Good read on Ubuntu/unity and its relationship to the community...

[msrinath80]

http://thistleweb.co.uk/blog/21/03/2011/unityd-we-stand

[stmiller]

Good read. I think clearly Ubuntu is focusing on a different sort of user.



Is Unity too simple for power users? Yes, it is. But, as Shuttleworth tells us that’s by design. If you don’t like simple, consumer-oriented desktops, you’ll want to look at another Linux distribution because that’s exactly where Ubuntu is now and will continue to go.

http://m.zdnet.com/blog/open-source/shuttleworth-on-ubuntu-1104-linux-unity/8780

Ouch! Thanks a lot Mark... :(

[Aquix]

No one is happy with unity. What unity. :)

[K_45]

Looks like Ubuntu will be heading in a Windows direction, but then most people from Windows will appreciate a dumbed down interface.

[Shmantiv_Radio]

So that's basically a big screw you to a lot of the community who have been around and helped improve Ubuntu from its beginning.
This coming from a guy who loves to mention the 'awesome community' at every opportunity.

[nrundy]

Looks like Ubuntu will be heading in a Windows direction, but then most people from Windows will appreciate a dumbed down interface.

lol. I alway thought gnome 2x.x was a dumbed down interface. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing though. Unity is a big improvement over Gnome 2x.x.

[Throne777]

http://thistleweb.co.uk/blog/21/03/2011/unityd-we-stand

It's a nice article (though there are some horrible spelling mistakes /grammar nazi), and raises some good points. I assume that the whole 'Yay Gnome!' page that used to be on Ubuntu.com just before 11.04 was released was a way of avoiding bridge burning come Gnome's rejection.

I have abandoned Unity for now, but I'm more than willing to give it another bash come 11.10. Hopefully by then Unity will have a lot of the kinks worked out (oh and an installer that actually works (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1751271)).

[YesWeCan]

http://thistleweb.co.uk/blog/21/03/2011/unityd-we-stand

Very interesting article, thx.
Do you reckon Shuttleworth thinks he is Steve Jobs?
The description of how linux works as communities is insightful as is the suggestion that Canonical are using tricks to enable them to avoid FOSS restrictions. Canonical is a profit seeking business and his can sometimes be forgotten in the romance of the ubuntu brand concept.

[Throne777]

Very interesting article, thx.
Canonical is a profit seeking business and his can sometimes be forgotten in the romance of the ubuntu brand concept.

I've noticed the Ubuntu.com site no longer sports the promise that it will always remain free.

Maybe this is just a bit of paranoia though (I kind of miss the circle of people that greeted me on the main page, they looked so trustworthy! :p).

[nrundy]

http://thistleweb.co.uk/blog/21/03/2011/unityd-we-stand

I would have left Linux back for Windows if Gnome-Shell was the new interface. Gnome-shell wastes too much vertical space. And I found it incredibly frustrating not being able to minimize windows. I'd open GIMP for example and be stuck with windows open in the background with no way to minimize them to get them out of the way. I also missed the ubuntu Status Menu Indicators. And it drove me nuts having to press ALT to shutdown. It was just one thing after another with Gnome shell that made the experience frustrating. I was really excited about Gnome-shell. I actually planned to use it instead of Unity. But after I tried both desktop, I immediately new Unity was for me.

I think Unity will be used by more distros in the future. Gnome-shell will fail before Unity does. Community decisions are good and all. But there is a downside to community decisions as well. It's one of the major reasons that Microsoft was able to take the Consumer Desktop market. Canonical provides vision to Ubuntu. Something that is needed. Leadership in a sea of differing opinions. I applaud Canonical and the decisions it made that brought Unity to ubuntu. Canonical is making good decisions. The community doesn't always agree on the best option, nor make the best decisions. Too many folk just don't realize what's in their best interest. That's where leadership enters. And that is the role that Canonical is playing.

[nrundy]

I've noticed the Ubuntu.com site no longer sports the promise that it will always remain free.

Maybe this is just a bit of paranoia though (I kind of miss the circle of people that greeted me on the main page, they looked so trustworthy! :p).

The "always will be free" line can be found here: http://www.ubuntu.com/project/about-ubuntu/our-philosophy

[Hyporeal]

That's not a good read at all, and the people saying otherwise ought to be ashamed. For one thing, the author clearly doesn't understand that Unity runs on top of Gnome. That invalidates most of the points. For another, they are accusing Canonical of making decisions regarding their own distro, likening those decisions to "edicts from the gods" in an absurd exaggeration. The arguments are specious. The supporting evidence is hearsay at best. The analysis is skin-deep. Don't waste your time with it.

[msrinath80]

That's not a good read at all, and the people saying otherwise ought to be ashamed. For one thing, the author clearly doesn't understand that Unity runs on top of Gnome. That invalidates most of the points. For another, they are accusing Canonical of making decisions regarding their own distro, likening those decisions to "edicts from the gods" in an absurd exaggeration. The arguments are specious. The supporting evidence is hearsay at best. The analysis is skin-deep. Don't waste your time with it.

Why? Why exactly does anyone need to be ashamed?? Sounds like you are desperate/afraid that people who read it might actually get a broader perspective of the situation.

The person who wrote that article expressed his/her views on the subject. And instead of simply sprouting propaganda, the article explains the differing point of view with examples. Why not simply express your opinion and leave it at that. So everyone can objectively decide for themselves?

[Hyporeal]

Why? Why exactly does anyone need to be ashamed??

That was perhaps a bit dramatic. Nevertheless, there is much to be said for the ability to read with a skeptical eye and critically evaluate claims.


The person who wrote that article expressed his/her views on the subject. And instead of simply sprouting propaganda, the article explains the differing point of view with examples. Why not simply express your opinion and leave it at that. So everyone can objectively decide for themselves?

I stopped short of accusing them of propaganda. They merely seem uninformed. Much of the post is filled with dubious assertions and half-truths, for example the bit about how many resources it will take to complete Unity. Also, the bit about Canonical going proprietary is essentially fearmongering. Claims like these need to be supported. I remain unconvinced, and I encourage you to be skeptical as well.

[Mr. Picklesworth]

I've noticed the Ubuntu.com site no longer sports the promise that it will always remain free.

Don't worry, it's right here:
191484

[NormanFLinux]

If people don't like the Unity UI, someone will develop a classic interface that can be backported to GNOME 3.

On all my Windows 7 computers, I couldn't stand the new UI, so I downloaded Classic Shell to bring the old menu back. I just like the way it looks and works.

And Ubuntu users won't have to stick with Unity, no matter what Canonical may decree.

[weasel fierce]

Any of you are probably welcome to pick up the job of maintaining and updating gnome 2, since the gnome people won't do it anymore.

That way, you can put out your own ubuntu version.

[dFlyer]

No one is happy with unity. What unity. :)

That's not a true statement. There are some who are unhappy, but to state no one is simply not true. I'll bet in 6 months Unity will be the best thing since slice bread and 11.10 will suck. It always seems to go that way when a new version is released. Let's work on fixing the bugs that remain, which always happens around 1 - 2 months after a version is released.

[weasel fierce]

besides, real power users write their own device drivers.

It's sort of funny though that a lot of the things said by Torvalds about Gnome is now being said by Gnome users about Unity :)

So the argument could be made that if you were a power user, you wouldn't have been on Gnome to begin with, I guess.

[krapp]

Too many folk just don't realize what's in their best interest. That's where leadership enters. And that is the role that Canonical is playing.

Cue individualist indignation.

I will do my part and say I like knowing I can do whatever I want with Linux.

Really though, Unity whatever it ends up like is the next logical step for Ubuntu, and always has been. If you couldn't see this before Unity, now you can see Ubuntu's trajectory and make a decision accordingly. There's plenty of graphical ways to go about your computing. GNOME, KDE, XFCE, *box, tiling managers, et cetera, et cetera.