GNOME Panel dropped in 11.10

[Bilal Akhtar]

Hello there!

As you've said, in Ubuntu 11.10 users will have the option to install
GNOME 3 + Shell instead of Unity. One thing to note is that GNOME Panel
hasn't died (yet), its still being actively developed as a GNOME Shell
fallback for systems with GPUs not being able to run GNOME Shell. GNOME
Panel 3 will be in the Ubuntu repositories in 11.10.

So what this means for you, is that you will *still* be able to use
GNOME Panel 3 in Ubuntu 11.10 and later. All you would need to do is
install the gnome-panel package and choose the appropriate session at
login. The experience will be very much similar to that of GNOME2. The
only differences will be the fact that GNOME Panel looks like [1] as
GNOME Developers have made it look and feel as much similar to Shell as
possible.

FOSS is all about choice. If you dislike Unity, you have a ton other
options. But changing DEs doesn't mean changing distros, GNOME Panel
(and also Shell if that's what you want) will run perfectly under Ubuntu
11.04, 11.10, 12.04, 12.10, ..................

Bilal Akhtar

[1]
http://www.vuntz.net/journal/post/2011/04/13/gnome-panel-is-dead,-long-live-gnome-panel!


On Thursday 05 May 2011 08:22 AM, Francis Bolduc wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm not certain if I'm writing in the proper mailing list. If it's the
> case, kindly direct which one I should express the following concern.
> 
> I've been using Ubuntu since 5.04, so it's been a good 6 years now
> that I'm with Ubuntu at home and at work. I chose Ubuntu for my
> desktop computers because I'm a software developer and I like to have
> updated development tools every 6 months and also because of it's
> unsurpassed hardware support. I enjoyed small improvements in
> usability that happened over time, such as Compiz (which allowed me to
> zoom with the mouse wheel) and the excellent NetworkManager applet. As
> you can imagine, I like to keep my interface minimal and text-based (I
> don't recognize programs by their icons), so GNOME Panel was perfect
> for me because I could remove everything and only keep what I need.
> 
> Yesterday, I upgraded to 11.04 and discovered Unity. At first, I was
> at a loss, but I sorted out pretty quickly how it works so you've done
> a great job at making it intuitive. However, I found out that it can't
> be customized, that is, I can't make it minimal and only keep what I
> need. But worst of all, I can't see which applications are currently
> running, nor can I switch between them without bringing the
> left-side-launcher (don't know what it's called) to view and then
> having to scan a big icon column that I don't recognize. At that
> point, I realized that Unity was meant for laptop users with
> small/touch screens and not for me. So I switched to using the "Ubuntu
> Classic" session and everything was fine.
> 
> Then, I started reading about Unity on the web. I found out that in
> the next version of Ubuntu, the "Ubuntu Classic" session will be
> dropped, leaving me with a choice between Unity and GNOME 3. Not
> knowing what GNOME 3 was, I decided to try it that same day. To my
> dismay, I realized that GNOME 3 comes with GNOME Shell and it suffers
> from the same flaws as Unity (those listed above). Finally, I was
> shocked to learn that GNOME 3 will not include the GNOME Panel I like
> so much.
> 
> I'm left with this dilemma. Neither Unity nor GNOME Shell fits my
> needs. What am I going to do in 6 months?
> 
> Am I missing something or the interface and the workflow I've been
> using, and depending on, for the last 6 years is endangered?
> 
> 
> 
> References:
> 
> Mark Shuttleworth said:
> "we have the Classic desktop fallback in Natty, but will not in Oneiric"
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unity/+bug/739812/comments/5
> 
> GNOME said:
> "the GNOME 3 experience will not include the panel as it was in GNOME 2"
> http://live.gnome.org/GNOME3Myths
> 
> --
> Francis Bolduc, B.Sc.
> 


-- 
Bilal Akhtar - Ubuntu Developer <bilalakhtar at ubuntu.com>
IRC Nick: cdbs

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 554 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
URL: <https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-discuss/attachments/20110505/009a5bc0/attachment.sig>