Slashdot Mirror
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if you do, damned if you don't": If somebody doesn't copy $FEATURE into their system, they are derided for being outdated; at the same time, if they do add $FEATURE, then they are derided for copying.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.
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
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.