What's the reasoning behind not having a "system tray" in GNOME? You need to install an extension for that, and that is a weird process for newcomers/beginners.
But my question is why? Does GNOME really think you don't need one? Why don't they include it?
I don't have the answer, though im positive someone else here does. On Fedora, an appindicator extension is included with the distro, but disabled by default, and this is still suboptimal UX.
The biggest offender for me was the overview at login change with gnome 40. It was so controversial that it even pulled in Matt Miller to weigh in on the matter directly. The exchange is extremely disappointing
I still use gnome, and I feel that it's still the most polished DE available, I'm just worried about what other changes they might incorporate without any user-centric reasoning.
It seems to be characteristic of the Gnome project's philosophy to do things in what they consider the best way rather than the way a new user might expect. It's an admirable commitment to deliberate design rather than copying, but it may also make it unappealing to some users. Personally I don't enjoy using Gnome, but I know people who love it. Thankfully in the Linux world we have options.