Red Hat Confirms GNOME Classic Mode For RHEL 7

An anonymous reader writes "The H-Online is reporting that the upcoming RHEL 7 will use GNOME Classic Mode over Gnome Shell as its Default Desktop GUI. Speaking to TechTarget ahead of the 2013 Red Hat Summit, Red Hat engineering director Denise Dumas said this regarding the decision: "I think it's been hard for the Gnome guys, because they really, really love modern mode, because that's where their hearts are." She added that the same team had "done a great job putting together classic mode" and that it was eventually decided to use it in favour of the more radical modern interface to spare customers the effort of relearning their way around the desktop again."

Translation.....

[Lumpy]

Our Corporate customers have Demanded that we don't make the interface change for only trendiness, so we are sticking with what works best for fur paying customers.

Re:Translation.....

[gl4ss]

continued translation ".. and just because Gnome UI designers need something to do doesn't mean that we're going to switch our UI every year".

it's not like the changes are likely to stop either. which is the bullshit part, if the new paradigms are so good why the fuck is nobody sticking to them year after year and how many names do we need for desktop widgets really.

Re:Isn't unwillingless to learn a big problem?

[Stuarticus]

Cost of unnecessary retraining = Bad.
Loss of productivity due to needless changes = Bad.

Re:Isn't unwillingless to learn a big problem?

[wile_e8]

New != Good
Sticking with the old version != unwillingness to learn

If the old version works better, why should they change? That's looking at it's own merits. Changing just because it's newer isn't.

Change for the sake of change == bad

Re:Isn't unwillingless to learn a big problem?

[David Gerard]

If it is possible for a new desktop to be better than its predecessor, then it is possible for it to be worse.

The users largely hate GNOME 3. Therefore, it has failed user acceptance testing. It is worse than its predecessor.

In this case, it's Red Hat - who pay many of the remaining GNOME devs - saying "dunno what you're here for, but we're here to serve our users." It's nice someone is.

Re: anyone even use red hat ent desktop any more?

[rubycodez]

you don't need local desktop manager running for that, you can do remotely with ssh -X

Re:Just moving the it to RHEL 8

[bluefoxlucid]

Not really. What this is is political bullshit: Backlash at new UIs means don't release with a new UI, and claim that people won't have to relearn. Then when they're forced to otherwise relearn anyway, they won't be as bothered down the line. On top of that, in 25 years when RHEL8 comes out there won't be any more bickering about Gnome-Shell and they'll be able to release without political pressure.

Re:Translation.....

[Lendrick]

Part of the problem is Apple's runaway success in the last few years. Everyone wants to rake in the cash the way Apple is, and they figure that the best way to do that is by imitating Apple's our-way-or-the-highway method of doing things. Trouble is, while Apple may have its adherents, there are plenty of people out there who hate Apple, in part because of the way they take away customization options. People like this (myself included) are somewhat less lucrative customers, because we distrust the "app store" model and dislike paying for features that ought to be free.

Apple and Microsoft want users who are happy with being locked down. They're easier to manage and make money from, and above all, they accept what they're given.

Re:Isn't unwillingless to learn a big problem?

[dbIII]

RHEL is also used for desktops - the "workstation" segment where servers run the software and the users have an X windows capable desktop machine to display it. So much for your two cents, that's where Redhat is getting their $ - desktops for engineering and scientific users in areas such as design and resource exploration. If a bit of software from Halliburton (yes they have software too) that hasn't changed since 2003 doesn't display properly in a new window manager then RHEL will lost sales if they use the new WM.