Mint uses GNOME as its basis. Yes, it uses the Linux kernel or it would not be Linux. Mint with Mate uses GNOME 2.x and adds some ingenious coding to make it work on a GNOME 3 base. Quite remarkable really. Cinnamon is officially a fork of GNOME Shell that uses GTK 3 and modified Mutter (Muffin) and Modified GNOME Shell. If you read the history you will see it is all based on unhappiness with GNOME. They were unhappy with the loss the panel and with stock GNOME Shell so forked it. They were unhappy with Mutter so forked it. They were unhappy with Nautilus so they developed Nemo. How much unhappiness does it take before you get the message?
This was not said to diminish Mint in any way. They have done some remarkable work to break away from GNOME's dumb moves. My point is this. Because Mint uses GNOME and then changes it Mint is at a disadvantage. It is always reactive and cannot be proactive. They must wait for GNOME to move first. For example, GNOME makes a dumb move with Nautilus. Users complain and a version or two later Clem and his team have to change things. That is not a good position to be in. This is exactly why Canonical broke away from GNOME. They had no faith in GNOME so had to go their own way. Unfortunately they still use GTK and some GNOME apps so must react as well, but to a lesser extent. They are developing a Nautilus replacement as well.
Many GNOME users are unhappy and some developers have even challenged whether GNOME will survive. It has lost many users and it is in dire need of revenue. So what happens to Mint if GNOME fails? It is something to ponder. They could keep things afloat for awhile using old versions, but eventually they will have to do something else. Most users are totally unaware of these things. They just use and trust that it will always be the same. I follow them closely. I am sure that Clem does as well. There are just so many questions surrounding Mint that it makes me curious what they will do and how it will affect users. Clem has sat on the fence a lot but his days of doing this are numbered. Things are changing just too quickly.
Ubuntu is ahead of the curve. They took their licking and kept on ticking. Their best days are ahead. I cannot say that for other GNOME based distros. At some point they will have to make the hard decisions that Canonical had to make. I am not sounding the death knell for GNOME. I am just saying things are much worse than most people suspect and it is cause to wonder.
Roy
On Sunday, July 6, 2014 8:20:06 PM, "Loyal Barber loyal_barber@yahoo.com [LINUX_Newbies]" <LINUX_Newbies@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Roy,
I have to take you to task again for unintentional misinformation:
I have to take you to task again for unintentional misinformation:
<snip> Mint is based on Gnome and that means they must follow Gnome's dictates or adapt and Gnome is frustrating a lot of people these days.
Hopefully you mean that Cinnamon or Mate is based on Gnome since the above statement is just wrong. Mint is based on the Linux kernel. However, even the characterization that Cinnamon or Mate is based on Gnome is incorrect. Cinnamon was branched from Gnome some time back and no longer depends on Gnome (current) as such. Mate is based on an older version of Gnome. So saying either Mate or Cinnamon is "based on Gnome" is misleading at best. Saying either must follow Gnome's dictates is just incorrect.
<snip>
Loyal
__._,_.___
Posted by: Linux Canuck <linuxcanuck@yahoo.ca>
| Reply via web post | • | Reply to sender | • | Reply to group | • | Start a New Topic | • | Messages in this topic (9) |
To unsubscribe from this list, please email LINUX_Newbies-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com & you will be removed.
.
__,_._,___
No comments:
Post a Comment