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Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Out; Unity Gets a Second Chance
An anonymous reader writes with this enthusiastic review of the latest from Canonical: "So how does Ubuntu Precise Pangolin (12.04) fare? I will say exceptionally well. Unity is not the same ugly duckling it was made out to be. In Ubuntu 12.04, it has transformed into a beautiful swan. As Ubuntu 12.04 is a long term release, the Ubuntu team has pulled all stops to make sure the user experience is positive. Ubuntu 12.04 aka Precise Pangolin is definitely worthy of running on your machine."
Sorry, but cramming an unfinished product down my throat and expecting me to deal with a time consuming buggy interface is the kind of thing that turns me off of a product. After all that's kind of the reason I moved from Windows to Linux in the first place.
Isn't there another OS that uses the platypus for a logo?
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
I was going to take issue with the "revolutionary" phrasing (though the whole sentence is odd), but at the same time, I'm not sure that "ripping off" OS X is such a bad thing. It's a nice feature. I'm never sure why UI improvements (and other aspects of technology) are always an example "damned if you do, damned if you don't": If somebody doesn't copy $FEATURE into their system, they are derided for being outdated; at the same time, if they do add $FEATURE, then they are derided for copying.
That said, the lack of a traditional menu bar might be a source for problems. I prefer the more hybrid approach of OS X.
If you can't convince them, convict them.
Ubuntu's interface is shit. There, I said it.
I just bought my first ever smartphone last month. It's a Samsung Android phone. It works. I can use it. I can move shit around and find my way around it quite easily.
I'm not too old to try something new. I'm too old to have time to go through this shit every time someone has a bright idea when I was more productive than ever with the previous incarnation, and where every iteration I've ever tried makes me less productive.
I spent most of the time in Unity right-clicking on things hoping there were more options to turn shit off and put useful things on. I assumed it was all just hidden away somewhere and I could find it. Imagine my disappointment when I discovered that that was *IT* in terms of interface.
Fuck typing the names of programs into a dialog box. That assumes I know what the bloody thing is called. I just want to categorise stuff and thus keep all related things visible without having to handle special interfaces to do so.
Ubuntu has become the thing that it was supposed to be an alternative too: Fucking stupid design ideas destroying existing productivity for the sake of something shiny.
When I read in the summary that Unity was now a "beautiful swan", I clicked on the link, hoping to get a review of why this is the case. Instead, I get a long summary of the biggest new features in the latest version. Not very convincing.
The thing that *REALLY* pisses me off is that Gnome followed along with this touch screen UI crap the Unity really is. I thought like, OK, fuck Unity, I'm sticking with Gnome (which I really liked and all), but boom! here goes the dynamite! Gnome is the same crap.
The worst part is that I switched my wife to Ubuntu a while ago, with a reasoning that I'm maintaining her laptop anyways and for me it is easier to deal with Linux. Now here comes the Unity crap and she's like "Now I have to REMEMBER all the fucking programs names? WTF?". And now, we both stuck with a couple of years old Ubuntu, which won't be supported anymore.
On serious note: what are the alternatives? Are there any other menu-based window managers, that look nice? I mean, I can tolerate the Fluxbox, but my wife definitely cant
May Peace Prevail On Earth
Unity is a hideous, three headed, monster baby. I can't really describe it in any better terms.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
Looks more like NeXTSTEP to me.
Specifically, a mirror image of it!
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
I was the first person at our office to try Ubuntu, way back in the Dapper Drake days. It spread like a virus so that pretty much all our Linux users were using Ubuntu. We even rolled it out to about 100 servers. But Canonical has ceased listening to what I need, and started telling me what I want. The best thing I can say about Unity is at least it isn't Gnome Shell.
So you see Canonical, it isn't me, it's you. Until you come to your senses, I'm sticking with Mint Debian edition. It has the Gnome 2 desktop like God intended. Rebuild the humanity icon pack and the Ambiance theme and your desktop can look exactly like the Ubuntu of olde, only minus the suck.
Until Ubuntu come to their senses and either ditches Unity or makes its usability and feature set on par with Gnome 2/MATE, that's where I'll be.
The best news is this is the first release to, by default, be free of the Mono infection. Good on you, Canonical! Stop letting Microsoft cronies put patent-encumbered shit in our systems.
Thank you for the stereotypical Linux user response to a new Linux user reaching out for help. Common generalized forum responses when asking for help:
"OMG, just learn Linux better or stop using it"
"Just do X" (where X is a series of dozens of commands requiring an intimate knowledge of the terminal and all commands in it).
"You're must be doing it wrong" (when asking why something isn't working, when exactly copying/pasting commands into the terminal)
"" (ie: no response whatsoever. Thanks for the help, guys)
People like you are the reason Linux has so small a following, because after the above responses, a first-time Linux user's first action will be to format that shit and reinstall Windows.
Desktop? My home monitor is 24 inches; my work monitor is 32 inches... Unity makes no sense on large desktops; it makes great sense on netbooks and smaller laptops. The problem boils down to not having a choice(*).
(*) Yes, I know you have a choice, but not something built into the Ubuntu distribution that allows you to easily and freely choose.
Stupid sexy Flanders.
With every release of ubuntu, I have to add to my long and growing file of fixes to make it work properly.
First I have to put the buttons back on the right side. Then I have to fix the address bar. This time I will have to spend hours researching how to make the stupid launcher thing on the left side go back to the way it was.
Or, if you don't like either, just install MATE. It's pretty much the way forward as far as many Gnome users are concerned.
Space game using normal deck of cards: http://BattleCards.org
So, "sudo apt-get install whatever" is too complicated?
Actually, yes it is. That's the reason it never was the year of Linux right there. Sudo? apt-get? Linux is full of gobbledy-gook just like that.