Bottomline, openSUSE 12.2 Gnome is fast - really fast even on LiveUSB. That's nothing new considering Linux systems are generally fast anyway and most releases are faster than ever, but in this case you would notice the difference. If you're using a USB with a blinking LED like my VerbatimGO, the LED would blink furiously as the distribution loads itself into the RAM. When I tested openSUSE 12.2 Gnome, I expected the typical churning of the HDD and the incessant blinking of the USB stick. None of that happened. It flashed a few times and I was on openSUSE 12.2's desktop. The experience reminded me of running Knoppix - but Knoppix was designed to be run on LiveUSB or LiveCD.
Gnome 3 - Nothing to see here
What I've always been impressed with was openSUSE's implementation of the Gnome interface to Yast. The icons on the Yast screen in Gnome are friendly and inviting and not at all as intimidating or as foreboding as Yast in KDE. Seemingly taking a page from Mandriva Control Center, Yast in Gnome 3 beckons new users to configure and explore the many features and capabilities of openSUSE.
The default Software Manager and Online Update utility, two indispensable but not always usable tools, launch quickly and is no longer as daunting (or as annoying) as previous releases. The default color palette is gentle and almost prevents you from wringing your hand if an error pops up (whereas you're likely to tear your hair out with Apper and Online update in KDE).
On the downside, Gnome 3 is still unusable as ever. The flashy Activities Overview is still not keyboard-friendly. What works for me is pressing the SUPER button and then typing the application immediately. Unfortunately, if you've started typing an application but decided to switch to an open application instead you would have to delete what you typed and then switch tools. Clicking Shift+TAB or ALT+TAB just moves you across the search results.
In the Activities Overview screen, you're still pretty much dependent on your mouse to click on active desktops or trigger any of the applications on the favorites bar. Your touchpad, however, isn't any better despite the huge icons. You can actually forget about using Activities and stick to the tried-and-true combination of Paging (ALT+up key), switching applications (ALT+TAB), and running commands (ALT+F2) but then the command widow is different from KDE's run window - typing Yast just triggers an error.
Using the Activities Overview feature just takes a bit of getting used to and users can always install drop-down launchers or terminals like Guake, but what most users can't ignore is the pesky windows management issue that they still haven't changed (Gnome forces you to avoid minimizing windows and seemingly recommends you switch screens or applications instead). Again, there's an easy remedy to this: just right-click on the window bar and click Minimize. Somehow, however, I'm not sure everyone would want to make that a habit. It's not so bad on a big monitor or LCD screen, but a headache on a netbook.
It's all Good, openSUSE
Gnome 3 gripes aside, the LiveUSB worked smoothly. Writing on Gedit, browsing in Firefox, checking the repositories, taking screenshots, and testing the Activities Overview all worked perfectly. I'd definitely recommend openSUSE 12.2 Gnome 3 to Gnome 3 fans (or Unity haters who don't like Xfce or LXDE).All Linux users know there's little you can test while running a LiveUSB/LiveCD. But my objective was to check if Gnome 3 on openSUSE can now be considered a viable option. openSUSE on Gnome 3 is lovely and like before would trigger some oohs-and-ahs from Windows and Mac OSX users, but like Unity, I wouldn't use it on a productivity machine. I did get a little taste of openSUSE's refinements to online update and software manager and was darned impressed.
Now it's time to move on to openSUSE 12.2 KDE and see how good openSUSE 12.2 really is.
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