PDA

View Full Version : Unity grows on you...



Shibblet
May 6th, 2011, 11:53 PM
I tend to find myself a bit of a realist. I don't think KDE is "Better than" Gnome, or vice versa. There are differences between both of the interfaces, and each one has it's strengths and weaknesses. So do other interfaces such as XFCE, Elightenment, Flux, and LDE.

So, for me to ask if Unity sucks was contradictory to how I view things. I did have this post when Unity was first released with Maverick 10.10.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1592554

Now, that I have installed 11.04, I am starting to enjoy the simplicity and usability of Unity. There are a lot of little bugs that need to be hammered out, but nothing that is causing any "issues" on my netbook, or desktop.

But now, back to my original statement. The more I use Unity, the more I like it. It does take a little getting used to, as it is different from other interfaces. and I can see how some developers would still enjoy their K Desktop Environment over it.

For the casual user, which is whom Ubuntu (Canonical) is reaching out to, Unity is a great interface. Plus for the in-depth user, it still has complete Gnome compatibility.

It may still be an infant as far as development goes, but Unity shows a lot of promise. Add a little customization features, and it's off and running.

NormanFLinux
May 7th, 2011, 12:01 AM
Deodoimedo, who reviewed Natty, liked it. He hated the Ubuntu Netbook Remix 10.10 which introduced Unity. He thinks every one will like it... once it becomes more mature.

That's a pretty good review from a guy who was about to give up the future!

Version Dependency
May 7th, 2011, 12:03 AM
I agree. I mostly use openbox, but I've been playing with Unity since the alphas. And it works fine...some bugs along the way that I had to fix, of course. But Unity doesn't prevent me in any way from getting work done...just as quickly was always.

lancest
May 7th, 2011, 12:07 AM
I usually don't like to customize things too much because it feels like a waste of time.
But with Unity I did some customizations (http://www.techdrivein.com/2011/05/top-6-quicklists-for-ubuntu-1104-natty.html) with Quicklists.

Hey I already got used to Unity, and with the ability to customize it's even better.
(some might say these options scare away the new user, but it's still the essence of Linux)

Shmantiv_Radio
May 7th, 2011, 12:10 AM
There are a lot of little bugs that need to be hammered out.

This.
I like the interface. What really irritates me is calling it a 'stable' release when it's overly buggy. Canonical really should have learned from KDE4, but no they went ahead and released a Beta as final, and end up creating a minor crapstorm.

ac0105
May 7th, 2011, 12:15 AM
I'm feeling the same way. I'm new to Linux (started right around the time 10.10 was released), so I come at this from a different perspective than long time users, but I hated Unity when I first ran a beta build earlier this year. I upgraded to 11.04 about a week ago and still hated it. Over time I'm finding myself liking it more and more. If they iron out the bugs and give this desktop the sort of improvements that KDE and Gnome recieved, I think this could be a great DE over time.

michaelzap
May 7th, 2011, 12:47 AM
I certainly don't hate it. I think that it basically works OK for me, and there are some nice features (e.g., window tiling). I just don't understand why Canonical created it when both its best ideas and greatest flaws are stolen from Gnome Shell (thus creating a major division in the Linux community for no good reason) but it's based on Compiz, so it will always be slower and more resource-hungry than Gnome Shell.

Shibblet
May 7th, 2011, 01:14 AM
This.
I like the interface. What really irritates me is calling it a 'stable' release when it's overly buggy. Canonical really should have learned from KDE4, but no they went ahead and released a Beta as final, and end up creating a minor crapstorm.

I don't know for certain, but I think in the programming world "Stable" means, doesn't crash, not perfect.

I still have to congratulate Canonical for making a whole new interface. Microsoft hasn't done that since... a long time. Wait! They did add the start menu in 1995.

NormanFLinux
May 7th, 2011, 03:29 AM
Its about 80% usable. Its not there yet but when Oneiric Ocelot debuts, Unity should be ready for the world.

Off Topic
May 7th, 2011, 03:31 AM
So Unity is like a rash? Its not transferable is it? Should I get myself checked?

3rdalbum
May 7th, 2011, 08:09 AM
This.
I like the interface. What really irritates me is calling it a 'stable' release when it's overly buggy. Canonical really should have learned from KDE4, but no they went ahead and released a Beta as final, and end up creating a minor crapstorm.

Unity is stable enough for a 6-monthly release, but not enough for an LTS. If Natty had been released a month earlier, I would have agreed with you.

It's important to get people to use Unity as soon as possible really, so third-party developers will switch their programs over to using the new APIs (indicators, quicklists, launcher emblems and progress bars) and write new lenses in time for the LTS. Canonical also needs wider user testing which they get by shipping Unity as the default.

msandoy
May 7th, 2011, 08:44 AM
Why would I choose a DE that I do not like, just because I might get used to it? Then I'd just as well use windows.

leviathan8
May 7th, 2011, 09:04 AM
But now, back to my original statement. The more I use Unity, the more I like it.

I totally agree with that! After I've set up my programs in launcher, the window theme and icons set, I can simply stare at it without doing anything. :P
After all, we all need a little change in our lives, don't we?

jtfolden
May 7th, 2011, 09:20 AM
I still have to congratulate Canonical for making a whole new interface. Microsoft hasn't done that since... a long time. Wait! They did add the start menu in 1995.

...but it's not really new is it? It's global menus ala Mac, and a dock. I do like the way it saves vertical space but... there's just too many usability issues right now.


I believe Freud indicated that when faced with a negative stimuli for a long enough time, you either grow to like it or go insane... I prefer to keep my sanity so switched to Gnome Shell. ;)

bizz101
May 7th, 2011, 10:19 AM
I noticed with Unity I do a lot more actual work and less looking around and playing with the desktop. The more I use it the more I like it. And at first, I didn't like it at all.

3rdalbum
May 7th, 2011, 10:26 AM
Why would I choose a DE that I do not like, just because I might get used to it?

Because the DE you like has been abandoned by its developers and is no longer maintained?

And you will most probably get used to Unity; it's only really inappropriate for dual-screen setups, and I'm sure this will be fixed by 11.10. Once you're used to it you can use it about as quickly as regular Gnome 2.

msandoy
May 7th, 2011, 10:37 AM
Because the DE you like has been abandoned by its developers and is no longer maintained?

And you will most probably get used to Unity; it's only really inappropriate for dual-screen setups, and I'm sure this will be fixed by 11.10. Once you're used to it you can use it about as quickly as regular Gnome 2.

Well, I'm going with Debian stable and Bodhi for the time being, and I'll see how Ubuntu works out in 11.10 or 12.04.

I do use dual screen, and window focus follows mouse. Kind of messes up Unity.

NCLI
May 7th, 2011, 10:38 AM
If you have a multi-screen setup, you may have noticed that you can resize windows not only by dragging them to the edge of the outermost screen, but on the edges between screens as well.

This is because I bothered to go and file a bug. If you have issues with Unity, file a bug. Otherwise, it may never be addressed.

Johnsie
May 7th, 2011, 11:37 AM
I've never found a DE more frustrating to use... Not in Windows, Mac, KDE or Gnome... Just Unity.

greg99
May 7th, 2011, 12:25 PM
Ive been using Ubuntu since 8.04 and although I liked it, it always seemed just that little bit amateurish. With the release of 11.04 I have found that it has a much more professional look and feel and although not perfect (not that I ever expected a first release of a new interface to be.) I feel that it has so much more potential now.
I am really looking forward to future releases to see how far the developers take it.
So far I have not had any problems at all with it and have taken the step of making Ubuntu my only operating system.

Docaltmed
May 7th, 2011, 01:40 PM
Ive been using Ubuntu since 8.04 and although I liked it, it always seemed just that little bit amateurish. With the release of 11.04 I have found that it has a much more professional look and feel and although not perfect (not that I ever expected a first release of a new interface to be.) I feel that it has so much more potential now.
I am really looking forward to future releases to see how far the developers take it.
So far I have not had any problems at all with it and have taken the step of making Ubuntu my only operating system.

That's my feeling exactly. Unity already has a much more polished look to it than the Gnome 2 desktop ever did.

neu5eeCh
May 7th, 2011, 01:58 PM
I find that the more I use Xubuntu, the more I like it. It grows on you... :popcorn:

nothingspecial
May 7th, 2011, 02:15 PM
I hated unity at first. I think I described it as turning your computer into a giant iPod.

But for someone who likes the keyboard, once you get to know it, it is excellent.

I can understand why some people are upset though.

dmizer
May 7th, 2011, 02:19 PM
Why would I choose a DE that I do not like, just because I might get used to it? Then I'd just as well use windows.

I dated a girl once who refused to eat anything "unusual" by the same logic. I dare say she was missing a great many exquisite culinary experiences due to her refusal to eat anything but pizza or plain beef patties (no toppings) on a bun.

First impressions are not always accurate.

Shibblet
May 8th, 2011, 07:12 AM
I dated a girl once who refused to eat anything "unusual" by the same logic. I dare say she was missing a great many exquisite culinary experiences due to her refusal to eat anything but pizza or plain beef patties (no toppings) on a bun.

You dated my ex? ;)


First impressions are not always accurate.

Depends on the version. My first impression of Unity was in 10.10, and I didn't like it. It was obtrusive. Now that they have worked out some little issues, it seems to be a good interface. I can't wait until it becomes "great."

akand074
May 8th, 2011, 07:43 AM
I agree with a lot of people here. There is those people of which Unity is not for them, but for a large amount of people I think they are overreacting and never really gave it a chance (at least those who came from gnome 2). To take a tackle against people saying it shouldn't have been released yet, saying that they released a "beta" for a stable release: If you take a moment to think about it from their perspective, releasing it now for 11.04 is completely imperative. Why? Because the next LTS is 12.04 which is under a year from now. They need to release it now so that it gets a much larger user base and thus more bugs are found/reported/fixed a lot quicker so that when 12.04 comes out, it's stable/mature enough to be part of the LTS. If they didn't do this, then they wouldn't have Unity for the next LTS and would have to wait THREE years before Unity hits an LTS and gnome 2 is already discontinued by gnome so they couldn't put that on and support it for another 6 years so they would be pretty much screwed and forced to put a unstable UI for their LTS. So basically, it's a good idea to put it out now, it's more than useable, the bugs are minor, features will come. In 11.10 most bugs should be fixed and it'll run over gnome 3 which will get some usage and prep before 12.04 which should be the best LTS yet. Seems like a reasonable rationale?

Shibblet
May 8th, 2011, 08:07 AM
I agree with a lot of people here. There is those people of which Unity is not for them, but for a large amount of people I think they are overreacting and never really gave it a chance (at least those who came from gnome 2). To take a tackle against people saying it shouldn't have been released yet, saying that they released a "beta" for a stable release: If you take a moment to think about it from their perspective, releasing it now for 11.04 is completely imperative. Why? Because the next LTS is 12.04 which is under a year from now. They need to release it now so that it gets a much larger user base and thus more bugs are found/reported/fixed a lot quicker so that when 12.04 comes out, it's stable/mature enough to be part of the LTS. If they didn't do this, then they wouldn't have Unity for the next LTS and would have to wait THREE years before Unity hits an LTS and gnome 2 is already discontinued by gnome so they couldn't put that on and support it for another 6 years so they would be pretty much screwed and forced to put a unstable UI for their LTS. So basically, it's a good idea to put it out now, it's more than useable, the bugs are minor, features will come. In 11.10 most bugs should be fixed and it'll run over gnome 3 which will get some usage and prep before 12.04 which should be the best LTS yet. Seems like a reasonable rationale?

I think it seems completely reasonable. If you look at Ubuntu's release schedule being an LTS every 4 releases, it makes sense to put out "stable" releases in between for their user base to critique.

Look at the things that have changed, but ever so slightly. I can name a couple from 10.04. First being the software center. There was some big talk about removing synaptic at first, but it's still there, for now.

The gnome shell is still available as Ubuntu-Classic. This is for people who aren't ready to switch to Unity just yet.

The implementation of the PPA system is one of the best things Ubuntu has done. This was a major change, and had been worked on for quite some time, until it was released with 10.04. Now, instead of signing keys, we can just type in our PPA, and our repo has been added.

Tom Tiger
May 8th, 2011, 08:18 AM
At first, I didn't like Unity. In fact I really wanted my Gnome back... so I did the next best thing and installed Gnome 3, worked with it for a week, liked it... but not really overall happy (why the push alt for power off) and went back to Unity....

And... yes... Unity actually grows on you. I now have it on all my machines again.

Things I need to do.... make the Icons smaller... on a 23" screen with 1920x1080.... they turn it into a 640x480 screen

Irihapeti
May 8th, 2011, 09:28 AM
Usually I just stick to LTS releases. This time, I installed Natty with Unity on my EeePC 900 (on an SD card) so as to try it out. All the yelling and carrying on had got me curious, so I had to see what it was all about.

After a few days, I have decided that I can do most of the stuff that I want to do on the netbook. That happens to include forwarding programs over SSH from the desktop machine in my home office. After a bit of fiddling, I got some custom launchers to work. I've encountered a few bugs, which I think may be more Xserver stuff than anything specific to Unity.

Conclusion? It's different. If it was necessary, I'd be comfortable using it for nearly everything. But then, if I was restricted to KDE for some reason - or any other desktop environment - I'd adapt. Maybe it has to do with being of an older age group. Maybe it's because I've had to deal with some life circumstances that make changes in my computing environment pretty insignificant.

Perhaps the people who are so upset about it are fortunate - it might mean that they don't have heavy stuff to deal with in their lives. (Or maybe they have, and it's taken their minds off it for a bit, which might also be a good thing.)

My main concern is that those of us without the hardware for 3D effects still have a fallback that we can use. Currently, there is classic with no effects. I hope there's still something usable, whatever it may be, in the next LTS.

Docaltmed
May 8th, 2011, 10:36 AM
Conclusion? It's different. If it was necessary, I'd be comfortable using it for nearly everything. But then, if I was restricted to KDE for some reason - or any other desktop environment - I'd adapt. Maybe it has to do with being of an older age group. Maybe it's because I've had to deal with some life circumstances that make changes in my computing environment pretty insignificant.



Very true. I learned BASIC on a teletype machine connected to an IBM mainframe owned by AT&T before the breakup. My first personal computer ran CP/M. The difference between Gnome 2 and Unity...not so much.

Messing about with computers is more of a pastime for me than a job, though my job does require a certain level of competence with the things. That may be true for many on this board. And people can become pretty passionate about their hobbies. Ask any cyclist if helmets should be mandatory, then stand back and whip out the steak. Medium-rare in minutes.

MickSulley
May 8th, 2011, 10:59 AM
What I cannot find is how to see active applications and switch between them. In Gnome and just about everything else there is a panel at the bottom of the screen with icons for all open programs. How can I see them in Unity?

SlugSlug
May 8th, 2011, 11:13 AM
I went back to gnome after a week, I found Unity slowing me down. I have a few windows open at once and switching between them was painful.

Another thing that was annoying - I use bookmarks in nautilus and use these 'places' in the left hand pane to move files (drag drop) Unity kept getting in my way when I moved mouse over there.

The main problem I had was usability / speed - I don't think you can beat having a pannel at the bottom of the screen to flick through windows..

Perosteck
May 8th, 2011, 11:19 AM
What I cannot find is how to see active applications and switch between them. In Gnome and just about everything else there is a panel at the bottom of the screen with icons for all open programs. How can I see them in Unity?


On the launcher. There are white triangle indicators that mark open and currently active applications.

MickSulley
May 8th, 2011, 05:12 PM
OK yes I see that there are marks to show what is running, but it does not show the names of documents open in Writer for example. I guess I just need to work with Unity a bit more and see if I can live with it.
Thanks
Mick

Allavona
May 8th, 2011, 05:34 PM
I love the feedback about Unity, whether positive or negative.

Every OS/DE has its lovers and haters and these discussions help developers improve the product.
Unity is an infant in the world of DE's. Once its matured I have no doubt that it will be a force to be reckoned with.

akand074
May 8th, 2011, 05:52 PM
What I cannot find is how to see active applications and switch between them. In Gnome and just about everything else there is a panel at the bottom of the screen with icons for all open programs. How can I see them in Unity?

Click Super + W to switch through all open applications in all workspaces. Press Shift + Alt + Up to switch through all open applications in current workspace.

Shibblet
May 9th, 2011, 10:46 PM
I love the feedback about Unity, whether positive or negative.

Every OS/DE has its lovers and haters and these discussions help developers improve the product.
Unity is an infant in the world of DE's. Once its matured I have no doubt that it will be a force to be reckoned with.

It's good that someone is stepping up to the plate to create a new DE. Don't get me wrong, Gnome 3 is very new in comparison to 2. But Unity is all-together a new DE on it's own.

jtfolden
May 10th, 2011, 03:07 AM
It's good that someone is stepping up to the plate to create a new DE. Don't get me wrong, Gnome 3 is very new in comparison to 2. But Unity is all-together a new DE on it's own.

Maybe new in code but it isn't really bringing anything new, UI or feature-wise, I don't think. Gnome 3, for better or worse, is advancing the linux desktop forward. It would have been really easy for the developers to just give us more of the same and they choose to be more adventurous.

Docaltmed
May 10th, 2011, 04:13 AM
OK yes I see that there are marks to show what is running, but it does not show the names of documents open in Writer for example. I guess I just need to work with Unity a bit more and see if I can live with it.
Thanks
Mick

Open CCSM and click on Window Previews. Then when you cursor over the taskbar, it will show you a preview of what's open.

areteichi
May 10th, 2011, 06:12 AM
I believe Freud indicated that when faced with a negative stimuli for a long enough time, you either grow to like it or go insane... I prefer to keep my sanity so switched to Gnome Shell. ;)

To correct your application of Freud's psychoanalysis, I believe his view rather consisted in the idea that we have a mechanism called the 'unconscious' (id) built within us which makes us believe that we're sane. It is a mechanism we have for maintaining our sanity even in those cases when we have negative stimuli. The immediate consequence of this idea is that what we take to be a result of the conscious effort might not really be due to consciousness at all, insofar as our consciousness is, for the most part, dictated by the unconscious. We therefore have no way of telling ourselves whether we're exposed to positive or negative stimuli, whether the same mechanism is not at work when you use Gnome Shell.

I gladly admit that I seem to be able to maintain sanity even with Unity ;)