Now that the Unity hate has cooled down, how do you feel about the WM?

[click4851]

"cooled down"?, if the OP means changes distro or DE than yeah I guess it has cooled down. My feeling for the default DE haven't changed.

[LillyDragon]

My feeling for the default DE haven't changed.

And it doesn't have to, that's the best part about Linux is how spoiled for choice we are, unlike with Windows. =P At least the Unity buzz encouraged a lot of users to try other alternatives, which has given even the once obscure XFCE DE a huge limelight to shine in.

I like the new Ubuntu Unity desktop environment quite a bit. It's my most strongly preferred desktop environment for any GNU/Linux distribution and I am glad that Canonical has shipped it with Ubuntu. It's clean, elegant, modern, and simple. It's packed with features galore and I can add more features to it quite easily. I just added a bunch of Ubuntu Unity Dash lenses to expand my search capabilities. I also added Ubuntu Tweak to customize the Ubuntu Unity desktop environment to meet my exact needs. Now, everything looks beautiful and it's very unique. That's one of the distinguishing features about Ubuntu Unity: it's very unique. I like it a lot now. It's stable, fast, and features rich.

Well said there, I have the same feeling myself. After giving Unity a serious try for about an hour, playing around with it and tweaking it with other tools, I got pretty attached to it for a lot of the reasons you mentioned. Clean, elegent, and fast. My feelings towards Windows 8 is a different story, but I'm liking the approach Unity takes towards the modern desktop. It's different for sure, but not as bad as I thought at first.

[Copper Bezel]

Unity is really fairly conservative. It's not altogether that different from OSX or Windows 7 in operation. It's certainly closer to them than it is to Windows 8, with Gnome Shell floating in the middle distance somewhere. I don't think of it as trying very hard to be a "modern" desktop, but then, that's not necessarily a good or bad quality by itself.

[fastguy]

But the worst thing right now is the top panel. I just don't understand the point of having a top panel forced on the screen which seemingly serves no purpose whatsoever other than to host your notification bar and that wretched global menu. It's such a huge design flaw for a desktop environment. You basically have two static elements on your screen at all times instead of just simply one.

I wish they would just remove the top panel completely and morph the notifications into the Launcher panel instead.

I agree with the above comment.
- The top bar is my only main issue with Unity. I just don't need it and I don't understand why that space is occupied just for a few icons. Those icons can move to the Unity bar and the top panel can dissaper.
- I have a 22" screen. I don't use the global menu as I don't like to move the mouse all the way up to reach a menu. For maximized windows, anyway it does not bring any benefit.

I need the following in Unity, hoping one day I can have it. Note that this is the setup I have in Windows 7.
- I have dual monitors, the bigger one sitting on top of the notebook's smaller screen. I have same monitor setup both at work & home, so I nearly always use a monitor in this configuration. Email & Browser stays on top monitor, while chat windows, calendar reminders of Thunderbird & pidgin list stays on the bottom laptop monitor.
- I need the Unity launcher on the bottom of top monitor, just because the right hand side can be mixed with Back button on Firefox, Chrome, etc. Having a menu there tires your hand to control the mouse. I don't need auto-hide neither, as I have plenty of screen space and I like the Unity bars functions like showing me the count of mails in Thunderbird.
- If the Unity bar is at the bottom, it shall not prevent me from moving windows from top monitor to bottom monitor.
- Gnome-shell actually blocks the windows from moving from monitor to monitor if you manage to place the panel on bottom with the reflection extension
- Cinnamon did not let me place the panel on the upper monitor's bottom edge. It either goes all the way to the bottom of lower notebook screen or the top of the upper monitor.

Hope I can get these one day and it will be perfect fit for my needs. I'm attaching my current desktop setup.

[DeadSuperHero]

I actually really like the direction that Unity has taken. I wouldn't have said the same thing 2-3 years ago, but it's gotten so much better.

[NightsShadeQueen]

I actually quite liked Unity the first time I encountered it (with 11.04, I think). There are few minor - minor! - things I'd love to change, but they're on the order of "the icons are still too big at size 32" and "Can I please move the unity bar to the *right* side? Please?"

The fact that it's so easy to keyboard-shortcut most things is kind of awesome. I love the idea of searching for applications instead of trying to remember where you stashed something. I liked the workspace grid (I had a different background for each workspace because otherwise I'd forget which one I was on )

That said, I've recently switched to Cinnamon (mostly because 12.10's launcher bar refused to play nice with me - it doesn't come out reliably even at the highest sensitivity) - and Cinnamon's also pretty awesome. Not sure which one I like better.

[llanitedave]

The global menu seems to work best on a small screen. On a larger monitor with multiple windows open I prefer window-based menus. If Unity gives that choice then I'm happy with it.

My other big beef about the Unity interface was the small distance between the close box on the left-hand screen buttons and the trigger for the launcher panel. I was always launching something when I just wanted to close a window.

If Unity can give me a stable and installable DE for 13.04 (12.10 was a disaster on my machine) I'll be willing to give it another shot. Until then, I'm happy with the right-hand window buttons and the bottom panels on my KDE and Xfce varients.

[Copper Bezel]

I need the following in Unity, hoping one day I can have it. Note that this is the setup I have in Windows 7.
- I have dual monitors, the bigger one sitting on top of the notebook's smaller screen. I have same monitor setup both at work & home, so I nearly always use a monitor in this configuration. Email & Browser stays on top monitor, while chat windows, calendar reminders of Thunderbird & pidgin list stays on the bottom laptop monitor.
- I need the Unity launcher on the bottom of top monitor, just because the right hand side can be mixed with Back button on Firefox, Chrome, etc. Having a menu there tires your hand to control the mouse. I don't need auto-hide neither, as I have plenty of screen space and I like the Unity bars functions like showing me the count of mails in Thunderbird.
- If the Unity bar is at the bottom, it shall not prevent me from moving windows from top monitor to bottom monitor.

Well, that, yes, or you could move the external to the right of the primary like a normal person. = )

[fastguy]

Well, that, yes, or you could move the external to the right of the primary like a normal person. = )

I think this is more ergonomic. Otherwise I will need to also carry a keyboard with me to place in the middle of both monitors (remember, one is a notebook screen), or, have to turn my head pretty right or left while typing on the keyboard. In my top-bottom setup, it's much better for ergonomics and usability. Try it

[sffvba[e0rt]

I like a review like this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzFm2...U4zIc_UpG-hFqA - someone who uses computers as a means to an end, who isn't that much into tech but not a complete idiot when it comes to PC's.

Someone that sees something new and goes, "Oh, this is nice, I like this... I am going to embrace it and use it to make my life easier..."

edit: oh, as an aside, I just noticed in the video that pressing the home button again minimizes the dash, so it is inconsistent with all other icons for launching and minimizing



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