Gnome: The pot calling the kettle black

I received an interesting email recently about one of the Gnome founders jumping ship for Mac, claiming linux has problems with their desktop environment.

Here is the article:

Gnome co-founder explains why he dumped Linux for Mac Miguel de Icaza says desktop Linux 'never managed to cross the desktop chasm'

Please enjoy the following rant:

Honestly, unless he is no longer associated with Gnome in the last few years, it's very hypocritical to say linux didn't bridge the "desktop chasm" when in my opinion, it was largly Gnome's fault for creating a chasm as of late!!

They had gone so far and made such progress to making Linux THE desktop, but then they abandoned it all for Gnome 3, requiring the MATE guys to take over their abandoned project.

Ubuntu was basically the same between 2006 and 2010, and just becoming increasingly stable.  The chasm was all but closed.  Then some idiots at Gnome decided to tear a giant hole in the whole interface.  Simultaneously, Ubuntu decided to go the route of Unity.  Both aligned in the stars to almost destroy desktop linux and put it back to being server software.

That's why I'm so mad lately.  Finally, Mint 14 and the guys maintaining MATE are getting us back to where we were in 2006.  We've regressed 7 years.  2010 things were almost perfect, but now we have the bugs of 2006 again.  2010 gnome-based linux desktops with compiz could know all other OS's out of the water, Windows and Mac combined.  They had the best interface, everything just worked, and it was more customisable than Windows and Mac put together.

The linux desktop has had features for more than 7 years that Windows and Mac have only recently been getting some of.  I can't speak to pre-2006 linux since that's when I got into it, but in 2006, they already had:

1. cube for multiple desktops
2. ring switcher
3. expo
4. app picker
5. you could even wear 3D glasses for added effects!!!!
6. window animations
7. easy-to-configure shortcuts (how do you do virtually any custom shortcuts on Windows or Mac?)
8. etc, etc

This assessment isn't even including KDE, XFCE, LXDE, Enlightenment, and other window managers that have features galore themselves.

The fact is, Gnome is one of the biggest and most popular attempts to make linux a desktop environment.  So a Gnome founder abandoned the very project attempting to "cross the desktop chasm".  How ironic.  That's like a cook complaining he doesn't bake a cake very well and going to the store to get one. Hence, the pot calling the kettle black.

Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with all of the efforts Gnome has made over the years, I am just upset with their recent decision to regress more than half a decade.