Linux Desktops (2012 2nd Quarter Comparison)

Relatively little has changed in the Linux Desktop world since my last post in March.  As such this will be a relatively quick post.

I’d say the biggest news would be the targeting of Gnome 3 Fallback mode for primary use by a couple distributions.  Trisquel, one of the FSF’s approved distributions as well as Solus OS have decided to go this way, disregarding the Gnome team’s UI redesign, and instead opting to enable the “fallback mode” to be a more usable, less crippled environment.

Quick Review of Fedora 17: Beefy Miracle

I just downloaded and ran the LiveCD of Beefy Miracle, Fedora’s most recent release.

Likes:

1. Japanese input methods and fonts come preinstalled.
2. Accessibility features available.
3. Generally polished interface
4. Feels mature finally.

Dislikes:

1. Stuck with fallback mode on unsupported video cards
2. Touch screen design for use on non-touch devices is stupid.
3. Lack of configuration options, right clicking on the wallpaper and panels does nothing.  There’s no way to change the default window manager theme which is over-sized and made for fingers not cursors.