Now that GNOME 3 with GNOME Shell has been released, and Ubuntu 11.04 with Unity release just around the corner, GNOME 3 vs Unity is going to be a hot topic for discussion. So, let me start the ball rolling by doing a quick comparison between the two shells.
As the GNOME website defines it,
“GNOME Shell is the defining technology of the GNOME 3 user experience. It provides core interface functions like switching to windows and launching applications.”
GNOME 3 is the new release of GNOME and GNOME Shell is the default shell which has been under active development for the last two years. The stable version was released on 6th of April 2011. The GNOME Shell uses mutter as the compositing window , and clutter toolkit to provide the visual effects.
Unity , on the other hand, is being designed and developed by Canonical, the corporate house behind the hugely popular Ubuntu distribution. Unity was born out of disagreement between Mark Shuttleworth and the GNOME developers on certain aspects of GNOME Shell development.
We were part of the GNOME shell design discussion, we put forward our views and they were not embraced by designers. We took a divergent view from the GNOME shell folks on key design issues, for example how application menus should appear on the system, how one should search to find applications, how one’s favorite applications should be presented.– Mark Shuttleworth
Unity is also a shell which would run on top of GNOME. Unity uses compiz as the compositing and the window manager. Unity will run all GNOME applications and there will be no compatibility issues .
Usability?
While there has been a lot of discussion in the past about how well GNOME 3 and GNOME Shell would suite a daily user, due to its radical change in approach of how desktops should look and behave, the latest release seems to be quite interesting.
I recently tried out the latest stable GNOME 3.0 release , on a usb stick, based on Fedora 15 and I must say, I was quite impressed with the look and feel of the system. The GNOME 3 desktop is nicely laid out and it is easy to find applications. Moving the mouse to the Activity section on the top left side of the screen activates the window and application picker. If you have multiple open windows, they will fan out and you can take your pick. Above the open windows you will find the option to choose between open windows and Applications. Clicking on Applications will show all applications installed in the system. The application category is on the right side and you can click on each for the categories to make searching more streamlined. You can also type and search applications by name. There is a smoothness in how applications behave, open, close and switch and this change is something a lot of users will appreciate .
A controversial change has been made to GNOME 3; the minimise button has been taken off from the open windows. It may sound outrageous but after using GNOME 3 I actually felt that there is no need of a minimise button here. I was more impressed with GNOME 3 because Fedora 15 is alpha quality . Still, I did not experience a single crash of the window manager, the Firefox browser or the empathy messenger. I was even able to successfully compile cisco vpn
software and connect to my office network .
In comparison, the first beta release of Ubuntu 11.04 with Unity, the installation was a nothing less than a big disappointment. The system kept complaining about a system error , the compiz kept crashing and the launcher and the application finder was at times non responsive.Unity for me, is still half baked. It is very difficult for any new person to find where the applications are, drag and drop support of application launchers is not present. The top panel is not customisable at all and moving everything to the left has not helped the cause.
I have had feedback from a few Windows users on Unity and they were left so confused by the layout and found Unity to be very complicated. Rather, they were at ease with classic gnome + docky combination!
Unity is about to be released for production systems in less than three weeks . I strongly feel that it is going to be a big gamble for Canonical and Ubuntu as there are too many bugs in Unity and too little time to iron them out. Canonical and Ubuntu are risking a lot. Unity has not been widely tested . Dissatisfied users may end up switching distributions to GNOME 3 based Fedora 15 instead.
My personal opinion would be to ship gnome classic as the default desktop with Unity as an option and make it default from Ubuntu
11.10 release. Unfortunately, I don’t call the shots at Canonical !
Strange world isn't it? – Unity works fine on both my desktops, new and exciting as computer OSs can be – Gnome 3 says I don't have the required hardware on one and isn't as intuitive as Unity on the other one – but I will persevere.
On my experience Canonical should go for it!
After using Unity and GNOME 3 the last days I think GNOME 3 is easier to use for most people. I miss the ability to customize the theme in both GNOME 3 and Unity. The GNOME 3 design is ok, and i really do not like the search thing in Unity, looks like it is made for a small touch screen.
I hope GNOME 3 will work flawlessly in Ubuntu 11.04. 😀
I just got my desktop up and running with Gnome 3 on top of Opensuse 11.4 64 bit and oh my I am very impressed. I was liking Unity but I think I like Gnome 3's layout of the activities menu, one click and you can access everything. With Unity I found myself switching back and forth from the Ubuntu logo button and the Application lens. I like how you can drag and drop windows to different desktops on Gnome 3. Chrome 11 seems to run very well also. I may wait until Ubuntu 11.04 is released before I make up my mind but right now Gnome 3 is winning.
They both suck, for too many reasons for me to get into… Sticking with GNOME 2 or (shudders) switching to KDE…
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Unity crashed several times. Switched back to Ubuntu classic..
Couldn't get on with either after 15 mins of use(not a fair test but limited time) so moved to crunchbang which just uses Open Box and follows debian
Nice, Light and pretty!
perfect for me
According to Canonical, "Ubuntu Classic" will not be included in version 11.10… it will be 100% Unity, or Unity 2D if your computer doesn't support it.
Personally, I prefer Unity over Gnome 3, however, I know some people dont. What Ubuntu should do, like they do with KDE, they should make Gubuntu, with Gnome 3 desktop environment, (Like Kubuntu for KDE). That's my opinion, who knows. I will continue to use Unity and enjoy it 😀
Classic..
I actually liked both Unity and GNOME3. Being a Mac (Snow Leopard) user, i never had trouble adjusting to either of shells. Well Im kind of excited 3 of them – GNOME 3, UNITY, OSX LION
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Linux Desktop is finally getting an IDENTITY separate from Windows or Mac and thats a welcome departure. Gnome 3 or Unity is not trying to be Windows or Mac but is experimenting on different lines. It might be slightly uncomfortable in the start but trust me, all evolutionary systems will get better with time and will find loyalists that swear by them in times to come. Mac is confusing at first for Windows users and vice versa. So shall be Linux Desktop with its own mixture of Identity + Usability mixture. Its a phenomenal feat for an open initiative to get this far and with all hope will finally ring the glory bell for an Open Desktop.
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According to Canonical, "Ubuntu Classic" will not be included in version 11.10… it will be 100% Unity, or Unity 2D if your computer doesn't support it.
Personally, I prefer Unity over Gnome 3, however, I know some people dont. What Ubuntu should do, like they do with KDE, they should make Gubuntu, with Gnome 3 desktop environment, (Like Kubuntu for KDE). That's my opinion, who knows. I will continue to use Unity and enjoy it 😀
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