The media release announcing the release claimed it was "a revolutionary new user interface and new features for developers make this a historic moment for the free and open source desktop".

Further it says: "Within GNOME 3, GNOME Shell reimagines the user interface for the next generation of the desktop. This innovative interface allows users to focus on tasks while minimizing (sic) distractions such as notifications, extra workspaces, and background windows."

However, reviews of the new version, by technically competent users prior to release, have not exactly been inspiring.

For example, Linux Weekly News editor Jonathan Corbet had this to say among other things: "Anybody who follows GNOME releases knows that there are few things this project likes better than forgetting its users' configuration selections; it was logical to assume that this had happened again, sigh heavily, and go off to fix things up."

The media release includes a quote from Matt Zimmerman, the chief technical officer of Canonical, the maker of Ubuntu.

"In the face of constant change, both in software technology itself and in people's attitudes toward it, long-term software projects need to reinvent themselves in order to stay relevant. I'm encouraged to see the GNOME community taking up this challenge, responding to the evolving needs of users and questioning the status quo," he is quoted as saying.

The inclusion of his comments may not be exactly unconnected to the pitched war that has been going on between GNOME and Canonical recently, driven by some has-beens in the GNOME community for the most part.

Some GNU/Linux projects have already included GNOME 3.0 on development versions of their distributions. Debian is yet to do so.