Future for GNOME?

[Will94]

I have been a Mandriva user for a couple of years now and a GNOME user for at least ten. I was very upset to find out that they have gone KDE-only with Mandriva 2011. Upset enough that I am seriously considering switching to Mageia despite having more than a year remaining on my powerpack subscription. Before I do that though, I want to know if GNOME is going to continue to be a part of Mageia's future releases.

Thank you.

[wobo]

To answer your question first: yes, Gnome will be supplied by future Mageia distribution (in the limits of what you can say about the future in general).
Mandriva 2011 focused on KDE, right, but I am sure that you will be able to run Mandriva 2011 with Gnome (either post-install or there will be a Gnome edition by the community before too long).

[Will94]

They have an experimental GNOME release. I am feeling a little betrayed in that I paid for their software and am now being told to download experimental releases. There is more than that issue though. I've been reading reviews of Mandriva 2011 and don't have a good feeling about the future of that distribution. distrowatch.com made a comment that

...it's clear that Mandriva 2011 has departed too far from its roots. In fact, Mageia 1, which resisted the temptation to make large scale changes to its first release, is now a more genuine "Mandriva" than Mandriva itself.

I think that I am ready to make the switch to Mageia. I just wanted to confirm that GNOME had a future with the distro.

Thank you,

Will Newnum
Bryan, TX

[wobo]

distrowatch.com made a comment that

...it's clear that Mandriva 2011 has departed too far from its roots. In fact, Mageia 1, which resisted the temptation to make large scale changes to its first release, is now a more genuine "Mandriva" than Mandriva itself.

Hmm, although I have the deepest respect for Bodnar and his comments, they are still individual comments. With the same insight you can say that Mandriva is taking steps into their future which will have its followers and its critics like everything moving. Mageia was not out for any big changes with their first release but it will undoubtedly steer towards its own future with the second release, resulting in followers and critics. So, I do not really like this sentence about Mageia being "a more genuine Mandriva".

But this is only my personal opinion and while I'm a Mageia advocate I also want to be fair

[dave]

I know that is heresy, but who knows, maybe mageia 2 will be based on gnome and kde will be set aside xD Of course I'm kidding

[stan]

"maybe mageia 2 will be based on gnome and kde will be set aside"

That would get my vote and a GNOME 2.3x release in parallel with GNOME 3.x . Not everyone wants a touch-screen interface on a desktop PC.

[dave]

I think that continuing to support gnome 2.x is not the best choice because sooner or later you have to get used the third release. If mageia contribute in the mainstream with gnome would be a good advertisement for mageia too (a little 'as it has in Fedora 15). Mandriva focuses his energy on kde so mageia can focus on gnome to be THE alternative, and grab all the gnome users that mandriva pull out. I don't say "reject kde" but i say "focus on gnome" because, if i'm not wrong, the MCC is also written with gtk+ toolkit. Mageia+gnome3/shell witha very beautiful and original theme+other stuff under the desktop can be the way to choose.

[stan]

Often the latest is not the greatest. GNOME 3 has come in for much criticism and I believe there's life in the 'traditional' desktop yet. There has been some talk of forking GNOME at 2.3; I'd be interested in playing a part in such a development within the Mageia project. Anyone else?

[gideon]

Hello everyone. I registered just now after finding out about Mageia through www.distrowatch.com/major/ and decided to check out the website. Very impressive so far and great looking site!

Was just about to ask the very same question the OP is. I really don't like KDE and really adore GNOME (haven't tried 3 yet. Not sure what to think by reading about it and seeing videos).

Just want to cast my vote for continued Gnome support and hope it won't be a second class citizen.

Looking forward to installing Mageia tomorrow on my new laptop!

[doktor5000]

Well, then join the packagers and help work on that continued GNOME support

[gideon]

I barely know how to click next on prompts

[dave]

continue using an older version or a fork seems risky. I used gnome 3 for a few months and at the end with some changes and some extension (gnome-shell-extension) it works well, i have a desktop (not laptop or netbook).

[bagel]

In the future,Mageia should support more desktop environment like gnome,kde,xfce,lxde ...,The users are different and they like what they like not the leader like.I didn't use Mandriva before.But when I heard Mageia not supported by any company and total free,I want to give Mageia a try.Thanks!

[genomega]

Gnome is on life support. Just look at the numbers of people working on KDE then compare them to the numbers working on Gnome.

[dave]

In the future,Mageia should support more desktop environment like gnome,kde,xfce,lxde ...,The users are different and they like what they like not the leader like.I didn't use Mandriva before.But when I heard Mageia not supported by any company and total free,I want to give Mageia a try.Thanks!

Welcome, I hope that mageia satisfies your needs

Gnome is on life support. Just look at the numbers of people working on KDE then compare them to the numbers working on Gnome.

You tell about the mageia team or about kde team and gnome team? If you tell about the mageia team, yes kde is the fist DE. I think this is a legacy of mandriva.

[doktor5000]

Gnome is on life support. Just look at the numbers of people working on KDE then compare them to the numbers working on Gnome.

Then feel free to join Mageia packagers to make sure that GNOME is not only "on life support", if you think so.

[drakeia]

I was just thinking that Mageia could focus on KDE as they do in Mandriva.
And before creating a new topic a quick search led me to this thread whose author have quite an opposite statement

Well here is my point:
I stick to KDE since the dawn of Mandrake (v5), some other light DE are fine, but I definitely do not like Gnome (the look is ok but the way the user is treated is not).
This move from Mandriva is annoying for those who prefer Gnome (and I don't want to be mean to them) but, hey, there are plenty of Linux distros out here with Gnome for DE !
And Mandrake started with KDE, Gnome was added later, when they had enough workforce to deal with it.

Taking care of different Desktop Environments means more time for DE and less time & care for the other parts of the distro - at least from the people who contribute to DE and other parts.
This is why I was quite pleased with this decision from Mandriva (KDE only), since they have limited and paid developers. Now they can focus better on their distro.

Maybe this does not apply to Mageia. As stated above by doktor5000 : anyone who wants Gnome can join and help . I guess without slowing down the other works on Mageia.
However I wonder if Mageia already has enough contributors to offer different DE while polishing a quality and innovative Linux distro on the long run.

[doktor5000]

Well, as recent developments in KDE have shown, the way the users are treated is also not the best.
Look f.ex. in solid actions regression, breaking most actions for audio-cd's
Switch to upower removes all power profiles and processor management, one has set that up manually now.
Drag & drop of files to taskbar got broken and not properly fixed even for trunk.
Easy-to-fix bugs with dozens of comments and many votes see no developer action.

It's better than GNOME, but still - this has just become the choice for the lesser evil

[drakeia]

Thanks for your answer doktor5000 but I didn't want to start a KDE vs Gnome war/flame/etc.
I just wrote that, as a personal feeling, I really can't stand Gnome with its UI and many (non)ergonomic choices. I feel constrained, treated like an irresponsible fool. And this is for stable and polished release, not a new broken one with some flaws.
And I know we can have some annoying bugs also with new KDE big release
I really don't want to convince anybody about the objective merits of one DE or another. This is my own user experience and I understand that some others would like to be treated the Gnome way.

The point is that Mageia could have some good reasons to keep only one default DE, mainly for a better focus on distro development, and this DE should be KDE, for historical and "human resource" reasons. (HR reasons: more contributors taking care of KDE than Gnome)

It happens that this DE would be my favorite

[doktor5000]

And this is for stable and polished release, not a new broken one with some flaws.
And I know we can have some annoying bugs also with new KDE big release

No, this is no arguing nor flamewar, just plain fact. Well, it was merely a sidenote.
Also this is for the KDE 4.5.x switch to KDE 4.6.x, where KDE 4.7.x is latest "stable"
and 4.8 coming. So these are also problems a stable and polished release, i fear. And not minor flaws.
But whatever, no hard feelings.

Other than that, choice is always important. Even if it's only for the lesser evil.
But we shouldn't abandon the choice, as that's one of the strengths of linux in general.
Maybe some people don't want a desktop environment, only a minimalistic windows manager?
We shouldn't constraint ourselves to only one when he have many choices currently.

[drakeia]

Other than that, choice is always important. Even if it's only for the lesser evil.
But we shouldn't abandon the choice, as that's one of the strengths of linux in general.
Maybe some people don't want a desktop environment, only a minimalistic windows manager?
We shouldn't constraint ourselves to only one when he have many choices currently.

I agree.
I was afraid that choice - and especially DE choice - could be a burden to the Mageia team of contributors.
(as it seems to be to Mandriva employees)

While I will advocate choice and enjoy Linux for choice, sometimes it can be a luxury that one can't afford on the long run, due to limited resources to maintain the different packages and work on integration.

I'm just asking if this limitation applies to Mageia.

(and considering Mandriva's decision, I'm sure they would have preferred to keep many DE choices)

[wobo]

I was afraid that choice - and especially DE choice - could be a burden to the Mageia team of contributors.
(as it seems to be to Mandriva employees)
While I will advocate choice and enjoy Linux for choice, sometimes it can be a luxury that one can't afford on the long run, due to limited resources to maintain the different packages and work on integration.
I'm just asking if this limitation applies to Mageia.
(and considering Mandriva's decision, I'm sure they would have preferred to keep many DE choices)

The difference wrt this issue:
In Mandriva the availability of a DE in the distribution depends on decisions made by the management of the company, based mainly on economical/business thoughts and limitations.
In Mageia it is not a decision by anybody but a "if->then" consequence: if there are enough contributors for a certain DE (packaging, QA, maintaining) then it will be available in the distribution, if there are not then it will not be available in the distribution. As simple as that, no ideological reasons involved and not depending on the wishes of neither the "leaders" nor the "users".

[gideon]

I was afraid that choice - and especially DE choice - could be a burden to the Mageia team of contributors.
(as it seems to be to Mandriva employees)
While I will advocate choice and enjoy Linux for choice, sometimes it can be a luxury that one can't afford on the long run, due to limited resources to maintain the different packages and work on integration.
I'm just asking if this limitation applies to Mageia.
(and considering Mandriva's decision, I'm sure they would have preferred to keep many DE choices)

The difference wrt this issue:
In Mandriva the availability of a DE in the distribution depends on decisions made by the management of the company, based mainly on economical/business thoughts and limitations.
In Mageia it is not a decision by anybody but a "if->then" consequence: if there are enough contributors for a certain DE (packaging, QA, maintaining) then it will be available in the distribution, if there are not then it will not be available in the distribution. As simple as that, no ideological reasons involved and not depending on the wishes of neither the "leaders" nor the "users".

Great answer. Actually really clarifies the original question/concern of this thread.

If you want GNOME to be a major part of this distro, begging won't do much good. It depends on if you are willing to help out if you have the know-how, and if not, just hope other Mageia users like GNOME enough to help out

[doktor5000]

If you want GNOME to be a major part of this distro, begging won't do much good. It depends on if you are willing to help out if you have the know-how, and if not, just hope other Mageia users like GNOME enough to help out

Exactly!
If you are willing to help, normally you're also willing to learn how to help