I didn't like this feature when I started using Linux, then it became an essential feature that I'd use multiple times a day, and like the author, I miss it badly in MacOS. Taking it out of Linux is a mistake, but symptomatic of much of modern computing where useful features get trashed that have big effects on people's workflows and ways of using Computers. I'm not against all progress, just those that make things just that bit worse for those of us who have long established habits. If you must take it out by default, fine, but please give us the option to re-enable in settings. Us middle-click pasters will die out fairly soon, and if this feature isn't enabled by default then others who came after us won't get that habit

A "vi"ism correction:

s/multiple/hundreds/g

s/ds/ds of/

I use the middle button to paste what's currently selected extensively.

I not only constantly use the middle button but I have a mouse that actually has one instead of the "scroll" wheel: the Sun Crossbow USB mouse.

I love it so much that I bought as many as I could about 15 years ago and have been slowly going through my supply as they eventually wear out (it's usually the left button that dies first but the most recent one died because the little plastic rollers that contact the mouse ball simply wore out and no longer could reliably maintain mechanical contact).

I keep a wireless two and a half button (scroll wheel) mouse around for times when I really need that but it's honestly rare for the work I do.

Of course, I also have a Sun Type 6 keyboard with the Control key where [ insert favorite deity ] and Stallman intended, immediately to the left of the A key. 1

I also bought a half dozen of those and have been slowly going through them as time and coffee spills take their toll.

Admittedly, this all probably says more about my lack of manual (and mental) dexterity as well as a certain perverse retro-pigheadedness than it does about the succeeding tecnologies but there you have it.

I suppose I'll eventually have to break out a soldering iron and cannibalized parts to keep the last mouse functioning, which, given the aforementioned lack of manual dexterilty, should be an interesting endeavor replete with verbal imprecations, singed fingers, and the smell of burning circuit board in great abundance.

_______________

1 I have honestly never quite understood the modern key placement of the Caps Lock key to the left of the A key, since the only use is in the ease of producing shouty emails.

Gnome Wreckers, behold MY middle digit. Fuckwits

and has been since V3.0 emerged from the slime. There is a reason why Cinnamon is so popular.

Contrast Gnome v1 and Enlightenment - non rectangular windows (with holes in!) & lots of other cool stuff.

Isn't the whole point of Linux that you can set it up how you like ?

Yep, and I am becoming increasingly worried that XFCE will succumb to the "defecate on Linux/Unix" crowd (systemd, wayland, adwaita etc.).

So I have recently manage to dig up my old FVWM config, which I will probably breathe fresh life into this summer.

I also recently found this REALLY good in-depth video introduction series for i3, which is another good solution for keyboard fans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1I63wGcvU4

The final option - mirror your favourite distro/architecture locally (including installation media), BEFORE it turns to excrement.

I’ve used i3 almost exclusively for years. There’s nothing not to like

It is the point of Linux, but not of Gnome.

Gnome is a very opinionated DE these days, but there are plenty of more customisable alternatives if its not what you want. Gnome is the Apple of DEs - they will decide what is best for you.

"Isn't the whole point of Linux that you can set it up how you like ?"

Quite. Even Gnome, if you like the direction they're heading. They just need to realise they're one among many several.

aka Gnome-II and eschew Gnome-III+

No hiding place . . .

(from "What’s new in MATE 1.28")

"MATE 1.28 has made significant strides in updating the codebase, including the removal of deprecated libraries and ensuring compatibility with the latest GTK versions. One of the most notable improvements is the enhanced support for Wayland, bringing us closer to a fully native MATE-Wayland experience. Several components have been updated to work seamlessly with Wayland, ensuring a more integrated and responsive desktop environment."

These guys are psychotic, they will hunt you down.

I love this feature. It is the fastest way to copy paste with mouse selection.

Gnome has for many years been becoming more touch screen focused. I think maybe the future of the big Linux DEs is KDE for keyboard and mouse users and big screen and Gnome for touch screens.

Cosmic is a possible challenger, and there are many other options but those are more niche.

Cosmic looks interesting, but being new & "cool" will almost certainly attract the love of the "defecators" before it can produce anything worth forking.

What a world we live in.

I do have words for that person, not ones I would be willing to share openly as some might be actionable.

Just because I'm not on asocial media doesn't mean I don't exist or my opinion is not valid.

Good on the community. MS users have to reach over to the co-pilot key, Linux users can now use the middle mouse button. 2026 the year of Linux

I've never understood the mentality of removing (as opposed to just disabling it) something just because you don't use it.

As above - by all means disable it, so those of us who do use it can re-enable and use it, but why "remove" it? I can't see the code for this being a massive bloaty chunk of binary that would make any difference to the file size of the OS download, so why strip it? There's far bigger chunks of code that could be optimised, I'm sure.

This definitely smacks of "I've got the power, I'm going to use it", which I suppose it all the rage these days....

"This definitely smacks of "I've got the power, I'm going to use it"

More like "My way or the Highway". Fine by me. The highway it shall be.

"I can't see the code for this being a massive bloaty chunk of binary"

Unlike, say, embedding the icon set in the library that draws part of the UI.

...I hear *anything* about Gnome, I feel glad for the boss who gave me a less powerful laptop at a time when I *may* have chosen Gnome but was forced to use LXDE (then XFCE). If that boss had given me a decent laptop I'd probably have used Gnome ... **shudder**

It's OK, with any luck you'd have grown out of it.

Maybe someone should push a PR to remove that dev from the project?

Seriously, I've been a longtime Linux user, recently changed to Mac, stuck on Windows for my work computer. It's a really useful feature I've missed on other OS's.

I think Gnome devs stopped caring about most users, they have their own ideas and everyone else is wrong. I hope that more distros will wake up and move to other platforms. I've been on KDE for a while, just haven't got around to reinstalling PopOS! yet on my Linux laptop, but looking forward to trying their new desktop.

Maybe he's Agent P 2.0 and dickering for a gig at microsoft.

The GNOME desktop as ever is passe.

Time to think LUXURY, something more stylish and fashionable. Perhaps MORNING STAR or BLACK BIRD themed.

ANONYMOUS WE ARE LEGION

Marshall McLuhan had it right when he said "The media is the message."

Poor spelling, inattention to punctuation and general carelessness in writing conveys much more than the actual words.

Why should anyone listen to someone who cannot even express themselves in a coherent manner?

I use the center-click multiple times a day. Did the ctrl-c/ctrl-v stuff even work on things like early SunOs? I hate that method because my horrible memory for plain facts makes it hard for me to remember the keys. Is "c" Cut or Copy? "v" for paste???? I get sooo frustrated the very small number of times I have to use Windows - *nothing* makes sense, so trying to remember them is extremely difficult for me, based on the one or two times a year I need them.

Gahh. Don't get old. :/)

El Reg needs an icon for frustrated old guy!

ctrl+c and ctrl+v isn't a Windows invention, it's been around for much longer than that, I remember using it on the Amiga (well, technically it was a different key combo, but still used c and v).

Wikipedia tells me it came from Xerox Parc (unsurprising, about 50% of modern computing was invented there), so it predates Sun by a while.

Here's your frustrated old guy image ;) >>>>>>

The first time I used windows middle click paste didn't work and I asked tech support how to fix it. I am not surprised that this deficiency in Windows has not yet been fixed. How long did it take them to implement multiple desktops and desktop switching?

And that is another reason why I've been using KDE for what, twenty, twenty five years now?

Before that WindowMaker, which I still like.

MacOS has kept the middle button paste for the Terminal app

Clearly they expect us oldies to be using the CLI

Petridis is probably the craziest and most aggressive Gnome developer, and that's saying something. He's even shown repeated support for communists terror groups such as "antifa"

My grandad was antifa. He worked for a subversive organisation called the 'Royal Air Force' about eighty years ago.

Sounds like someone isn't getting enough attention, and/or needs a nap.

There probably were multiple reasons why GNOME was never attractive to me. As others here I use Linux with KDE (since KDE appeared, more or less at the same time as GNOME). It has been my main environment (and the only one I use for personal stuff) for more than 30 years.

The big reason is how superior the GUI is to anything else I ever encountered - Windows, MacOS, etc. A big part of it is the efficiency of copy/paste with middle mouse button compared to Ctrl-C/Ctrl-V (middle-button paste is particularly brillians with autoraise+focus on mouse movement - something that is at best awkward on Windows and can't possibly work on MacOS while the context-sensitive menubar exists somewhere else on the screen). I can't imagine choosing a laptop without 3 mouse buttons if it is under my control. What's the next thing you want to disable - virtual desktops? Or the extremely useful feature of maximizing windows (at least in KDE): left-click on the button maximizes to desktop size, middle-click maximizes vertically (I use it all the time), right-click - horizontally. Will that go away, too? Stop ruining my life!

And in Firefox (and other browsers) the middle button serves another killer purpose: middle-click on a link opens it in a new tab. No need to right-click to drop down a menu, just imagine! Run a search, get a list of results, go through the list, middle-click on those that look promising, then look through the tabs... Oh, I forgot: no one searches anymore, everybody just asks ChatGPT and gets a single authoritative result. Silly me!

Please let the world and its sister disregard that bloody idiot who has no use for either middle button or grammar, and ignore the stupid desktop environment he works on while we are at it. Oh, I remember now: when GNOME first appeared everybody was laughing at its very fitting logo - a FOOTPRINT!

Gnome is and always has been shit. Since Gnome 3, it's been *irredeemable* shit.

There was never any reason for either Gnome or KDE to exist in the first place. If I'd wanted to run Windows, I would have run fucking Windows.