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

**nrundy** · May 7th, 2011

Originally Posted by Throne777

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!

).

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

**Hyporeal** · May 7th, 2011

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** · May 7th, 2011

Originally Posted by 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.

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** · May 7th, 2011

Originally Posted by msrinath80

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** · May 7th, 2011

Originally Posted by Throne777

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:
AlwaysWillBeFree.png

**NormanFLinux** · May 7th, 2011

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** · May 7th, 2011

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** · May 7th, 2011

Originally Posted by Aquix

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** · May 7th, 2011

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** · May 7th, 2011

Originally Posted by nrundy

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.