Gnome 2: status?

cbrace

cbrace

Hi all,

The current Linux distro I run on my desktop box and laptop reaches EOL in November. Since it has migrated to Gnome 3, which I dislike, I am looking elsewhere for an OS which still supports Gnome 2.

I am thinking about installing FreeBSD, which up to now I have only run on a server. Is Gnome 2 still available for desktop installations? When is it due to be replaced by Gnome 3?

Thanks
 
bbzz said:
Gnome 2 should be very stable at this point. This isn't linux, nobody forces you to move to gnome 3.
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I think FreeBSD does plan to drop Gnome 2 once Gnome 3 is stable enough. This is because Gnome 3 libraries (that many projects will start using) conflict with Gnome 2 libs, so there is no choice but to drop gnome 2.

So no, don't bother with Gnome 2. All your customizations and education with it will be worthless in probably less than 3 years. This is probably where large businesses who have invested lots of money educating their employees on how to use Gnome 2 will go back to Windows because that has yet to change / regress in such a pointless way.

(Blame the Gnome project for being insane rather than linux or FreeBSD)
 
This was my supposition as well: Gnome 3 would eventually replace Gnome 2 in FreeBSD, as well as other OSs. However, if I thought the process would take three years, I would install FreeBSD + Gnome 2 tomorrow and decide in 2014 what to do. But it won't take that long, right?

I am also very disappointed in what Gnome 3 delivers. To remove so much functionality seems madness to me. I will no doubt eventually end up with one of the alternative WMs, which seems a real step backward, unless of course Gnome 3's "fall-back mode" develops in the right direction.
 
kpedersen said:
I think FreeBSD does plan to drop Gnome 2 once Gnome 3 is stable enough. This is because Gnome 3 libraries (that many projects will start using) conflict with Gnome 2 libs, so there is no choice but to drop gnome 2.
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This is not true, Gnome 2 will stay in ports and will not be replaced by Gnome 3.
You will have the option to install either Gnome 2 or Gnome 3 but not both at the same time.

KDE3 is still in ports...
 
thuglife said:
This is not true, Gnome 2 will stay in ports and will not be replaced by Gnome 3.
You will have the option to install either Gnome 2 or Gnome 3 but not both at the same time.

KDE3 is still in ports...
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As long as there is someone willing to maintain it, sure. But no one can really predict how long that will continue.

Adam
 
We will probably be able to get a good idea by looking at how long KDE 3.5 will stay in ports.

I think it took 3 years for Gnome 1 to die once Gnome 2 came along.

Somehow I cannot see commercial Un*xes (like RedHat, AIX, Solaris) ever settling for Gnome 3, so Gnome 2 might have a slightly longer life-span than usual but it is always better to invest the time in a project that you know will stay around. Atleast most WM are small enough that we can maintain personally if the developers ever go mental so although it is in many cases a massive regression, at least you will not be in for nasty suprises.
 
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