Those people are happy using their phones and tablets. They don't want a computer at all. People who write computer software should therefore not cater to them.
I actually don't mind this release of Unity, and find that this version is significantly improved over the last one that shipped with Ubuntu Netbook Maverick Meerkat (10.10). The sidebar launcher automatically gets out of your way when you full-screen an app or drag a window to the side. It comes back when you mouse over the left side of your screen as needed. It's pretty easy to remove or add new icons (similar to how Windows 7 handles icons). It takes up a bit more space than I think it needs to, but for people who like big icons that's a plus. If you know the name of the app you want to launch, you can click the Ubuntu logo and type it into the search box, press enter, and it will launch (again similar to Windows 7).
So what you're saying is...it's a phone. Okay. If that's the UI you want, good deal, but it's not the UI a lot of people seem to want.
I think the real problem people have with Unity is that they don't like change.
No, I think the real problem is that they don't want...a phone UI.
What everyone needs to remember is that Ubuntu does not forbid you from downloading and installing your preferred window manager and customizing it to your taste.
I think "what everyone needs to remember" is that they can also download and install a distro that does what they want. If Ubuntu does that for you, cool. But if it doesn't, rather than fucking around trying to force it to, you could just run Debian or something. Just a thought.
Given this, it's insane to say "I'm not using that open source distro X" simply because they offer, by default, packages you don't like.
No it's not. If a distribution is going in a direction you don't like, and a ton of other distributions aren't going in that direction, you're right to look at other options. From your example, it sounds like you've gone to great lengths to turn Ubuntu into Debian. Why not use Debian?
The second response is usually "check the forums."
Yep, that old saw. I'm not trying to talk trash about the Ubuntu forums, but they're obviously geared toward n00bs. I don't say that in any deprecating sense, that's a good thing, that's their user base, that's their market, and that's fine. But getting any assistance on any sort of remotely advanced topic is pretty much impossible. It's just not what they do.
It's by no means a "lame excuse." Canonical is obviously pushing Unity hard. It stands to reason that comparatively more development resources will go there, and Gnome will get less. If you want to use Gnome, it makes perfect sense to go to a distro that focuses on Gnome.
(Disclaimer: I don't use Gnome, Unity, or Ubuntu. I have no dog in this fight.)
I wouldn't be surprised a bit. It's high-end kit. Of course, I've done more damage to the poor thing in four years than he did in thirty:(
OTOH, my current girlfriend has one of those fairly cheapo all-in-one turntable/dual deck/tuner kind of deals, probably from the early 80s, probably the whole thing didn't cost as much as my turntable did when they were both new. The original speakers finally died a couple years back, and we had to stick a shim up in the stylus arm to keep it from "falling in" to the plastic housing, but the motor's still going strong.
One differentiator that I did think of in the course of this discussion though, is that obviously turntable motors don't have to run anywhere near as many RPMs as DVD player motors. Also, turntables are bigger and have a lot more room for heat dispersion. I have no data on this, but I would wager that overheating is a major factor on failure rates of modern electronics.
Got it as a gift from my (ex-)girlfriend's father, who had used it extensively in his home for 30+ years. Thing's older than me by damn near a decade. Still had the manual, schematics, and a spare stylus. Couldn't tell you what it cost new, sorry.
Me too. Voyager 1 had passed Jupiter before I was even born. More than the shuttle or the ISS or Hubble, Voyager got me interested in space. Even as a kid, the concept of this little microwave oven sized computer shot into space a zillion miles away that we could actually talk to and fix from home was...awe inspiring. I'm 30 this year, and I still feel that way.
If you don't think those 1970s Pioneer turntables are absolute monuments to quality engineering, you've never seen one. As for "infinitely simpler," the mechanical parts perform pretty much exactly the same function. There's a motor that spins the disc, the disc is read by either a stylus or a laser. It's typically the motors that go first on DVD players, at least in my experience. To contrast, the motor that powers my Pioneer turntable (IANTOP) is purring along forty years later.
So yeah, they're comparable. The DVD players just don't compare very well.
This is the only way for Slackware to remain relevant in 2011 onwards.
Slackware is completely relevant. Even disregarding Slack's own userbase, its design philosophy is a major influence on similarly power-user oriented distros, such as Gentoo and Arch.
rpms and debian(YUM/APT) packages
Yep, I remember the days of running sudo apt-get install gimp and finding 200 packages and a kitchen sink in the dependency list. I miss that not at all.
I am sorry but the fact of the matter is user(non geek) don't want to run make clean install in 2011
Non geeks should not use Slackware. Use Debian if you want. But don't come bitching about your 20GB/usr partition.
Fuck that. I looked at some screenshots and said "Oh boy, it's a computer that thinks it's a phone." God damn am I glad not to be a Gnome user anymore. Y'all are just fucked.
Slashdot Mirror
What was the mission again?
Dead Or Alive.
AQ has shown a fetish long after 9/11 of trying to work terrorism through planes
Can you back this up?
Don't cuss me out. I wasn't rude to you.
Those people are happy using their phones and tablets. They don't want a computer at all. People who write computer software should therefore not cater to them.
That's right! That's why software sold by a company named after a fruit, a mud hut, or a nonsense word sells so well!
The problem is, even non-apple folks can generally identify the names of the Apple OSX versions.
You need to get out more.
Until 11.10. Then you're fucked.
I actually don't mind this release of Unity, and find that this version is significantly improved over the last one that shipped with Ubuntu Netbook Maverick Meerkat (10.10). The sidebar launcher automatically gets out of your way when you full-screen an app or drag a window to the side. It comes back when you mouse over the left side of your screen as needed. It's pretty easy to remove or add new icons (similar to how Windows 7 handles icons). It takes up a bit more space than I think it needs to, but for people who like big icons that's a plus. If you know the name of the app you want to launch, you can click the Ubuntu logo and type it into the search box, press enter, and it will launch (again similar to Windows 7).
So what you're saying is...it's a phone. Okay. If that's the UI you want, good deal, but it's not the UI a lot of people seem to want.
I think the real problem people have with Unity is that they don't like change.
No, I think the real problem is that they don't want...a phone UI.
What everyone needs to remember is that Ubuntu does not forbid you from downloading and installing your preferred window manager and customizing it to your taste.
I think "what everyone needs to remember" is that they can also download and install a distro that does what they want. If Ubuntu does that for you, cool. But if it doesn't, rather than fucking around trying to force it to, you could just run Debian or something. Just a thought.
[citation needed]
Given this, it's insane to say "I'm not using that open source distro X" simply because they offer, by default, packages you don't like.
No it's not. If a distribution is going in a direction you don't like, and a ton of other distributions aren't going in that direction, you're right to look at other options. From your example, it sounds like you've gone to great lengths to turn Ubuntu into Debian. Why not use Debian?
The second response is usually "check the forums."
Yep, that old saw. I'm not trying to talk trash about the Ubuntu forums, but they're obviously geared toward n00bs. I don't say that in any deprecating sense, that's a good thing, that's their user base, that's their market, and that's fine. But getting any assistance on any sort of remotely advanced topic is pretty much impossible. It's just not what they do.
It's by no means a "lame excuse." Canonical is obviously pushing Unity hard. It stands to reason that comparatively more development resources will go there, and Gnome will get less. If you want to use Gnome, it makes perfect sense to go to a distro that focuses on Gnome.
(Disclaimer: I don't use Gnome, Unity, or Ubuntu. I have no dog in this fight.)
Much easier than trying to configure Debian...
Huh?
I wouldn't be surprised a bit. It's high-end kit. Of course, I've done more damage to the poor thing in four years than he did in thirty :(
OTOH, my current girlfriend has one of those fairly cheapo all-in-one turntable/dual deck/tuner kind of deals, probably from the early 80s, probably the whole thing didn't cost as much as my turntable did when they were both new. The original speakers finally died a couple years back, and we had to stick a shim up in the stylus arm to keep it from "falling in" to the plastic housing, but the motor's still going strong.
One differentiator that I did think of in the course of this discussion though, is that obviously turntable motors don't have to run anywhere near as many RPMs as DVD player motors. Also, turntables are bigger and have a lot more room for heat dispersion. I have no data on this, but I would wager that overheating is a major factor on failure rates of modern electronics.
Got it as a gift from my (ex-)girlfriend's father, who had used it extensively in his home for 30+ years. Thing's older than me by damn near a decade. Still had the manual, schematics, and a spare stylus. Couldn't tell you what it cost new, sorry.
Me too. Voyager 1 had passed Jupiter before I was even born. More than the shuttle or the ISS or Hubble, Voyager got me interested in space. Even as a kid, the concept of this little microwave oven sized computer shot into space a zillion miles away that we could actually talk to and fix from home was...awe inspiring. I'm 30 this year, and I still feel that way.
If you don't think those 1970s Pioneer turntables are absolute monuments to quality engineering, you've never seen one. As for "infinitely simpler," the mechanical parts perform pretty much exactly the same function. There's a motor that spins the disc, the disc is read by either a stylus or a laser. It's typically the motors that go first on DVD players, at least in my experience. To contrast, the motor that powers my Pioneer turntable (IANTOP) is purring along forty years later.
So yeah, they're comparable. The DVD players just don't compare very well.
This is the only way for Slackware to remain relevant in 2011 onwards.
Slackware is completely relevant. Even disregarding Slack's own userbase, its design philosophy is a major influence on similarly power-user oriented distros, such as Gentoo and Arch.
rpms and debian(YUM/APT) packages
Yep, I remember the days of running sudo apt-get install gimp and finding 200 packages and a kitchen sink in the dependency list. I miss that not at all.
I am sorry but the fact of the matter is user(non geek) don't want to run make clean install in 2011
Non geeks should not use Slackware. Use Debian if you want. But don't come bitching about your 20GB /usr partition.
OS X has the nicest GUI
You misspelled KDE.
Fuck that. I looked at some screenshots and said "Oh boy, it's a computer that thinks it's a phone." God damn am I glad not to be a Gnome user anymore. Y'all are just fucked.
That's easy. Arch is better.
Imagine how childish it would be if Microsoft and Apple did that.
The irony's thick in here today.
That's a feature.
-1 Angsty.
That's right! Man will never fly! You tell them!