Re: wheezy how-to

[Rob Owens <rowens@ptd.net>]

On Tue, Dec 18, 2012 at 04:21:47AM +0000, Russell L. Harris wrote:
> Can you recommend a good Wheezy HOWTO for users forcibly being
> migrated from the Gnome environment of Etch, Lenny, or Squeeze?
> 
> I dread having to learn all the details of how to configure and use
> Wheezy once it becomes stable.
> 
>From my very limited experience using Gnome 3, I'd say just log into the
"Gnome Classic" session.  It looks very much like Gnome 2.  To add
launchers to the panel, you need to right-click the panel while holding
the Alt key.

It's not clear how long the Gnome folks will continue to support the
Gnome Classic session (which upstream Gnome refers to as Gnome Legacy).
Some people may decide that their own ideals no longer align with the
ideals of the Gnome developers.  Decide for yourself if that sounds like
you.  If it does, look to other desktop environments or window managers.

My opinion is that the major desktop environments are always going to be
tempted into following Windows or Apple trends (or at least trying to
compete with them).  This will lead to periodic changes in the way
things are done -- we have seen this recently with KDE and Gnome.  

The plain-old window managers are sufficiently different from Windows
and Apple that I feel comfortable stating that the developers are not
interested in keeping up with the current desktop trends.  That gives me
high confidence that there won't be many major changes in the way those
window managers work for years to come.  But who knows, I could be
wrong!

-Rob