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First Impressions: Gnome-Shell

While still in active development with many features not yet ready for everyday use, Gnome-Shell is showing a lot of potential. I recently installed the current version available through the Ubuntu 10.04 repositories to give it a test drive. It's not ready for primetime, that's for sure, but it does have some features that I find compelling.

Overview Mode

I use Compiz' multiple desktops using the rotating desktop on all my machines that support 3D acceleration. I typically mentally map where all my apps are in relation to each other so that I can quickly switch to the workspace I need to perform a task. However, I sometimes find myself wondering where I left Firefox open, for instance. Having the option to blow up the whole cube on the desktop is nice, but I found the Overview display of Gnome-Shell to be even better.

Simpler Navigation

For me, anything that reduces clicks is a good thing. The overall interaction with Gnome-Shell as compared to Gnome is just that; simpler. I don't know how to explain this other than to say I was making fewer clicks and finding things much faster than before. I don't understand why people bash this as much as they do. It really did make me work more efficiently than before.

Summary

If you have a test system you can do it on, I recommend giving it a try. I have a feeling it will be integrated more fully at some point in the future for Ubuntu, but for now, I only recommend it for testing or messing around with. I'm sure the community would love to hear your feedback as well, so please feel free to post in the comments!

You can read another user's post here.
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