Re: Thumbs up!

[Bojan Smojver <bojan rexursive com>]

On Tue, 2011-04-26 at 00:54 -0700, Adam Williamson wrote:
> Windows doesn't, it has its own fallback mode (it's actually even more
> complicated than that, the Windows 7 shell has several levels of
> complexity and it picks one based on how good it reckons your video
> hardware is).

The point being, Windows looks mostly like Windows. Gnome 3 with
gnome-shell looks and behaves _nothing_ like fallback mode.

> Apple owns the ecosystem, which makes it easier, as
> always.

If I remember correctly, they were doing compositing with eMac (used to
own one) and similar machines, with no hardware acceleration whatsoever.

> The options here are 'completely screw over anyone who can't run
> Shell', 'severely limit the Shell', or 'wait years for absolutely
> every non-Shell-capable-case to be rendered Shell-capable', none of
> which seems attractive.

Another option may be:

- design basic behaviour that is consistent
- accelerate using 3D where possible

This is exactly what Compiz v. Metacity is today.

-- 
Bojan