I am using the Gnome 3 "classic" desktop.
When I push the mouser pointer up into the hot-spot in the upper left
corner of the screen, a (sort of) oval pops up containing a magnifying
glass icon and the words "Type to search . . . ". If I type in "gufw",
it just bluntly says "No results.".
But if I do ALT-F2, a window pops up saying "Enter a command". If I
type in "gufw" there, Gufw starts up, and seems to work.
So, yes - it does start that way.
Now, as to:
"What's wrong with just using a launcher anyway, if it comes up that way?",
maybe I am just autistic. It just bothers me when things don't work
CORRECTLY.
I guess it just goes to show that for a lot of developers, it is more
fun to devise new "features" that "sort of" work than to fix errors and
deficiencies.
Sigh.