The gesture is very well implemented actually. It's surprisingly precise and feels really natural in the sense you could release and resume dragging even after all your fingers leave the touchpad. Nothing else comes close
I move the cursor over what I want to move, then click with my thumb and keep it pressed down. That initiates the drag. Meanwhile I can use my pointer finger to move the cursor wherever I want, dragging the whole time. Once I've moved the cursor to where I want, I remove my pointer finger so it stops moving and then release my thumb to drop.
Is it another way to do the same thing? Why would I use three fingers instead of just using a normal mouse click with my thumb?
I personally don't like this and very much prefer the "tap-hold with a small delay" for my dragging needs. I'm very happy to see this has been implemented on Linux, too.
You are obviously used to the three finger way, and to each his own. But for me, having it described as “it's the equivalent of clicking-and-dragging with a mouse” makes me wonder why not just click and drag? But who knows? I’ll have to try it and see if I like it.
Good to know.
However, my post may have been unclear, I don't like the three-finger drag, so I'm not used to it, I'm just trying to find a reason why some people may like it, so I may not have the best ones.
The thing is that you don't "click" anything, you just put your three fingers on the touchpad and slide them around. Exactly the way you would scroll with two fingers: no clicking involved.