Experience feedback

[Wouter De Borger <w deborger gmail com>]

Hi designers,

I joined this list to give you my opinion about gnome 3.
I'll first give the good news and then the bad news. 

First of all: I love the software architecture. The _javascript_ integration is great. 
It allows me to customize the shell, just as I customize my bash shell.

Second: it takes some getting used to. Initially there was a lot I didn't like, as I'm a very conservative person. But I learned to like many things, especially the overlay/shell view is great. It does away with the need for gnome-do. 
 Some things I never learned to like, so I changed them (such as alt-tab over all desktops, it doesn't work for me, I use each desktop for another task I'm working on. Each desktops has some browsers, some editors, some terminals and some more. Alt tabbing between browsers just doesn't work, as it breaks the context) 

Third: I hate the way you paternalize me. I acknowledge the fact that you are infinitely superior to me as UI designers. Really, I suck, you rule. But you should acknowledge that I know my particular situation much better than you will ever do. So I get angry  when I read things like "But specifically for shutdown we do think that suspend should be encouraged.  It is the easiest way to use your system.". I assure you, to me, it is NOT. If I want to shut it down that is for a reason. So don't tell me what to do, you don't know anything about my situation, so you can't draw any conclusion.

The same problem is in the UI: many configuration options have gone. I can't even move icons on the panel, I can't add content to it. When I read about it, it seems that this is a feature and not a bug, to get a more uniform experience. While, for you, as a designer, uniformity over the userbase is a 
requirement, you should acknowledge that for each individual member of that 
userbase, it is not. Each one of us has specific needs. So don't try to sell uniformity as something that benefits 
me. It doesn't, it benefits you. 
And to make it absolutely clear, I think you have the right to do as you want. You work on it, I just use it. But 
please, don't tell me you do it for me. It just makes me angry. 

So my general conclusion is: great job, but if you really intend to make common tasks
 easier, you should acknowledge that for a part of the userbase 
customization is a common task. And while the _javascript_ integration allows unprecedented power for customization, the current design makes small customizations very hard. 

I hope I didn't hurt any feelings. I really appreciate the work you do. I tried to express my discomfort as well and polite as I could. I hope this feedback is useful and may help you understand the outraged responses you get from a lot of people. 

Wouter