Why Linux defaults are so SCARY!~!~!

[TTT_travis]

Hey, I recently (yesterday) got bored and installed Ubuntu Breezy Dual Booted with Windows on my Families computer. I have been using Breezy on my server for a few months now and love it. However I have never really liked Linux for a Desktop PC, I'm a mac guy and used to be *YIKES* Windows a few things I noticed when I first installed a desktop install that might make linux scary to a new commer.

1 - Human: WOW, ummm one of the first things that I and most people look for in an OS is not how well it performs or its anti-spywarness but its look, no offense to the people that made Human but it just doesn't look modern, and to me Linux should be modern. This however was one of the eaisiest thing to fix I used a variation of several different themes and that made me like linux ALLOT more.

Window Border: http://www.gnome-look.org/content/show.php?content=32659
Controls: http://www.gnome-look.org/content/show.php?content=24840 (SWEET)
And I used a nice icon set that I forgot the name of, this greatly improved my liking aswell as my families.

2 - Gnome: First, of all I love Gnome I used to be KDE fan until I tried ubuntu about a year ago, since them I have been addicted to Gnome. One of that things that bothers me though is inital menu layout with 2 bars and the apps menu and window list on the top. Since Gnome is so easy to use this was a simple fix: removed the top menu and but the mini apps menu on the bottom followed by a few launchers (firefox, terminal etc.) and then window list followed by the notification area and finally the volume (and maybe weather) and network icons. This seemed to make it kinda of Windows like without actually making it windows like (if that makes any sense. I think what would be nice is an option in Gnome to change the default menu layout without doing it all manually, not that its hard to do manually.

3 - OpenOffice.org: K, I installed knowing I probably wouldn't like open office and I was right. Untill OOo has icons similar to Word and looks a little more like it I think I will just stick with using Word on mac or windows. The main thing that bothers me is the look, if they can make it look a little more like Word it would be more ummm more nice?

Next, I thought I'd give CodeWeavers Crossover Linux a try. I wanted to run 2 programs Microsoft Word XP and Adobe Photoshop both of which are supposed to be supported. I had trouble installing both of them and ended up just giving up, they seemed to install fine but wouldn't open. If it was a free problem it wouldn't have mattered but its pretty pricey and not even worth it, and besides even if they would have worked they'd be the ugly grey color.


Anyway, Ubuntu Rocks, Can't wait for Dapper Drake. For now since I own a mac I will stick to OS X which I am just gonna consider the best OS, No offense ;)

[Stormy Eyes]

Of your four complaints, only the first really applies to Ubuntu. The others are specific to the apps in question. You'd have the same complaints about GNOME, OpenOffice.org, and CrossOver Office. if you installed them on Fedora, OpenSUSE, or Satanophonic Linux. :)

[Jedeye]

1 - Human: WOW, ummm one of the first things that I and most people look for in an OS is not how well it performs or its anti-spywarness but its look, no offense to the people that made Human but it just doesn't look modern, and to me Linux should be modern. This however was one of the eaisiest thing to fix I used a variation of several different themes and that made me like linux ALLOT more.

Window Border: http://www.gnome-look.org/content/sh...?content=32659
Controls: http://www.gnome-look.org/content/sh...?content=24840 (SWEET)
And I used a nice icon set that I forgot the name of, this greatly improved my liking aswell as my families. I have to agree with you there... not a huge fan of human but everybody has their own taste, and its very simple to change.

2 - Gnome: First, of all I love Gnome I used to be KDE fan until I tried ubuntu about a year ago, since them I have been addicted to Gnome. One of that things that bothers me though is inital menu layout with 2 bars and the apps menu and window list on the top. Since Gnome is so easy to use this was a simple fix: removed the top menu and but the mini apps menu on the bottom followed by a few launchers (firefox, terminal etc.) and then window list followed by the notification area and finally the volume (and maybe weather) and network icons. This seemed to make it kinda of Windows like without actually making it windows like (if that makes any sense. I think what would be nice is an option in Gnome to change the default menu layout without doing it all manually, not that its hard to do manually.
Again a personal prefernce.. I like having both bars.

3 - OpenOffice.org: K, I installed knowing I probably wouldn't like open office and I was right. Untill OOo has icons similar to Word and looks a little more like it I think I will just stick with using Word on mac or windows. The main thing that bothers me is the look, if they can make it look a little more like Word it would be more ummm more nice?

Don't like MS Word, and like it even less on OSX

Next, I thought I'd give CodeWeavers Crossover Linux a try. I wanted to run 2 programs Microsoft Word XP and Adobe Photoshop both of which are supposed to be supported. I had trouble installing both of them and ended up just giving up, they seemed to install fine but wouldn't open. If it was a free problem it wouldn't have mattered but its pretty pricey and not even worth it, and besides even if they would have worked they'd be the ugly grey color.
Have never used it.

It seems that you have a lot of ideas of what linux should be... and truth be told its not that hard to accomplish half of the things you listed. Your visual preferences are based purely on opinion and will vary differently to everybody.

Not trying to be harsh just throwing my views out there as you have.

In closing I do not think Linux is so scary... my dad uses it and he docent have any problems.

[majikstreet]

have you tried abiword?

[ahlich]

Triple T, i consider your critiques quite acceptable. Especially because they mainly have to do with the way things look and in that matter everyone has its own peculiar ideas. But as said above by others, almost all of that is tweakable.
Photoshop is really a pain in my heart, cause GIMP just doesnt cut it for the power user. It can get even worse if you need to produce high quality 2D or 3D animations and happen to have worked with apps like Autodesk Combustion, 3D Max or Newtek's Lightwave .
As to what regards the word processor i take it that you were being gracious (or trying to). Microsoft Word???!!! Any Office related product by Microsoft is uggly beyond description so you must be refering to the smoother looking versions for the OS X?...
Still on that matter: Any journalists out there? Or anyone actually needing a simple text editor, NOT oriented to programmers?? We really just need font size, bold, word and character count by selection in an app that opens and saves RTF. Wordpad (yuk...pardon my french) just misses it by not allowing the important word/character count, creating therefore an opportunity for somebody in the open source world to delight all journalists around the world with a light and safe application that really only needs to do the few things i mentioned...
And if you think this is a small audience, you can think about this: How many newspapers are printed daily around the world? How many pieces go into each issue? Well for all of those there was an editor that set a deadline and a character count minimum-maximum interval...)

And yes Gnome is great. Linus can complain all he wants but KDE is not user friendly.

[briancurtin]

linux is not scary.

[stoeptegel]

Nah linux isn't scary, it's just that everybody around you have learned you to think like this. The same applies to all the stories about 'whitches are evil and should burn in hell' and that kind of crap.

[aysiu]

I think this thread should be retitled, "I don't like the Ubuntu defaults--good thing I can change them."

Moderators can also change titles... any takers?

[mstlyevil]

I think this thread should be retitled, "I don't like the Ubuntu defaults--good thing I can change them."

Moderators can also change titles... any takers?

Second.

[TTT_travis]

Ouch ;) This wasn't mean't to be thread with me flamming linux, I am just giving you some things that bother me by default, not just Ubuntu but linux in general and some things that should be default. Opinions :KS

I am mostly going to blame Adobe and Microsoft etc. I can understand microsoft not wanting to make a linux version of Office, but Adobe I can't understand they would have nothing to lose and it would encourage schools to switch to linux. I don't think people should have to pay for operating systems no matter how good they are. ::sigh:: If only I knew howto write software and make my own linux distro. BTW what kind of skill does it require to make a modified version of a distro?

[Stormy Eyes]

I am just giving you some things that bother me by default.

Don't tell us; we're just users. If you want to talk to the actual developers, you should file a file a bug report (https://launchpad.net/malone).

[aysiu]

Ouch ;) This wasn't mean't to be thread with me flamming linux, I am just giving you some things that bother me by default, not just Ubuntu but linux in general and some things that should be default. Opinions :KS Well, that's why I thought the thread should be retitled. You do have some valid points--they just have nothing to do with Linux being scary, and they are, in fact, mostly Ubuntu-specific.

[TTT_travis]

Well ok anyway. Is there like the source for Ubuntu avaliable somewhere? is it possible to modify the source and change default settings and themes and rebuild it? or would that be super hard? I am intrested in learning about how to work on custom linux distros

[Arc Owner]

If you want a TRUE customizable linux distro, AND wouldn't mind learning in the process, consider gentoo linux. Remember though, gentoo is one of the hardest linux distro's there is to install, luckily though, the developers have installation docs to follow. Gentoo is EXTREMELY customizable, but you must compile everything from source in this distro, and it sometimes can take a LONG time to compile things depending on you computer hardware. Gentoo is not for the faint of heart, so be prepared, and you might want to experience linux a bit more before trying it, but it is a great distro. http://gentoo.org

[Gadren]

Since I don't use all the various programs all that much, I'm really only qualified to talk about the Human color scheme. It's easy to change if you don't like it, and I really like having a distinct look from the normal greys and blues (especially the Crystal Blues) that are in most distros. Now, my tastes change almost daily, so I switch often, but Ubuntu's brown theme makes it stand out (when Linux magazines review distros, screenshots of Ubuntu make it easy to recognize, while other distros seem more generic).

[majikstreet]

also, thanks for the panel idea.. I made a new panel to play around with last night, and I can make it look suprisingly windowsish.. but how do you change the ubuntu icon? say I want to make it have the ubuntu icon and the word start?

[Krigl]

Satanophonic Linux. :)
Hey, I want that one, where can I download it? Does it's XMMS play songs backwards by default?

[TTT_travis]

If you want a TRUE customizable linux distro, AND wouldn't mind learning in the process, consider gentoo linux. Remember though, gentoo is one of the hardest linux distro's there is to install, luckily though, the developers have installation docs to follow. Gentoo is EXTREMELY customizable, but you must compile everything from source in this distro, and it sometimes can take a LONG time to compile things depending on you computer hardware. Gentoo is not for the faint of heart, so be prepared, and you might want to experience linux a bit more before trying it, but it is a great distro. http://gentoo.org

Yeah, I have tried Gentoo, its....intresting but since compiling over and over frustrates me and I am deeply in love with APT I will stick with easier to use distros. I am just wondering if it would be easily possible to make a custom distro based off of Ubuntu with some changes like themes, desktop images, and some other stuff.


also, thanks for the panel idea.. I made a new panel to play around with last night, and I can make it look suprisingly windowsish.. but how do you change the ubuntu icon? say I want to make it have the ubuntu icon and the word start?

Cool, ummm I am new to the word of linux customization but can't you download like docklets from somewhere and maybe customize them??

[xequence]

1 - Human:

Does anyone accually ever keep the default theme? I dont think so! (Except fedora core, but that just looks awesome).


2 - Gnome:

If gnome scares you so much, use KDE. Download the kubuntu ISO.


3 - OpenOffice.org

Great idea, lets copy the look of word for default! It wouldent bother me if someone had an add on for OOO that makes it look like word... But by default!?!


Next, I thought I'd give CodeWeavers Crossover Linux a try.

Linux has nothing to do with crossover.

[Lord Illidan]

Does anyone accually ever keep the default theme? I dont think so! (Except fedora core, but that just looks awesome).

Fedora Core does look good! So does SUSE. Our brown theme and "antiquated" gnome icons are the one of the first reasons why most people upon looking at Ubuntu at first glance say "Ugh, this looks horrible".
That said, it does make Ubuntu recognisable. But I don't like it, just the same.

About Open Office. My biggest issue is the time it takes to load, not the icons. For word processing, it can keep up with Word. For presentations, Powerpoint beats it by miles (more stable, and faster). I haven't tried Calc yet, though. The default icons don't bother me.
If you want a faster office app, try Abiword.

Now, about CrossOver Office. I tried the demo and I thought it wasn't bad. However, it was a bit slow. Word art. for example. Moving text made the word art re-render itself all the time, making it incredibly sloow.
Now, I know you are saying "WTF!! Who uses word art!!". Well, my younger sister does!!

[hizaguchi]

I am just wondering if it would be easily possible to make a custom distro based off of Ubuntu with some changes like themes, desktop images, and some other stuff.
I think it would be far more practical to just install a distro that is close to what you want and then adjust it to your liking. The changes you want to make are really just personal preferences, and as you said, are easy to do. There would be no point in making a whole new distro just because you personally don't like the default color of Ubuntu.

Anyhow though, I can see your point that new users might be turned off by the default appearance of Ubuntu. Maybe Symphony OS (http://www.symphonyos.com) will be a better choice for such people.

[Zimmer]

I find the Brown very calming.... :)
And it is different enough to make Windows users look twice at my screen and wonder what it is...and ask...and before you know it I am burning another ISO.... if the only complaint is the look of Ubuntu then the software must be ok :)
Try the preferences if you want a different background, add your own wallpaper etc..

[steve.horsley]

Re OpenOffice.org: The icons that the distro installs look absolutely awful to me. Like something from kindergarten. The first thing I did was to ditch the distro version and install the download from the openoffice.org web site instead. They are probably rather more Word like, I don't know, but they do look much more business-like and less playtime.

The openoffice that Mandrake installs has the same kiddy icons too. Why do they do that?

[Lord Illidan]

Re OpenOffice.org: The icons that the distro installs look absolutely awful to me. Like something from kindergarten. The first thing I did was to ditch the distro version and install the download from the openoffice.org web site instead. They are probably rather more Word like, I don't know, but they do look much more business-like and less playtime.

The openoffice that Mandrake installs has the same kiddy icons too. Why do they do that?

You are talking about the KDE version of OOffice, I presume? I agree with you then. I hated them icons. Under Gnome, Office looks much better..

[Arc Owner]

Yeah, I have tried Gentoo, its....intresting but since compiling over and over frustrates me and I am deeply in love with APT I will stick with easier to use distros. I am just wondering if it would be easily possible to make a custom distro based off of Ubuntu with some changes like themes, desktop images, and some other stuff.



Cool, ummm I am new to the word of linux customization but can't you download like docklets from somewhere and maybe customize them??

No, problem, and I can definitely see your point about the compiling. There are some advantages to compiling, but to most users it is innoticable.

You really shouldn't have to make a brand new distro to get your customization. There is a website called http://linuxfromscratch.org, although it would be way over anyone's head to make your own linux distro unless you are a guru. Like everybody else said, most of what you are looking for is personal preference, so it shouldn't be hard to change.:cool:

[IYY]

I agree. The defaults don't look good.

What I am looking forward to is the KDE Appeal project. I believe it will make Linux looks like a "modern" OS, certainly better than Vista and maybe even better than OS X.

[steve.horsley]

You are talking about the KDE version of OOffice, I presume? I agree with you then. I hated them icons. Under Gnome, Office looks much better..
No, I'm talking about the OOo that installs by default in Ubuntu. I can't show you those now without reinstalling from the repo, but here are the icons that I like - the ones that install with the OOo download from openoffice.org. They look just the same in both Linux and Windows.