Gnome Shell 2.91.90 was released yesterday getting some final adjustments according to the release announcement:
This release just about concludes user interface changes anticipated before GNOME 3.0. The only significant change we expect after this release is to add a native network indicator based on NetworkManager 0.9.
Gnome Shell 2.91.90 video
Here is a video I've recorded with the latest Gnome Shell 2.91.90 - not the best quality but as usual, the Shell recorder doesn't play very nice with my Nvidia graphics card:
What's new in Gnome Shell 2.91.90
- Gnome Shell now uses automatic workspaces - we've already covered this so I'll not get into details.
- The minimize and maximize buttons were removed from the window titlebars. This is something awkward in my opinion: while I understand why they've removed the minimize button (there is nowhere to minimize a window because Gnome Shell doesn't have a window list like the old Gnome panels), the maximize button will be missed by many. Sure, you can drag a window to the top of the screen to maximize it, but that's not enough. Further more, I've noticed that there's no close button ("X") for the windows that have a "Close" button.
- Hold notifications while the user is marked busy. This sounds a lot like the "Silent mode" proposed for Unity that we've talked about a while back.
- Added a PolicyKit authentication agent; requests to the user for authentication from PolicyKit now show up as shell-themed dialogs. Check out THIS post for more info and videos (including fingerprint authentication).
- Suspend now shows up in the user status menu while Power Off is hidden and only shows up while holding down the ALT key. This is yet another new feature for which I don't see the point but maybe you can guess why they've done this.
- Larger icons the the launcher and application browser
Other changes:
- You can now change workspace by mousewheel scrolling over the thumbnails
- Add audio feedback when scrolling over the volume status icon
- Remove the window filtering and highlighting when using the dash application menu
- And many other minor improvements. A complete list can be found HERE.
If you want to try out Gnome Shell you can use the Fedora or openSUSE live CDs or compile it yourself in Ubuntu.
