GNOME goes PC-BSD

GNOME is going the PC-BSD way! Its developers are planning to implement sandboxing like the PBI package format.

So why not just move to PC-BSD and abandon Linux altogether? Recently they've received only negative critics about the GNOME Shell from the Linux community.
 
Have you tried the MATE desktop? As another desktop environment forked from GNOME 2, it's very complete. Although, its Linux version is better because it has actually more packages by default, in fact, all these missing applications could be ported to FreeBSD. His first developer, @mezz@, is doing great work over this. Now he is busy with other stuff, but hopefully when MATE 1.8 release is ready (according to MATE's roadmap the date is unknown) he will start to port it again.

Also, here you have a thread related to installing the MATE desktop on PC-BSD.

For details, see the following links:

http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=29727
https://github.com/jlmess77/mate-ports/
 
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Personally I don't actively use PC-BSD but have one installation for reference purposes. PC-BSD's development is remarkable as it incorporates some very interesting concepts (pc-systeminstall, the radical move to ZFS, the PBI packaging or the mere merciless development pace).

We install and maintain FreeBSD Desktops for customers with either GNOME or KDE. However, as long as some key problems are not solved (Optimus, ACPI) I still rely on OS X for the everyday work on my MacBook - probably like many people in this forum.

I am interested in GNOME 3 because it has much in common with Windows 8. As people move more and more to it, it would be easier to convince them to switch to FreeBSD with GNOME 3, as it looks more 'modern' than GNOME 2 or KDE. As for MATE, yes I tested it, but it is not my WE.
 
The PBI system is actually pretty cool because it allows all dependencies to be stored with individual applications in a neat self contained prefix.

What GNOME 3 obviously plans to do is create an "App" system like iOS, Android and Metro. This is not really the same thing as PBI and is going to be really gimmicky and horrid. No doubt the apps would need GNOME 3 specific code to fit in with the system which means that there won't be that many apps because quite frankly not many developers (or users) actually use GNOME 3. Think of this more like a glorified KDE plasma widgets.

Has GNOME 3 ever run on a tablet yet?
 
vanessa said:
So why not just move to PC-BSD and abandon Linux altogether? Recently they've received only negative critics about the Gnome Shell from the Linux community.

I don't see this happening in the near or far future: GNOME is so much Linux-tied that abandoning such platform will cause a revolution.

Anyway, the idea seems to me to provide a kind of app store, rather than creating a new Linux packaging.
 
Don't know - never tried it on a tablet.

As I understand it, the concept and the main advantage of the 'sandboxed' apps is that every piece of software comes with all the needed libraries compiled-in, which guarantees that it will run on the target system in all circumstances. This is a huge advantage for end users, who have zero knowledge of computers and even more valuable for support staff keeping their phones 'call-free'.
 
vanessa said:
So why not just move to PC-BSD and abandon Linux altogether? Recently they've received only negative critics about the Gnome Shell from the Linux community.

Because we don't want it ;)

Gnome Shell has received negative critic from the Linux community (including less technical users) because it is flawed and awkward to use.
 
da1 said:
Lennart Poettering style ? :D

Oh, yes! It's quite hard to forget his declarations about FreeBSD health status. (A big laugh) it's impossible to believe that's still alive :e

Despite it's an old personal opinion, he keeps it today or tomorrow, I don't care. I don't trust any assertion/declaration/opinion written by hands of this kind of people (Poettering & friends) regarding FreeBSD status. Their envy is obvious (can be safely ignored forever) and for this reason it doesn't deserves to be taken into account. Just my 2 cents ;)

PS. I try to be honest.
 
cpm said:
Oh, yes! It's quite hard to forget his declarations about FreeBSD health status. (A big laugh) it's impossible to believe that still alive :e

Despite it's an old personal opinion, he keeps it today or tomorrow, I don't care. I don't trust any assertion/declaration/opinion written by hands of this kind of people (Poettering & friends) regarding FreeBSD status. Their envy is obvious (can be safely ignored forever) and for this reason it doesn't deserves to be taken into account. Just my 2 cents ;)

PS. I try to be honest.

They're envious because Linux has lost sight of its original intent and turned into a mess. Say no to poettering-warez. :)
 
zspider said:
They're envious because Linux has lost sight of it's original intent and turned into a mess. Say no to poettering-warez. :)

I Agree. I don't intend to convince anyone about to use or not use Linux, but I have one thing very clear: Say no to Poettering's code :p
 
zspider said:
Say no to poettering-warez
cpm said:
Say no to Poettering's code

I suggest we say no to Poettering full-stop. We don't want him breaking our lovely manpages or handbook once we deny him access to our code ;)

I can imagine it now:

Poettering said:
Wouldn't it be innovative and cool if the FreeBSD handbook was converted to a MySQL database which can then be queried with SQL. We want this to be accessible right from the start, so much of MySQL should be added to the core kernel...
 
It's quite reasonable. I don't mind that brainless people as Poettering and friends can lucubrate. All of them are gossips ;)

Bah! I prefer to stop the game. I'm sorry for the noise.
 
I hope you're just joking/trolling. The BSD license explicitly allows anyone including Mr. Pottering to take "our code" and modify it and re-release in the form they wish as long as the original copyright notice is intact.
 
Can't FreeBSD instead use the BSD 3-Clause with Poettering Exception License?

kpa said:
I hope you're just joking/trolling
Yes, I am only kidding. Since the guy hasn't ever engineered software I actually appreciate, I am more than happy to let him carry on. Practice makes perfect after all.

As for gossip. I sure like this recent Bugzilla thread regarding GNOME 3 (https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1019405)
 
kpa said:
I hope you're just joking/trolling. The BSD license explicitly allows anyone including Mr. Pottering to take "our code" and modify it and re-release in the form they wish as long as the original copyright notice is intact.

His code is very crappy (assertion of past/present/future). Anyway, avoiding forms of linuxism throughout is a goal, don't you think?

kpedersen said:
Can't FreeBSD instead use the BSD 3-Clause with Poettering exception License?

Well, this could be an ace in the hole :)
 
You are just as bad as the fanboys of the opposing camp, I didn't expect FreeBSD users to sink this low so soon.
 
kpa said:
You are just as bad as the fanboys of the opposing camp, I didn't expect FreeBSD users to sink this low so soon.

@kpa, please, don't take this as a gossip. I know that criticism to others is a pending subject, not a lost cause. A bad day can have it either :r
 
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kpa said:
You are just as bad as the fanboys of the opposing camp

I have nothing against Linux. GNOME 3 is an abomination however and it amazes me when people defend its failures. Can I even be a fanboy if I slate a single piece of technology rather than pushing my alternative of choice? (which is CDE or dwm BTW) ;)

My only fault in this discussion is using Poettering as a face to blame. Really I imagine that a lot of people on the GNOME 3 project have made very bad decisions. Such as:

  • Making GNOME target Linux only (unportable).
  • Changing GNOME in such a way to require retraining. Effectively killing GNOME and replacing it with another DE entirely.
  • Making GNOME so graphically intensive (when open-source 3D support is still poor).
  • Breaking other projects by making many dependencies GNOME 3 centric (thus unportable).
 
@kpedersen, leaving aside the already known WMs (such as KDE, GNOME and WMs bifurcated of them). Seriously, which one do you recommend to give a try? Of course, you should think of an answer to give for a former user and using only WMs that could be good competitors ;)
 
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Hmm, a tricky one. Suggesting alternatives is actually not very straight forward. Which is why GNOME 3 annoys me so much ;)

Well KDE kind of lost its competitiveness as a workstation DE once 4.x came. Xfce 4 and LXDE still don't have all the utilities required for a desktop environment. CDE also lacks a few required utilities in this respect. All the many WMs are not desktop environments (by definition). Newer DEs like MATE or Cinnamon don't seem to have the developer manpower or the userbase at the moment.

So, all in all, I recommend... GNOME 2.
 
Your point of view is very acceptable. Certainly, that GNOME 2 is pretty usable but maybe on Linux. I tried it sometime ago on FreeBSD and I didn't like it anyway. It's to note that it was ported from penguin's code.

As quoted in a ZDNet article about FreeBSD’s desktop efforts (yes, a rather old article).
One problem that FreeBSD developers have faced is that GNOME developers tend to be focused on Linux, rather than considering other desktop operating systems.

And to top, this recent article about the problem with GNOME 3 that it's focussing on Linux environment (this might interest you, @kpedersen).
 
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kpa said:
I hope you're just joking/trolling. The BSD license explicitly allows anyone including Mr. Pottering to take "our code" and modify it and re-release in the form they wish as long as the original copyright notice is intact.

Yes he can and he can keep his frankenstein creations on his side of the fence.:p
 
cpm said:
I Agree. I don't intend to convince anyone about to use or not use Linux, but I have one thing very clear: Say no to Poettering's code :p

I would of have double quoted this in one post, but Opera's clipboard is glitching out.

I don't think anything good would of come of Linux not being, or ceasing to exist, if people want to use it that's fine, that's their choice, but I'm not going to be PC when it comes to the realities of Linux or Poetter-warez either.
 
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