When UI Enhancements go bad...

[Cliff Resnick <cresny gmail com>]

I've been using Gnome-Shell for perhaps a year now. For the most part 
it's been an ideal window manager for me, and I appreciate all the 
thought and effort that has gone into it.

However, today, for the first time, I've been forced to "shell-out" in 
order to perform some work. I use eclipse for java development, and 
eclipse likes to use transitional pop-up windows as part of its flow, 
often with one begetting another. These windows are resizable and 
eclipse remembers their last-use size. Gnome-shell for the past couple 
of months has pinned these windows as a modal stack. I found this 
annoying, but workable, that is, until today when I discovered I am no 
longer "allowed" to resize the top window. Unfortunately the text entry 
portion of this window was collapsed upon, "sized-out", so I had no 
choice but to restart my session in an earlier version of shell and 
finish my work.

I have to admit I am dismayed at how some of Gnome-shell's more recent 
enhancements have become more restrictive. I have noticed some of the 
look-and-feel ideas seem to be borrowed from OS X, the modal pinning 
almost an aping of same feature on the Mac. As I said, I go along with 
these because I appreciate the product as a whole, and all the imposed 
artistic licence that entails, but hey, there are reasons I prefer a 
Linux GUI environment to Mac, namely among them freedom to do as I please.

As it stands, I will revert to the Ubuntu 10.10 apt version of 
Gnome-Shell and check back to see what the future holds.

Thanks,
Cliff