Re: [Usability] How does GNOME 3 compare to Windows 8?

[Szabó Gergely <szg subogero com>]

Hello,

I haven't used Windows8 (never intend to), but I've seen a long demo.

They've fully retained the classic desktop experience for users who do actual
work. Metro, on the other hand, is meant for smaller touchscreens.
One can work with only one user interface at a time. Metro seems to be good
at utilizing screen space.

The two are represented by two disctint APIs, as well, and mobile devices
will retain the Metro API only. This means that you write an application
for either the desktop or Metro, but not both.

Gnome3, on the other hand, has completely abandoned its traditional Linux
desktop user and developer base (a certain Linus springs to the lips), aiming
to be something for mobile devices.

Not that Gnome3 is any good at it. At least Unity realized the importance of
vertical screen real estate, and unified the panel, the title bar and the menu
bar. Whereas on Gnome3 all three eat up a lot of space.

On the technical level, Windows8 is taking over a lot ideas from the last 40
years of Unix, while Gnome3 seems to be abandoning the traditional Unix
values. Configuration in binary blobs for instance.

Best regards
SZABÓ Gergely

On Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 06:47:51PM -0600, Brian Cameron wrote:
> 
> I am curious if anybody has had any thoughts about how GNOME 3 compares
> to Windows 8.  Sorry if this has been blogged about and I missed it.  I
> believe Windows 8 is available in beta.  I heard it is faster than
> earlier versions of Windows.