You have to pity the GNOME project these days. Even when it does the right thing, it does so in a way that maximizes controversy.

From any perspective, this decision was correct. Although described in the GNOME 3 release notes as "an excellent experience [that] incorporates many of the improvements contained in the release," fallback mode has actually been a crippled version of the last GNOME 2 releases.

Far from attracting users, fallback mode appears to have been widely regarded as a contemptuous gesture to those who either lacked the necessary hardware or who preferred not to use the proprietary drivers needed for the hardware acceleration required by the GNOME 3 release series.

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