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diff --git a/published/gnome320review.txt b/published/gnome320review.txt index d928006..2f3a9b4 100644 --- a/published/gnome320review.txt +++ b/published/gnome320review.txt @@ -1,34 +1,38 @@ -The Gnome Project recently released version 3.20, which offers an extensive set of new features, but unfortunately for GNOME the project's release schedule is largely out of sync with the big GNOME-base distros. Fedora 24 is still a beta, though it will feature GNOME 3.20 when it arrives later in June, but Ubuntu GNOME users will have to wait (or upgrade on their own) since the recently released Ubuntu GNOME 16.04 arrived too soon to offer 3.20. +The Gnome Project recently released version 3.20, which offers an extensive set of new features, but more importantly, GNOME 3.20 see the project beginning to find its footing again. -To see what the state of the GNOME world is, I took that latest version of GNOME for spin via Fedora's Rawhide release. Because Rawhide is pre-release software, I won't dive into any bugs since it's difficult to tell what's related directly to GNOME and what's related to Rawhide. That said, I did not encounter any major bugs at all, even with Rawhide. +It's been a long road from GNOME 2 to GNOME 3.20 and there's been plenty to complain about along the way -- there still are things worthy of complaint -- but 3.20 is the first release in a long time that feels like GNOME has its mojo back. -GNOME 3.20 doesn't offer a lot of new features for the GNOME Shell environment. Indeed that's been the case for the last couple of releases. While the GNOME developers add a widget here, a darker color there, most of the project's current effort has focused on developing a native suite of common apps to ship with GNOME. Applications like Gnome Software, Maps, Videos, Photos and the Nautilus file manager have received the majority of the attention in recent GNOME releases. +The GNOME Shell interface may not be to everyone's liking, but at least its solid, feature-complete, and much faster than it was even just two release ago. GNOME Shell is still not a lightweight desktop by any means, but it's plenty fast on newer hardware (if you want lightweight, Xfce, LXDE, Fluxbox and Openbox all fit the bill). -GNOME 3.20 is no exception in this regard. While there are some minor improvements to the Shell, it's the applications that have most of the new features. +More important for the future of GNOME though, the larger GNOME ecosystem is beginning to shape up with a very solid set of basic applications to compliment the desktop. -GNOME Software -- which is now the basis for Ubuntu's new Software app as well -- has some nice upgrades, including support for upgrading to new major versions of the operating system. That means all you have to do to update your distro after GNOME 3.20 is installed is head to GNOME Software and select your distro upgrade. GNOME Software also now has support for user reviews, which you can see in action in the recent version of Ubuntu as well (that's actually the only place I've seen them, they're not in Fedora Rawhide's Software app just yet). +GNOME 3.20, which arrived a couple of months back, doesn't offer a lot of new features for the GNOME Shell environment. Indeed that's been the case for the last couple of releases. While the GNOME developers add a widget here, a darker color there, most of the project's current effort has focused on developing a native suite of applications to ship with GNOME. -GNOME Software also now supports xdg-app packages, which paves the way for more secure, sandboxed applications. Xdg-app packages work with Wayland as well and there are in fact a few already available, notably LibreOffice (though not the version you'll find in Fedora's repos). +Applications like Gnome Software, Maps, Videos, Photos and the Nautilus file manager have received the majority of the attention in recent GNOME releases. And the effort is beginning to pay off because GNOME's set of default apps are well on their way to being some of the best applications available in their respective classes. In many cases GNOME's apps are the only app in their class. For example Maps has no real competitor on Linux and GNOME Software stands head and shoulders above its competitors. GNOME Software is good enough that even Ubuntu, which has perhaps the worst case of the NIH disease in Linux, has ditched its own half baked software center for GNOME Software. -GNOME's Photos application continues to progress as well. It's no replacement for Shotwell just yet (unless your photo needs are very limited), but GNOME 3.20 sees the first photo editing features arrive. GNOME Photos can now crop and rotate photos, as well as perform rudimentary color adjustments, "enhance" (sharpen and denoise) and even apply some Instagram-inspired filters. Perhaps most notable is that any changes made using GNOME Photos are non-destructive. The original photo is preserved, always available and any changes can be undone. In a move anyone you email photos to will appreciate, Photos has a new export option to shrink your images down to a more network-friendly size. +GNOME Software has been ticking off features for some time, the most recent being the ability to upgrade to new major versions of the operating system. Yes GNOME Software now makes it easy to upgrade your system using the same tool you use for ever other software-related task. Now that its there you'll be left wondering why this feature wasn't always there. -Considering this is Photo's first foray into image editing the features are actually quite nice and will serve the casual photographer well. +GNOME Software is very well done, but a tad boring. Far more interesting is the rest of the GNOME software suite, particularly Maps, which recently gained the ability to edit place information from OpenStreetMap. It's a welcome feature for mapping nerds sure, but more than that it's nice to see GNOME making the effort to enable users to contribute to community-driven software. + +GNOME's Photos application continues to progress as well. This is one example that's perhaps not quite ready to replace the application it's aim for -- Shotwell. Indeed most distros I've tested still ship with Shotwell, but GNOME 3.20 sees the first photo editing features arrive which should go a long way to closing the gap between Photos and Shotwell. -GNOME 3.20 also brings some new features for the already quite nicely done Maps app. Perhaps the best news for map nerds is that Maps now allows adding and editing place information from OpenStreetMap. You too can contribute to open source maps without leaving the clean, comfortable interface of Maps. Equally exciting, Maps now supports custom layers using most of the common map layer formats like GeoJSON, KML and GPX, which means you can import your own data and work with it without installing non-free, possibly snooping on you, RAM-chewing monstrosity that is Google Earth. +GNOME Photos can now crop and rotate photos, as well as perform rudimentary color adjustments, "enhance" (sharpen and denoise) and even apply some Instagram-inspired filters. Perhaps most notable is that any changes made using GNOME Photos are non-destructive. The original photo is preserved, always available and any changes can be undone. In a move anyone you email photos to will appreciate, Photos has a new export option to shrink your images down to a more network-friendly size. + +Considering this is Photo's first foray into image editing the features are actually quite nice and will serve the casual photographer well. -Maps also has better place popovers with more useful information like phone numbers and web addresses if that data is available (if it's not and you know it, you can add it). There's also support for printing directions, exporting maps as PNG images and support for opening any "geo:" prefixed urls in Maps. Frankly, Maps is so good that even if you hate the rest of GNOME, it's worth grabbing the dependencies just to install Maps. +GNOME's Calendar application has much promise but so far has not delivered on it. There is no other decent calendar application for Linux. There are calendars that are part of monolithic suites like Evolution or add-ons for Thunderbird. But using Evolution just for the calendar is like using a sledgehammer to kill a fly and Thunderbird has been all but abandoned. GNOME Calendar offers a ray of hope in the dismal state of Linux calendars. It's already a great Calendar app, but unfortunately only if you use Google Calendar or OwnCloud. -It's too bad the same can't be said of GNOME's Calendar application. This release does see new support for selecting the calendar you want to save to within the "quick add" popovers, and some additional support for the tasks portion of Calendar. Unfortunately the all import sync system still hasn't been improved. If you use anything other than Google Calendar or OwnCloud you're more or less out of luck. Support for handling calendar files like .ics is reportedly coming in GNOME 3.22. +There is, however, hope on the horizon. Support for handling calendar files like .ics is reportedly coming in GNOME 3.22. -There are a couple of welcome changes lower down in the GNOME stack. GNOME 3.20 adds a more fine grained set of controls for which apps can access GNOME's location services. Previously location services were either an on or off proposition. That's still what's offered in the initial GNOME setup screens, but if you dive into system settings you can control location services on a per-application basis. +GNOME 3.22 will bring with it an even bigger shock for users when it arrives later this year -- Nautilus is getting a new feature. -There's also a helpful new shortcuts window available in some GNOME apps like Nautilus, er, Files, as well as Gedit, Maps and Photos. Hit the Ctrl + ? keyboard shortcut and a window will pop up with all the keyboard shortcuts available, as well as any multitouch gestures. +Perhaps no app draw the ire of GNOME detractors like Nautilus. Once a full featured file browsing app, GNOME developers ritualistically dismembered it, stripping away almost all its useful features to leave behind an empty shell that might, if you begged and were patient, find a file for you. It was so bad that Ubuntu has resorted to sticking with extremely out of date versions and even then had to heavily patch it just to retain the features Ubuntu wanted to offer. -Speaking of Files, nee Nautilus, I'm happy to report that no features have been removed. In fact, it looks like Files might even get a new batch rename feature in the next release, provided hell doesn't freeze over as a result. In the mean time GNOME claims the search feature is a bit speedier, though I didn't particularly notice it in everyday use. +It wasn't even so much that all the power user features were stripped out, it was the willful glee with which it seemed to be done. The condescending attitude of developers in bug reports and mailing lists made GNOME feel like some kind of Orwellian project paternally determining what was good for you whether you knew it or not. -The GNOME Shell interface does gain a couple of new features in this release as well, the most noticeable of these is that media controls are now displayed in the notification area. Provided your favorite media player supports <a href="https://specifications.freedesktop.org/mpris-spec/latest/">MPRIS</a>, you'll be able to control music and videos without diving into a separate app. +That attitude seems to be lessening. Nautilus, or Files as its now know can actually return results for your searches somewhat ahead of the heat death of the universe. Even more exciting there's a plan in the works to add a batch renaming feature to Nautilus in GNOME 3.22. That right, not an improved existing feature but an actual new feature. Grab your coats. -GNOME 3.20 also continues to add Wayland support. Provided your hardware is Wayland-compatible GNOME 3.20 should work on Wayland. +Nautilus sarcasm aside -- and for the record, Nautilus does from time to time get new features -- the recent release of GNOME 3.20 and the plans in the works for 3.22 give the GNOME project solid ground to stand on. If it's been a while since you checked out GNOME, GNOME 3.20 makes a good spot to jump back in and give it a try. GNOME 3.20 is still definitely not a lightweight desktop, but provided you have newer hardware and a decent amount of RAM, it's not the sluggish nightmare that early 3.x releases were. And the application suite GNOME is developing is increasingly impressive. There's still room to grow, but some apps, like Maps are already well worth installing. |