leeds_shrew
May 21st, 2011, 02:51 PM
This almost certainly belongs in recurring discussions, but here's my ha'penny's worth nonetheless:
I've been using 11.04 with Unity for about a week now and like countless others before me I have found it to be buggy to the point of frustration. It is, possibly, a step in the right direction though. Working properly it would be very simple to use - especially for beginners and those just wanting to do everyday stuff. In fact - it would be perfect for my current purpose, which is preparing a laptop for a couple of kids to do their homework on. Doing more slightly more advanced tasks, I found it a bit tricky to get used to as I can't see all my programs where I expect to find them. It's just different - I'm sure the developers have advanced users in mind. It's Linux after all...
My latest thinking, however, is this: When looking up Ubuntu to download it, ubuntu.com exclusively advertises Natty. It looks slick and impressive as always so you download it. Now I'm a moderately experienced Ubuntu user so I know what it does and what it's capable of and how it develops and gets better over time. BUT, if I was a new user and installed an OS which kept crashing on me I would pay my money to a computer man and go running back to Windows. As a moderately experienced Ubuntu user, I know there is a stable alternative to Windows: Lucid Lynx 10.04 (which is where I'm running back to as soon as I've downloaded the 32-bit version for the laptop I'm fixing up). I want these kids to be impressed by Ubuntu, not frustrated by it.
My point is this: 10.10, 11.04 and 11.10 should be permanently advertised as beta versions. The version I see on the ubuntu.com homepage should be 10.04: the stable, well developed version of Ubuntu which 1st time users are going to install and use with limited issues. There should be clear links to 11.04 and by all means advertise it as much as possible (and advertise it as an upgrade, as progress), because I think it could be ace, but it will be ace in 3 months time not now. Right now it is not clear to new users that there are 2 maintained options available to them: they're going to try out 11.04, think that that is Ubuntu and write it off without knowing that what Ubuntu is currently and what it will be in the future.
I've been using 11.04 with Unity for about a week now and like countless others before me I have found it to be buggy to the point of frustration. It is, possibly, a step in the right direction though. Working properly it would be very simple to use - especially for beginners and those just wanting to do everyday stuff. In fact - it would be perfect for my current purpose, which is preparing a laptop for a couple of kids to do their homework on. Doing more slightly more advanced tasks, I found it a bit tricky to get used to as I can't see all my programs where I expect to find them. It's just different - I'm sure the developers have advanced users in mind. It's Linux after all...
My latest thinking, however, is this: When looking up Ubuntu to download it, ubuntu.com exclusively advertises Natty. It looks slick and impressive as always so you download it. Now I'm a moderately experienced Ubuntu user so I know what it does and what it's capable of and how it develops and gets better over time. BUT, if I was a new user and installed an OS which kept crashing on me I would pay my money to a computer man and go running back to Windows. As a moderately experienced Ubuntu user, I know there is a stable alternative to Windows: Lucid Lynx 10.04 (which is where I'm running back to as soon as I've downloaded the 32-bit version for the laptop I'm fixing up). I want these kids to be impressed by Ubuntu, not frustrated by it.
My point is this: 10.10, 11.04 and 11.10 should be permanently advertised as beta versions. The version I see on the ubuntu.com homepage should be 10.04: the stable, well developed version of Ubuntu which 1st time users are going to install and use with limited issues. There should be clear links to 11.04 and by all means advertise it as much as possible (and advertise it as an upgrade, as progress), because I think it could be ace, but it will be ace in 3 months time not now. Right now it is not clear to new users that there are 2 maintained options available to them: they're going to try out 11.04, think that that is Ubuntu and write it off without knowing that what Ubuntu is currently and what it will be in the future.