Another concern:

What happens if GNOME shell does not match the desired quality by the
time of GNOME 3.0, i.e. what is the plan B? Do we delay it? Do we ship
unfinished software that ruins our image of shipping good software?

Finally:

I am not trying to be rude. I am rather trying to explicitly state
some concerns that seem to be under the hood of your very own email. I
am not against changes. I also had some unpublished sketches and
concepts regarding "the desktop I want" [which IMO should work like a
personal life planner, i..e datebook + ..., where ... includes files,
notes, photos, associations with other datebook entries]. It pretty
much seems to be what you mention with the "Zeitgeist (data colletion)
engine to collect a rich view of how the user used their computer over
time". I don't see this kind of data-centric desktop in the GNOME
shell, so I don't see any new concepts but "just" lots of
application-centric UI polish. I just want to see good arguments for a
move to GNOME shell.

best regards,
 Christian Neumair