GNOME 3.8 to drop fallback mode [LWN.net]

GNOME 3.8 to drop fallback mode

Posted Nov 13, 2012 13:37 UTC (Tue) by nye (guest, #51576)
In reply to: GNOME 3.8 to drop fallback mode by freemars
Parent article: GNOME 3.8 to drop fallback mode

>Consider the plight of Windows users. They don't have the option of switching to KDE of XFCE, etc.

Windows 7 is supported until 2020. That means it will have been possible for a Windows user to use the same basic UI paradigm without significant interruption - but *with* incremental improvement - for *25 years*.

Twenty. Five. Years.

None of those projects has even *existed* for that long. Do you think Gnome 3 will still be around in 2020? Anything's possible, but let's say I'd be mightily surprised.

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GNOME 3.8 to drop fallback mode

Posted Nov 13, 2012 15:12 UTC (Tue) by boudewijn (subscriber, #14185) [Link]

KDE was founded in 1996. That means that in 2020 it'll be 24 years old.

Twenty. Four. Years.

Gosh! That's almost as long as Windows!

And it has given its users the same basic UI paradigm -- windows, titlebars, buttons, panel, start menu from 1997 onwards. That desktop will still be around in eight years.

I'll grant you your "interruptions" -- for people eager enough to always install the latest version, instead of going with the supported 3.x versions while 4.x was settling down, but then, living through Windows 95, ME, XP, NT, 2000, Vista, 7 (and 8) hasn't been the bed of roses. Not for users, not for developers.