Return of the GNOME – Linux Bringing Back Desktop Environment

Linux users don’t like the newest version of the GNOME desktop, the GNOME 3. They have expressed their sentiments on forums and elsewhere on the internet. With Ubuntu, MATE and Cinnamon offering better desktop user experience, it is no surprise that people were drifting away from GNOME 3. Yet, the GNOME project recently unveiled its plans to work on a new ‘classic’ mode which would return the desktop environment to its roots.

A Surprising Development

Given the fact that most users weren’t pleased with the truckload of changes the project made to its latest version, it is a surprising development. Perhaps the folks running the GNOME project have realized that it was the original, classic design which was the reason for its growing acceptability. According to the official statement made by the project, the classic mode would be in line with the features and functionalities available on GNOME 2.

People Love Old-School GNOME

This isn’t the first instance where the GNOME makers have acknowledged the fact that people prefer the old-school GNOME environments to the new one. It was evident from their decision to remove the ‘fallback’ mode from the upcoming version of GNOME, 3.8. The fallback mode is for users who cannot use the 3D rendering provided by the desktop environment on GNOME 3.4. Using fallback, they can instead view the interface in 2D.

One of the developers involved in the project went so far as stating clearly that they realize the people love the older versions of GNOME. He further stated that the makers would try and incorporate the features which made it successful in the first place in the classic mode. As of now, the plans for the GNOME project are to unveil extensions which would enable users to turn the classic mode on. There is no doubt the Linux users would be eager to hear more about it from the makers soon.

[Images via it.wikipedia & windows7themes]