Can we please ditch the Ubuntu One integration!?

[PhantmKllr]

Ever since 10.04, Ubuntu seems to keep getting weirder.

First the new theme (although, that's not weird at all), then Ubuntu One, then Unity. Though, for this post, my beef is with Ubuntu One (plus the Me Menu).

Ubuntu One really bugs me. Not because it's a bad service (it is, in fact, pretty freakin' awesome), but because of it's integration with Ubuntu.

I don't like the idea of being locked in to this one service. I'd much rather use Amazon's Cloud Drive + G. Chrome web sync.

Yeah, I know what you're thinking: "This guy should just shut up, and ignore Ubuntu One. It's not hurting anybody." Well, true, it's not hurting anybody. I just don't like it because I'm a perfectionist (open to argument due to self proclamation), I must have things a specific way. Which brings me to my second point.

The Me Menu. All in all, another brilliant idea. Here's my problem (and I'm probably making this too big of a deal): Webmail integration. Why does the Me Menu not integrate with webmail services? I don't use evolution, I don't like it. Heck, I don't even like email clients. I like Gmail. Why can't it integrate into my Gmail? It it really that difficult? I suppose it is.

Well, that was my rant of the day. I welcome your criticism.

[Not unique]

No no I agree choice is king.

[stmiller]

sudo apt-get remove ubuntuone-client-gnome

Does this remove it?

[tgm4883]

'sudo apt-get install xubuntu' maybe?

For someone who says they are a perfectionist, which I'm assuming you really mean you like things a certain way, without unnecessary things, etc. It's kinda surprising that you run gnome and not something like KDE or XFCE.

[krapp]

It's just now picking up speed so either jump off the purple and orange express now or learn how to cope with it. You are in store for a lot more radical changes made without your input.

But to give Shuttleworth credit, all the decisions made since 9.10 make perfect sense from the point of view of attracting more disenchanted Windows users.

[PhantmKllr]

For someone who says they are a perfectionist, which I'm assuming you really mean you like things a certain way, without unnecessary things, etc. It's kinda surprising that you run gnome and not something like KDE or XFCE.
Perfectionist with an attraction to eye candy. I don't really understand it much myself. :lolflag:

[Rasa1111]

Whatt?

Ubuntu one is awesome!
and it works better in 11.04 than it ever has!

It works beautifully now!
Exactly as it should! I love it!

:P

[earthpigg]

If it gets wierd enough, more folks will move to Mint.

No big deal, really. We'll still be able to get our brown theme, if we want, and we still benefit from Canonical's hard work with a more conservative application thereof (3 years ago, who'd have thought someone could call Linux Mint "conservative"?).

I know that isn't really directly productive, but it places a certain limit on slippery slope conjectures about the "direction" Ubuntu is going and just how big of a deal (not a big deal) it is.

[PhantmKllr]

sudo apt-get remove ubuntuone-client-gnome

Does this remove it?
It probably wouldn't be wise to remove the package, since it's so integrated with the OS. Plus, removing the Ubuntu One package, won't remove any UI elements that point to it.

[tgm4883]

It probably wouldn't be wise to remove the package, since it's so integrated with the OS. Plus, removing the Ubuntu One package, won't remove any UI elements that point to it.

Are you sure?

[wilee-nilee]

I just don't like it because I'm a perfectionist (open to argument due to self proclamation), I must have things a specific way.

Well, that was my rant of the day. I welcome your criticism.

Seek professional help.;)

Just ribbing you.

[earthpigg]

Are you sure?

more significantly: Does ubuntu-desktop depend on this package?

Don't have my 11.04 netbook around, but I'd bet it did. Removing that package (ubuntu-desktop) is generally seen as a no-no unless a dozen caveats and warnings are included.

[wojox]

On Unity:


wojox@wojox-desktop:~$ sudo apt-get remove ubuntuone-client-gnome
[sudo] password for wojox:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
ubuntuone-client-gnome
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 250 kB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? n
Abort.

[GabrielYYZ]

It's just now picking up speed so either jump off the purple and orange express now or learn how to cope with it. You are in store for a lot more radical changes made without your input.

But to give Shuttleworth credit, all the decisions made since 9.10 make perfect sense from the point of view of attracting more disenchanted Windows users.

oh yeah, what better way to attract "average users" than by presenting them with a chance to re learn how to use the one thing they, supposedly, don't want to learn...

"oh, you're disenchanted with windows? come here, we have some things made specifically for you:

- the close, min and max buttons are on the wrong side of where you're used to.

- the mouse you're used to using for everything? we don't use it here, we simplified it for you and now you'll learn to check your mail and surf the web while getting an arm workout. why an arm workout, you say? well, we use the keyboard like crazy and clicking stuff takes 3 -4 more clicks than what you're used to"

- you'll love our UI too, it's almost like the one you use on your phone, except that it's for your computer!!

and there's more! we know you'll love it, we made it specially for you, all you have to do is give it time to relearn some stuff and, i assure you, you'll LOVE IT"

pardon my sarcasm, but i don't get how an "average user" that can't copy/paste stuff from/in a shell and read an error message to ask for help will be happy to learn a whole new operating system that doesn't look like anything he has used in his life.

maybe i'm wrong or maybe ubuntu will course-correct (and i hope it does, i really do, if only for the sentimental reason that this was the first distro i used) but, until there are some results from this strategy, i respectfully disagree with your comment (the part in bold)

[mikewhatever]

Ditch something just because one user doesn't like it? I don't think so.

[Hyporeal]

oh yeah, what better way to attract "average users" than by presenting them with a chance to re learn how to use the one thing they, supposedly, don't want to learn...

Read the text you quoted. It says "disenchanted Windows users", not "users who are completely satisfied with Windows and will go on a rampage if even the smallest thing about their beloved operating system is altered".

[PhantmKllr]

Ditch something just because one user doesn't like it? I don't think so.

Notice that I simply suggested the removal of Ubuntu One's forced integration in the OS. Not the removal of Ubuntu One. I honestly think that Ubuntu One is a great service, but I prefer others.

[tgm4883]

more significantly: Does ubuntu-desktop depend on this package?

Don't have my 11.04 netbook around, but I'd bet it did. Removing that package (ubuntu-desktop) is generally seen as a no-no unless a dozen caveats and warnings are included.

IIRC, ubuntu-desktop doesn't depend on any packages anymore. It's all strictly recommends

[mc4man]

IIRC, ubuntu-desktop doesn't depend on any packages anymore. It's all strictly recommends

It has a lot of depends and recommends, any ubuntuone package would be the latter

Ex.

$ sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
banshee-extension-ubuntuonemusicstore gir1.2-unity-3.0 gnome-themes-ubuntu libreoffice-base-core libreoffice-calc
libreoffice-core libreoffice-draw libreoffice-gnome libreoffice-gtk libreoffice-help-en-us libreoffice-impress
libreoffice-math libreoffice-writer libsyncdaemon-1.0-1 libubuntuone-1.0-1 libubuntuone1.0-cil
python-ubuntuone-client python-ubuntuone-storageprotocol python-uno ubuntuone-client ubuntuone-client-gnome
Suggested packages:
libreoffice-base libreoffice-evolution libreoffice-java-common libreoffice-gcj libreoffice-filter-binfilter
ubuntuone-client-dbg
The following NEW packages will be installed:
banshee-extension-ubuntuonemusicstore gir1.2-unity-3.0 gnome-themes-ubuntu libreoffice-calc libreoffice-draw
libreoffice-gnome libreoffice-gtk libreoffice-help-en-us libreoffice-impress libsyncdaemon-1.0-1 libubuntuone-1.0-1
libubuntuone1.0-cil python-ubuntuone-client python-ubuntuone-storageprotocol ubuntu-desktop ubuntuone-client
ubuntuone-client-gnome
The following packages will be upgraded:
libreoffice-base-core libreoffice-core libreoffice-math libreoffice-writer python-uno
5 upgraded, 17 newly installed, 0 to remove and 62 not upgraded.
Need to get 48.1 MB/48.5 MB of archives.
After this operation, 53.5 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? n
Abort.





sudo apt-get --no-install-recommends install ubuntu-desktop
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
gnome-themes-ubuntu
Recommended packages:
banshee-extension-ubuntuonemusicstore libreoffice-calc libreoffice-gnome libreoffice-help-en-us libreoffice-impress
ubuntuone-client-gnome
The following NEW packages will be installed:
gnome-themes-ubuntu ubuntu-desktop
0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 67 not upgraded.
Need to get 335 kB of archives.
After this operation, 2,429 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? n
Abort.

[Bazon]

Just uncheck Ubuntu One in the start programs and remove me-indicator. (or was it indicator-me?)
That's the way I did it.
Ubuntu One is a good idea but Dropbox is so much faster...

[Oxwivi]

Ubuntu One should not be locked to Ubuntu. Period.

[lucazade]

Ubuntu One should not be locked to Ubuntu. Period.

sudo apt-get purge ubuntuone-control-panel-gtk

Easy. There is no lock.. and if "sometimes" there are dependencies "probably" there is a reason.

[tgm4883]

Ubuntu One should not be locked to Ubuntu. Period.

There is no reasonable reason that Ubuntu One shouldn't ship with Ubuntu.

[Oxwivi]

There is no reasonable reason that Ubuntu One shouldn't ship with Ubuntu.
My bad, I meant locked with Canonical. U1 is a great integrated syncing service and being able to use my own server would be freakin' awesome!

[nothingspecial]

These conversations are getting silly.

Ubuntu doesn't force any of these things on you. It ships with a lot of applications that canonical believe will attract users. But no-one has to use any of them.

Install ubuntu minimal and build it like you want. That's what a perfectionist would do.

You do not have to have ubuntu-one, unity, buttons on the left, any of it. You are free to use anything out there that can be built on linux, and customise any of it to your hearts content........

.......that's the whole point.

[3rdalbum]

You are free to remove U1, and install any similar service.

Your point about Gmail and the Messenging Menu are pretty good. Integrating with Gmail would be a good idea.

(The Me Menu is not the right place for Gmail, because Me Menu is not about e-mail; but the Messenging Menu is right).

[PhantmKllr]

(The Me Menu is not the right place for Gmail, because Me Menu is not about e-mail; but the Messenging Menu is right).

Messaging menu, that's what I meant. Thanks for the correction.

[ugm6hr]

Your point about Gmail and the Messenging Menu are pretty good. Integrating with Gmail would be a good idea.

(The Me Menu is not the right place for Gmail, because Me Menu is not about e-mail; but the Messenging Menu is right).

I use Gmail, so would personally like this. But not everyone does. Supporting a default email provider is equally likely to alienate those who fear Google's control of your information etc.
Furthermore, I don't see why Canonical / Ubuntu would support Gmail integration unless Google shared its ad revenue from Gmail with Canonical.

[mcduck]

It has a lot of depends and recommends, any ubuntuone package would be the latter

Ex.

That doesn't really make any difference, ubuntu-desktop is still a safe package to remove and won't remove anything else, the dependencies are one-way thing. So it's not a question of what packages ubuntu-desktop has as it's dependencies, but instead of if any package depends on ubuntu-desktop. As far as I know no package depends on it.(you probably should be a bit careful the next time you run "apt-get autoremove", though, and if necessary remove the "automatically installed"-status from the packages that were installed as dependencies with the ubuntu-desktop metapackage).

Just like alway before, the only rule with such metapackages is that you'll want to have them installed when upgrading to next release version. Other than that you don't need them and can safely uninstall them if you want to remove some of the default packages.

So, no, Ubuntu One is in no way impossible to remove from Ubuntu, although removing it is pretty much a cosmical change and won't save you any noticeable amount of resources.

[Paqman]

My bad, I meant locked with Canonical. U1 is a great integrated syncing service and being able to use my own server would be freakin' awesome!

AFAIK the front end and protocols are all open source, so there's no technical reason why that couldn't be implemented. Somebody just has to get stuck in build it. I'm sure the Ubuntu One team would be helpful.


That doesn't really make any difference, ubuntu-desktop is still a safe package to remove and won't remove anything else

It will break your ability to upgrade to the next release though.

[Oxwivi]

AFAIK the front end and protocols are all open source, so there's no technical reason why that couldn't be implemented. Somebody just has to get stuck in build it. I'm sure the Ubuntu One team would be helpful.
I know the client-side is open-source, but no one has hacked to around with it publicly as far as I know. Some sort of API should be implemented to allow third-party server configuration. Heck, it'd be just great for Canonical if they decided to allow commercial services to take advantage of U1 by demanding a piece of the cake.

[mcduck]

It will break your ability to upgrade to the next release though.

Yep, that's why I said the only rule is that you'll want to install it again while doing a release upgrade. You don't need it for anything else, though, so it's safe to have it uninstalled at all other times.

[speedwell68]

I think that Ubuntu One and the Me Menu are good ideas, however I personally don't use them, I use Dropbox and Tweetdeck instead. I don't think they are there to attract disenchanted Windows users, they are there to augment the functionality of the desktop, that simple.

[Throne777]

Ubuntu One is one of my favourite things about using Ubuntu. Automatically backing up all my work for free is the greatest thing ever. Especially when I fresh installed and upon signing in to Ubuntu One all my folders were just automatically put back onto my computer.

Long live Ubuntu One.

[Johnsie]

I have no problem with Ubuntu One. I also don't see the point in discrediting people's hard work. If I don't like something I either don't use it or I will submit ways to make it better.

[pommie]

I removed Ubuntu One with Synaptic, "1 package to remove", no ill effects, same as I did with a few other programs, gets a bit dicey but if you watch what you are doing and cancel anything that wants to remove a heap of other things its all good.

Cheers David

[PhantmKllr]

I use Gmail, so would personally like this. But not everyone does. Supporting a default email provider is equally likely to alienate those who fear Google's control of your information etc.
Furthermore, I don't see why Canonical / Ubuntu would support Gmail integration unless Google shared its ad revenue from Gmail with Canonical.

I wasn't saying that only Gmail should be integrated, and I wasn't saying that it should be fully integrated with Ubuntu. I was proposing that the Messaging Menu could tap into any webmail service (Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, Mobile Me mail, etc...) and display if you have any unread messages (like it already does for Evolution).

[mikewhatever]

I wasn't saying that only Gmail should be integrated, and I wasn't saying that it should be fully integrated with Ubuntu. I was proposing that the Messaging Menu could tap into any webmail service (Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, Mobile Me mail, etc...) and display if you have any unread messages (like it already does for Evolution).

Great idea, but completely unreasonable, sort of like 'ditch the Ubuntu One integration'. ;)
You might want to try Ubuntu Brainstorm (http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/), just to see how many ups and downs you get.

[PhantmKllr]

Wait a minute, something just occurred to me. Doesn't Google Chrome notify you if you have a new (Gmail) email, or (Google Talk) chat? Maybe they should integrate this with the Messaging Menu.

Hmm...

[dwhite]

from ubuntu one website, haven't tried myself though.

REMOVING UBUNTU ONE CLIENT
In order to completely remove the Ubuntu One client from your computer, please do the following (commands prefaced with $ are to be run in a terminal session, without the $ at the beginning):
1. Quit the Ubuntu One client
2. $ sudo rm -rf ~/.local/share/ubuntuone
3. $ rm -rf ~/.cache/ubuntuone
4. $ rm -rf ~/.config/ubuntuone
5. $ mv ~/Ubuntu\ One/ ~/Ubuntu\ One_old/
6. Open Applications->Accessories->Passwords and Encryption Keys, go to the Passwords tab, delete the Ubuntu One token
7. $ sudo apt-get purge ubuntuone-client* python-ubuntuone-storage*