So 2 years after the appearance of Gnome Shell someone still doesn't get that Gnome tries to simplify the whole interface and that Gnome has been trying to create a simple interface for the majority of people for many many years. Big news.<p>Good thing is you have alternatives from MATE to KDE, Xfce, E17, etc. etc. It's not like you're forced to use Nautilus either.<p>Personally i never understood the hatred towards change. In the beginning of Gnome 3 it was really extreme and now it's slowly getting better (with the complaints) because people become accustomed to it. It's GOOD that Gnome tries to make it simple, because we all wish for a Linux computer our parents could use. That's just not going to happen with the options-and-complex-information everywhere approach.<p>After all Gnome Shell isn't that bad and i'm sure a guy posting on HN who uses Linux on his Desktop has the skills to check his available diskspace without the status bar ;)
As a non-artist, I can never even hope to understand the complex design choices that the GNOME developers make. <a href="http://i.imgur.com/VXwiUdU.png" rel="nofollow">http://i.imgur.com/VXwiUdU.png</a>
As Nautilus has been horribly slow for a long time, I switched to PCManFM, the file manager of LXDE. It integrates well with GNOME, and is pretty much full-featured. There's also a status bar ;-) The only weird thing is that in the "detailed list view", the sort order cannot be changed by clicking the column headers.
I thought this was interesting and very similar to the situation that's happening here.<p><a href="http://witchofbontemps.wordpress.com/2013/05/05/an-artist-has-a-right-to-create-exactly-what-they-want-but-is-that-always-wise/" rel="nofollow">http://witchofbontemps.wordpress.com/2013/05/05/an-artist-ha...</a>
I'd love to see what percentage of linux desktop users actually use gnome anymore. It would be especially interesting to see a graph of how that has changed over time.<p>My intuition is that they went from almost total dominance a few years ago to total irrelevance now (< 2%).
If you are using Ubuntu, here is how to install the Nemo file manager, which is from Linux Mint and based off of Gnome 3.4 before things were removed: <a href="http://www.webupd8.org/2012/12/how-to-install-nemo-file-manager-in.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.webupd8.org/2012/12/how-to-install-nemo-file-mana...</a><p>I've been using standard Ubuntu as my sole OS for over 6 years now. I'm most likely switching to Linux Mint or Xubuntu when I get a chance.
In the past I was a rather hardcore kde user, but I've been using gnome shell for almost two years and I actually like it. Initially I used all sorts of extensions to make it behave more like a traditional desktop, but over time I grew fond of the defaults.<p>And in fairness, they did add something else <a href="http://i.stack.imgur.com/NiggU.png" rel="nofollow">http://i.stack.imgur.com/NiggU.png</a> (last comment in the parent link).
I upgraded my 12.10 Gnome REMIX to 13.04 Ubuntu Gnome when it prompted me during my regular software updates, it f*cked up everything on my system. Figured there would be changes, didn't know it would be this bad.
I never see anybody complaining about removal of features from epiphany (the gnome web browser). That's probably because everybody knows it's intended to be a simple, featureless browser for those who don't need something more powerful. If you need features, you install Chrome or Firefox, and all the other core apps are no different. If gnome-terminal isn't enough for you, install terminator. If nautilus isn't enough, install one of the others mentioned here. If the shell doesn't do something you need it to do, find or write an extension. I actually think the gnome way of doing things is perfect.
I feel sorry for the Gnome guys - they get crucified if they do or don't advance the platform, yet look across and see other fruit flavoured platforms pull worse on their user base yet their fan base not only approves of it, but they somehow justify in the most Stockholm syndrome walled garden kind of way.