I would love for this to be an option in Gnome Shell or just the default. I've seen hints of an extension coming, hope it gets some traction.
Hint: make it easily configurable.
Otherwise, you get to irritate 40-60% of your users.
The survey says nothing about how strongly folks hold that preference. I may prefer Schwepps Ginger Ale, but I'm not going to be irritated when offered Canada Dry instead. That "40-60%" number is a ceiling, not a floor.
The reasoning seems sound though. Where there is no strong user preference, consider making it configurable.
The only way you find out how irritated people would be without the option would be to piss them off.
I don't think one is particularly superior to the other, and every configuration option is another thing to test, making sure everything else window related renders properly. Also every configuration option is another thing to confuse users with.
I would much prefer a single well thought out consistent interface than a "build your own" grab bag.
IOW, the configuration is important even if there is a preferred side.
It's also why I stopped using Gnome (and in fact, Ubuntu all together). But I suspect I was never their target user, and that's OK. If they can make it easier for more typical computer users, good for them, and they should stick to what works.
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/06/gnome-tweak-tool-move-win...
Options are a cost, are the user going to be irritated or just have a few laugh at their muscle memory for a few days (that was my reaction when I switched window control position from gnome to unity)?
After using that for a while and switching to another desktop, I sorely missed it.
So basically: maybe yes, maybe no.
Of the rest of them, the only one I'd really loathe to see enabled by default is Dash to Dock. I really hate the that when I first log in to a fresh install there's a big static dock(initially filled with utter useless short cuts) eating big bite of screen real estate.
I'm kinda surprised they are not aiming at making Gnome as similar to Unity as possible. I expect the majority of Ubuntu users to be familiar with Unity and not much else in the Linux Desktop ecosystem.
I have seen hundreds Ubuntu desktops the last couple of years. Seeing unity was the exception.
Why do you think Canonical moved away from Unity? After the effort and money they invested? Its because such a large group of users was actively avoiding it (myself included - although i like many of its design elements in isolation the execution, the thing being a compiz plugin and the user iteraction design was just unbalanced).
It actually has this Vista like quality where the trade off between power users and casual users ended up worse for both. The unity desktop wasnt the best choice for any group of users, although it may have been the best compromise.
If Canonical has any sense, they just focus all their energy on being the best desktop for developers and monetize from that perspective. The years they wasted trying to compete for a market (desktop consumer) that was going to be eaten from every direction.
Well hindsight is easy i guess
I like using the keyboard as my main input for everything except scrolling. The more I can use the keyboard on a laptop, and the easier it is to know those hotkeys (holding down Meta key on Unity), the better.
If you haven't used Unity in a while, spin up a 17.04 VM to give it an hour or so of use. Makes you appreciate how far it's come.
At the moment you can only maximize to the left or right. Depending on the work done during GUADEC the quarter tiling functionality might be ready for GNOME 3.26. It actually already was available in one unstable version, then taken out in the next version.
I'm really looking forward to better support to divide your screen. With screens such as 2560x1440 it helps to have more options than just "two on one screen". Some people also use e.g. a huge (e.g. 40") 4K monitor. Then you'd want really good window management.
Opinions on core functionality do vary rather a lot.
(not really a question)
Long live Gnome!
