[franee]

Yup unity was what spelled the end for the Ubuntu wave. I think this has been the single biggest mistake they made. I think it will take at least a decade again to bring the linux desktop to the masses.

Gnome 2 was perfect for people coming from windows moving over. Gnome 3 is like windows vista.

Me personally, I was really disappointed (of course you can install gnome 2 etc). But at the end of the day you just want something that works out of the box.

[neuronic]

> bring the linux desktop to the masses

I am dumbfounded that people still see this happening at some point.

[derekp7]

I saw a quote somewhere from Linus Torvalds that Chrome OS may end up being the future Linux desktop, once they finish polishing off their Linux app integration (Project Crostini). I'm able to actually get most of my work done now in that environment.

[hn_throwaway_99]

Was just about to post this. I was looking for my next laptop after I got so frustrated with the direction MacBook Pros we're heading, so I took the plunge and got the high end PixelBook.

I do all my development on it: VSCode, Postgres, docker, node, python, all works great. Importantly, the Crostini project is progressing rapidly and I get new functionality with each new ChromeOS release (e.g. shared files between Linux and ChromeOS, one-button container backup, etc.)

[franee]

Ubuntu had traction already, they had a perfectly good thing then suddenly changed directions (unity + the phone desktop thing).

My analogy would be xp -> vista. Alienating core & target users.

[colejohnson66]

> Gnome 3 is like windows vista.

What’s wrong with GNOME 3 or Vista? I’ve never had problems with either.