I was an avid GNOME user from GNOME 1.x to GNOME 2.2. Like many other users (including Linus Torvalds), I became sick of what I perceive as an "anti-user" stance from GNOME. That is, they ignore their true users (most of the classic, Linux-using and UNIX-using crowd) for some mythical user that gets confused by options.
I'm compiling of specific transgressions so I can mention them easily in conversation.
How to turn off gnome-terminal's cursor blinking (Chris Siebenmann): GNOME makes it difficult to find the "Disable blinking cursor" option for terminals, making it more and more difficult to find.
Resetting defaults with GNOME programs (Chris Siebenmann): GNOME's gconf system (reminiscent of the Windows registry) makes it difficult to reset settings to their defaults, and is designed to accumulate cruft
Blank area above selection in GTK list boxes. I, and everyone I asked, thought this was a GTK bug that's existed for years. Apparently, it's desired behavior.
