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I also like GNOME, but only with a couple of extensions installed. It totally blows my mind that the way Dash to Dock works is not the default behavior.

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Are they perhaps scared of patents? The whole UI tries hard to be not like Windows or Mac OS, for IMHO little user benefit. I have tried to use Gnome in the past, seeking an easier life, but the multiscreen support was just not good enough. I use i3 instead.

No, they just think the current UI is better, and they're doubling down on that. E.g. in the next version, the app/workspace picker will be shown after login, and not the desktop.

At least for the dash to dock behavior, the Gnome designers opted against a permanent dock to minimise "distractions" and allow one to "focus on the task at hand". This language pervades much of the literature explaining Gnome's design. See for example https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/shell-introdu...

Which is nonsense, because the default behavior is not a permanent dock, it is a hidden dock that appears on mouseover. And it is tuned perfectly IMO, it never comes up by accident and always comes up when I intended to do so.

I agree with the rationale about not having a visible dock, the extra space and lack of distraction is great. But Dash to Dock doesn't harm that goal whatsoever IMO.

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