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

[mamamia88]

That one feature alone, Unity, nearly pushed me back to using *******; heresy I know, but that's how much of a retrograde step I feel Unity is.

99.99999% of my computer activity is either mouse based or it's entering text like I'm doing right now. Unity helps none of those activities and compels me to use the keyboard more than I previously did. That is not a productivity gain in my books. I also have some specific issues with Unity (although I will be the first to admit I'm not a Unity genius) viz:

• I'm not sure which flavour of Unity I was running, but there were times I could not get rid of, or hide, the unity launcher... thus cluttering the desktop,
• my bottom panel would disappear and I thus lost access to my desktop cube listing. This becomes a real problem when an application on another face of the cube is screeming for attention and I can't get to it. Sure, I know I can go to the 'switcher' on the Unity launcher but that triples the number of mouse actions to get to the appropriate cube face.

Today was the 4th time this year I have tried to come to grips with Unity and the 4th time my computer (and me) has been screwed. If Shuttleworth thinks this is the future of Ubuntu then I am super glad that today I downloaded Mint.

/psychotic rant

can you give examples of how unity dissuades you from using a mouse and keyboard? I'm not quite sure i understand? why not use the scale funtion of compiz to get to your application "screaming for attention on another face of the cube? or why not click on the application of the minimized icon on the dock? and you mentioned a bottom panel? unity doesn't ship with a bottom panel by default. nor does it have the desktop cube plugin enabled by default. it seems like your complaints about unity are from you trying to use unity in a different way than canonical wants you to use it. In that case you should use a desktop environment that works the way you want it too. If i try and manually shift on a automatic transmission and i wreck my car who's fault is it really? If i wanted a manual i would have bought a manual. You can't really judge a window manager when you are trying to fit a square peg in a round whole.

[LillyDragon]

I have to agree with mamamia88 on that one; Unity doesn't seem like it would cooperate very well with some of Compiz's more advanced features. (Come to think of it I can't even remember the last time I heard someone bring up the 3D Desktop cube!) That would be much better suited for other environments like XFCE or maybe KDE.

wonder how long it will take for this thread to get locked (always seems to happen with win8 and unity threads)

Only if it becomes filled with more negative criticism than polling the general preferences of other users would I see this being dumped or split to Recurring Discussion. Unity is still a little rough around the edges at times, as a few people have already mentioned, but that will get better with time like with anything on Linux that is actively being developed.

[PJs Ronin]

can you give examples of how unity dissuades you from using a mouse and keyboard?

Perhaps I was not clear enough. I meant that Unity required me to make greater use of the keyboard in lieu of the mouse. Like I said, I'm no expert but with my Unity I had no access to the 'traditional' (you'll probably hate that word) menu for apps in accessories, games etc. I found I had to go to Dash, type the first couple of letters and then the app would list.

why not use the scale funtion of compiz to get to your application "screaming for attention on another face of the cube? or why not click on the application of the minimized icon on the dock?

I had no minimized icon on the dock. The 'cube face' I needed was in an app running in a VM and all that appeared on the dock was the VM app (virtualbox) and not the app itself. Clicking the 'docked' VM icon just brought up Virtualbox and not the app.

and you mentioned a bottom panel? unity doesn't ship with a bottom panel by default... nor does it have the desktop cube plugin enabled by default.

I had these aspects installed/active prior to trying Unity again. I don't think it's appropriate that Unity retrogrades my DE just because it wants me to go in a different direction.

it seems like your complaints about unity are from you trying to use unity in a different way than canonical wants you to use it.

I totally agree with you. However, I have always been of a mind to make my computer do what I want it to do, not what a developer thinks I want it to do.

Interestingly, after my first rant I installed Cinnamon. Happy camper right here folks. Cinnamon is fast, lean and smiles at those who love a mouse.

Don't get me wrong, I think there is a future for Unity... but that future is more likely to be on hardware that depends on touch.

[kow777]

After using Natty when it was first released, I was really sceptical about Unity. I used it for a while until I was irritated with the bug that caused the system to lock on my T420. I have since installed 12.04 and love it. I do not get as good battery life as I used to get in Natty, but that isn't Unity's fault. Unity produces one of the most beautiful desktops I have come across. It looks very complete and modern. The "search" feature of the dash is amazing. I like being able to search for what I want and run it. I have had to adapt to Unity quite a bit, but have gotten used to it. I still miss Gnome 2.x, but until 12.04 is out of support, I am not going to switch to a replacement.

My experience with the current release of Unity (whatever version is included in 12.10) has been less than perfect. While running it in VirutalBox, I find it slow and not worth the upgrade. It didn't seem to add many things that would benefit me. I also am very paranoid over the "activity recording" of the new features. I don't like anyone logging what I do, and if these types of features stay, I will find a replacement to my once beloved Ubuntu.

Overall, I think that Unity has come a far way and is a big competitor against the other window managers and desktop environments. I hope the resource usage is addressed and things get better with time.

[kow777]

I totally agree with you. However, I have always been of a mind to make my computer do what I want it to do, not what a developer thinks I want it to do.

I agree. I liked what I used to be able to do with Gnome. I wasn't locked into the customization that was included with the environment. I could shape my desktop to fit me, not the other way around.

[exploder]

I like Unity, it's different. I like the idea of a launcher and the dash has kind of grown on me. I used MyUnity on my 12.04 x64 installs to make the top panel semi-transparent and the launcher look like the one in 12.10. I am happy with the way Unity looks and works. Oh, and I love the global menus, everyone that has tried Unity on my computer has commented how cool they are.

Unity has really come a long way in a short time. I am looking forward to seeing the new icons and other improvements that are coming.

[gerowen]

That one feature alone, Unity, nearly pushed me back to using *******; heresy I know, but that's how much of a retrograde step I feel Unity is.

99.99999% of my computer activity is either mouse based or it's entering text like I'm doing right now. Unity helps none of those activities and compels me to use the keyboard more than I previously did. That is not a productivity gain in my books. I also have some specific issues with Unity (although I will be the first to admit I'm not a Unity genius) viz:

• I'm not sure which flavour of Unity I was running, but there were times I could not get rid of, or hide, the unity launcher... thus cluttering the desktop,
• my bottom panel would disappear and I thus lost access to my desktop cube listing. This becomes a real problem when an application on another face of the cube is screeming for attention and I can't get to it. Sure, I know I can go to the 'switcher' on the Unity launcher but that triples the number of mouse actions to get to the appropriate cube face.

Today was the 4th time this year I have tried to come to grips with Unity and the 4th time my computer (and me) has been screwed. If Shuttleworth thinks this is the future of Ubuntu then I am super glad that today I downloaded Mint.

/psychotic rant

CTRL+ALT+Left and right arrow keys will page you to other sides of the cube as well, just thought I'd let you know in case you didn't already.

[Paqman]

I've never had a problem with Unity, I used it as a netbook interface before it was on the desktop, so I was used to it already. It was always a great interface on small wide screens (ie: what it was originally designed for).

The Dash is a lot better in Quantal. It was annoyingly slow before and I used Synapse instead (which is very fast). But now that it's a bit quicker I've switched to using the Dash as it comes with a lot of cool new features like Google Docs integration.

[Jakin]

I only have one "little issue" with Unity (gnome3 as well) its a small thing overall, but major to me.

I just plain do not like the Dash, good for some, but i like a traditional menu.

[stinkeye]

Never had a major problem with unity.
Like all DE's theres a way to make it work for you.
I find the dash useful for some things but prefer to use kupfer as my app launcher.(Can use classic menu indicator if you prefer the old menu)
I like to mostly use the mouse so using easystroke mouse gestures
to perform all sorts of tasks suits me.
Not really much difference than before unity.
I run compiz cube and have a launcher and a panel with indicators.