Gnome 3 Thoughts

After about 2 weeks of testing it out; I've come to some conclusions about GNOME3 on Debian.

1) The Installation is a Pain. Actually, this is probably the least of my complaints, but it comes first because it was encountered first. Debian prides itself on being stable, almost to a fault. In fact, the default "stable" installation (6.0.2 Squeeze at this writing) gets security updates and that's about it. It's designed to just work. Not surprisingly, GNOME3 isn't available on Squeeze (not enough time to test it before the last release). It's not in the "testing" (Wheezy) set, either. It's in "experimental"; along with all the other stuff that Debian maintainers don't figure is stable enough for Testing. That said, it is in experimental, and you can get it if you are careful and know what you're doing.

2) Things are Locked Down. Again, I can see the upsides and the downsides to this. On the upside, locking down things like title bars and panel guarantees a consistent experience. On the other hand, if the user doesn't like the design -- and is used to being able to change it -- it can lead to frustration. That said, there was a semi-official UI/system tweaking tool available, but as it isn't built-in to the command center where you'd expect it to be, it doesn't get full marks.

3) The "Desktop" is more like a work area. This is where we run into one of those "paradigm shifts", I think. Since Windows XP (likely since Windows NT, but since it didn't have as wide a release as the 98/XP line, we'll say XP), users have come to use the desktop as part storage space, part launcher. Not in GNOME 3, though. Unless you use the tweak tool to "allow [Nautilus] to manage Desktop", the only thing you can do with the desktop is look at it. There's no left-click, no middle-click, no context menu on the right click that lets you set the desktop background. If you click on the desktop, you've exercised your clicking finger, but that's about it. Again, it's not a bad thing or a good thing; it's just different than what you're probably used to.

So, what do I think about it?

1) I'm not blind, guys I don't need the huge title bars and menu icons that come with the default (and unchangeable via GUI) interface. I can see where they might be useful for touchscreen interfaces, giving users a bit more leeway on where they tap, but on a laptop, it seems like wasted space.

2) What will it take to convince people hot corners are a bad idea? If your mouse wanders into the top left of the screen, the activities pane takes over. While that sounds like a good idea, it's also a bit distracting if you accidentally bump your mouse, or if you like to shuffle your pointer into a corner out of the way.

3) The Activity Pane is a good idea. Two things about how they implemented the Activity Pane/Menu. First, dynamically spawning work areas are a great idea. If you want a clean "surface" to work on, you open the activity pane and either click on a blank work space or drag an open window to a new surface. Once you clean up the surface, it disappears until you need a new one. Second, the search as you type function. If you pop the activity pane and start typing, you'll get a shrinking list of programs and recent documents that match your search. And though I haven't double-checked, it appeared to be pulling additional info about the programs from somewhere (probably .desktop files) so you didn't have to search by name alone.

4) Network Manager didn't like me. I don't know if it was something I did while setting it up; but network-manager-gnome did not like my wifi setup, rejecting saved passphrases, and not even displaying the BSSID for my home network until I was right on top of the router. Which was odd, because after reinstalling GNOME2, I automatically connected (after entering the passphrases) from halfway across the house (around 45-50 feet).

I've switched back to GNOME2 for now; at least until 3 drops into testing instead of experimental. It shows a lot of promise, and feels like something I'm willing to use; but I'd rather have the guys more experienced than me go over it a little longer before I jump in head first.

Links

The GNOME Project Desktop Environment

Debian GNU/Linux

Update:

The Network Manager deal isn't a Gnome3 thing. From everything I've read, it appears to be a kernel issue -- which makes sense: when I upgraded to Gnome3, the new kernel came along with it. However, the same change in frequency/connection ability happened with Ubuntu 10.10 vs 11.04 as well. Smarter people than I seem to have narrowed it down to a kernel patch for Acer hardware. I didn't go diving that directly.

PSO -- 11/2

Well, Day one of the November PSO did not go as well as planned. Two middle of the pack finishes (literally: I placed around 660/1400 and 700/1300) did not mean good things for my score. And when I looked yesterday morning, lo and behold, I was sitting in around 2400th place. And while part of the 783 place jump between the 10pET tournament last night and the results posting of the 8pET tourney can be attributed to an increased number of players, I was able to regain all of the 10.27 points I lost on the first day... So I guess hooray for not digging too deep of a hole? I'll check again in a few hours to see where I am after the 11/2 11pET tourney posts.

October's payout also landed on the 11/1, so there was $30 in my account. Which is good, because a couple really bad days at the table had totally wiped me out. I say bad days, my cash game was shit during the last full week of October, because I wasn't focused on poker. And tilting is deadly to a bankroll even at 5/10c limits.

Update: OK, so the results (10pET) tournament got posted. I'm not happy with where I'm sitting, but I know it could be a lot worse. Again, I finished on the wrong side of the bubble, about 60 places out of the money; but I picked up a dozen points, which puts me as far out of the hole as I was in it when I started the day.
Not surprisingly, I'm on the outside of the league's bubble as well; but only by about 220 people. How close is it? The money starts at 1,000th place, who currently has 1522.15 points. I have 1513.60. Yes, 220 people are within 8.55 points of the Active player prize pool.
Two things are coming into play here. Every month, the bubble number has gotten bigger. Part of that is probably due to an increased number of players -- bigger tournaments mean bigger point payouts. But I can't discount increasing skill levels of the rest of the field; theoretically, that's what this league is supposed to be about. Last month's cutoff was 1635.06; and the difference between 1st and 1000th was 307.44 points

October PSO, 4 days to go

Well, with 4 days left to go in October, I've been on a decent run in the PokerSchoolOnline.com Skill League. After 36 tournaments, I'm up 305 points; with nearly half (140) of those coming in the last week (10/21-10/27). Barring a complete meltdown between now and Monday morning, I should be in the money. Not to blow my own horn, but I'm in 201st place out of over 10,000 players; which puts me square on the bubble for the next prize jump: less than a half a point is between me and doubling my prize.
Like most tournament payouts, the big money jumps occurs on the final table; the guy in first (currently thatsmysky 1930.90) will take home 1500 dollars, while the guy in tenth (ESSY ARMEN 1908.06) only gets 100. Now, I hear you, and you're saying Deege, you've collected 140 points over the last week, putting you at 1805, you're only 103 points away from the big money jumps. And when you say that, I laugh in your general directions because, I don't have 4 days worth of tournaments to rack up 103 points; I've got 4 days of tourneys to make up 103 points and if you don't think there's a difference there, you've never tried to hit a moving target.
And the thing is, I've played with a number of guys on the first page of the leaderboard; at least 6 of the top 12 in the last week and a half. They're good; and they're not going to wait for me, or anybody else to play catch up. Personally, I'd be happy if I was on their radar... you know, my smiling mug shows up in their screen and they go "oh hey, it's dingo."
After 10th place, the next 88 people get $50, unless they aren't "Active"; earning at least 20 VIP points from Pokerstars in the previous month. Surprisingly enough, two of the top 10 (11SCORPIUS11 and stuckinit) are not "Active" players. For them and any other Whitestar player, the payout drops to 10% of the Active player's cash. 99th place (Choas Evo21 1840.78) gets $30, and 201st (dingodeege 1805.14) drops to $15, and Whitestar players are out of the money. It's a bit disconcerting to have two payout structures, but hey, I'm Active (and with over 100 VIP points this month, will be again in November), so I don't really mind.
Here's the fun thing about the point system: it's variable. The more points you have, the harder it is to get big point payouts. Now, there's still a massive jump for hitting the money; I have a finishes of 163 and 139 in tournaments with similar number of runners (that you didn't have to take. And it cost you money. Yes, making a move on the bubble is good strategy, and it's profitable, when it works. If you got into an all-in situation that you didn't have to, especially when you're that close to the money, you better have the nuts.