OStatic

by Dave on Sep. 07, 2011

Wow Susan,kind of a biting diatribe there. We get a lot of opinion here but not much substance. I understand you don't like Unity but I'd appreciate a real usability study here with things Canonical should do to make Unity better.

I actually like using Unity and I like that Ubuntu isn't just another linux distro. They invest resources and take risks despite the critics in order to make Ubuntu better.

What you say sounds a little too much like my boss saying "I have a gut feeling the website should look like this...". That's fine but there's a lot of different guts out there.

by Shawn Corey on Sep. 07, 2011

Is this guy for real? The biggest problem with Unity is that it's untested. The old desktop, the one we all know and love, was tested for years in Xerox PARC facility long before Apple started to use it in the Mac. A lot of the ideas in Unity were tested and rejected there. Before any commercial computer employed them. A lot of people like Unity because it's different but a lot dislike it because it's cumbersome. When I want to do something, I want to do it now and not goof around with the windowing system.

by Dave on Sep. 07, 2011

Yep I'm for real. It's not good enough to say that usability tests conducted over 30 years ago apply to users today- audiences and their capacity change over time, even after months let alone years. I'm not saying old usability findings don't apply, I'm saying I want to see a real study conducted today.

I don't have a problem with you and Susan having an opinion. Mine is just different. I use Ubuntu all day long at work and at home and it doesn't get in my way- quite the opposite. That's my opinion. But I am curious to see what a real usability study would conclude. Not just general statements like 'usability experts say' or 'everyone knows this is a bad idea'. A real study on today's users.

My problem with this article isn't that Susan has a strong opinion. It's that she doesn't give data or cite specific research. Even though I disagree with her, that would be interesting to me. Right now, it's just a really condescending editorial.

by an anonymous user on Sep. 07, 2011

I am teaching my kids with Unity right from the start. They have no history of any other system. They seem to be able to move around it pretty well (big happy icons) better than they can windows 7.

That is a simple and limited anecdote, but it works. I think they can begin to interact in it without my constant help, but, alas, it is not perfect or perfectly-tested.

by Jono Bacon on Sep. 07, 2011

Wow, I never thought a off the cuff blog entry would get written up. Slow news day, eh? ;-)

I am a little surprised at just how biting your article is. Remember, this is just a blog entry in which I express my take on the topic. I am not telling people what to think or what to do, I am just expressing my opinion. I also wrapped it in the caveat that I am not a usability professional.

A few responses:

"Here let me help ya out there, Jono. People don't like being told what to do, how to do it, where to do it, and how much we should enjoy doing it your way. You can try to dictate from up above how much better your way is, but you can't make folks like it. You are there for the users and not the other way around. Without your users, you have no reason to be".

I didn't tell anyone what to do or how to do it; I expressed an opinion. Disagree with my opinion? No worries! We can still be friends. :-)

"Like many of your ilk, you're under the impression that us lowly users are sheeple and must therefore follow your most exalted and elite judgment. You know best, right?"

My ilk? Wow. I am not in any way suggesting our users are sheep and should follow our "most exalted and elite judgement", but we do make decisions on the behalf of our users (as everyone who builds a product does), and our users will always have differing opinions on those decisions.

"We can't possibly think for ourselves. He sums up with, "Personally I think the latter looks far sleeker, less cluttered and pleasant to use. Having used Ubuntu 11.10 for a month or so, this small change has really been a nice touch and I am pleased that these small touches continue to refine the Ubuntu experience into a truly desirable and powerful product that is simple and effective for everyone." Well, I guess your opinion is the only one that matters".

Note how I said "personally" -- this is a personal viewpoint, expressed on my personal blog, sharing my personal opinion. I am not, nor have ever said that my opinion "is the only one that matters". You are reading too much into this.

Jono

by Seth on Sep. 07, 2011

Although it took me a little while to find where to access a few things I vastly prefer the new Unity interface to the previous Gnome setup. Everything is driven by search which is way more efficient that the inefficient and just plain tired old point-and-click-drilling-down-through-endless-hierarchies paradigm.

by eggdeng on Sep. 07, 2011

I think Susan has hit the nail on the head. Over the last three or so releases, the folks at Canonical have seemed to get more and more wrapped up in a self congratulatory fug of smugness and back-slapping. They have also picked up the habit of explaining modifications (like the moving window buttons or the global menubar) in terms of nebulous philosophical-ergonomic abstractions when all they are doing is SIMPLY COPYING OSX. It's ironic to compare the success of the Gnome Shell devs in bringing a sophisticated OSX-like functionality to Gnome with the dog's dinner that is Unity today. Canonical really need to listen to their users.

by an anonymous user on Sep. 07, 2011

Ubuntu is with Unity trying so desperately be different from Windows or Mac, that they are doing all these stupid decisions like hide menu bar or hide buttons or move Ubuntu button to launcher which leave you with almost empty top panel + we have totally f*ucked up trash like Compiz which is terribly flawed, full o bugs and memory leaks and it will take years and years to fix it. Ubuntu is going downhill. Their time has come..

by Adam Williamson on Sep. 07, 2011

Handy rule of thumb: if the word 'sheeple' appears in a post, stop reading immediately.

by Thats Myboy on Sep. 07, 2011

Yep, I was pretty surprised at the tone here too. This from the woman who proclaims "Firefox remains the most popularly used Web browser" based on a poll at her website. Susan, I usually like your column, but this sounds like middle school sniping to me.

by Jono Bacon on Sep. 07, 2011

The idea of hiding the buttons that are the only usable ones from the windows is lame.

The canonical folks are doing everything to block Windows or Mac users from switching to Linux and I always hear that 67 year old was able to use 94 year old was able to use it.

Lets get real. Make the average person use it without being to explore around always. The lame idea started with freezing the launcher on the left hand side.

The author of this blog is spot on.

I have switched to fallback mode hours after using Unity.

by Jono Bacon on Sep. 07, 2011

People are posting with name.

But we removed the buttons so that we wanted to look different from Mac and Windows atleast in this.

We dont care about how users are able to use it or not.

Which I claimed in the initial few line of my blog post.

by kaingeo on Sep. 07, 2011

The company that would make a great total experience in your phone, laptop, desktop and tv would be the next great player in technology. Apple is doing it, Google is trying to do it and Microsoft would like to do it in near future! If Canonical wants to be part of something bigger it MUST develop its own interface and ecosystem.

Some ideas: (that are pretty much fact to me...)

1. Unity is a work in progress and possibly ready in the next LTS (that the reason of LTS release existence)

2. You are not a unity user, you are a unity beta tester

3. Any user that can execute the command 'ls' in real world is an linux expert. Unity is for the absolute ignorant user of a consumer product not an operating system.

4. If you want to do constructive and useful criticism you must understand the ultimate goal of the designer

Of course if anybody feel very frustrated about Unity and Canonical's policy there is the great command:

sudo apt-get install gnome-session-fallback

which do things as usual or the great alternative to drop Ubuntu and use some other distro!

Cheers from an Ubuntu Openbox user!!!

by Shawn Corey on Sep. 07, 2011

@Dave: When I asked, "Is this guy for real?" I was talking about Jono Bacon. Guess I should have been clearer.

@Jono: I don't like change for the sake of change. Show me it's better and I'll change (perhaps with a lot of grumbling but I'll change).

by DarwinSurvivor on Sep. 07, 2011

Canonical is in no way forcing users to use unity. There are *sanctioned* and *supported* alternatives such as kubuntu, xubuntu and lubuntu. Those are just the distro versions that have different DEFAULT desktop environments. In fact, ANY of the ubuntu versions can easily be switched to openbox, xmonad, etc and in 11.10 gnome3 will be added to that list (it was not ready when 11.04 came out).

Keeping gnome2 was not possible since ubuntu has a policy of only including software that is under active development, and 6-8 months ago there was NO active development in gnome 2. There are a couple forks now, but nothing close to production ready.

by Anthony on Sep. 07, 2011

*sigh* Another self entitled blogger complaining about free (let me say that again, FREE) software. Do you have to use it? Nope. Are there many more options? Yep.

If working in customer service has ever taught me anything over the years it's that the customer is always wrong. They have no idea, they only know how to whine.

Please excuse me, I'm going to go and complain to news agency about the amount of money I won on a lottery ticket - it was $100, and I only wanted $5.

by an anonymous user on Sep. 07, 2011

You know the sad thing? If Unity had been unveiled as the interface of the Mac OSX 10.7 instead of Ubuntu, people everywhere would be proclaiming it the greatest innovation in computer interfaces since the GUI itself.

And on that note, there's not that much difference any more between Unity and OSX's interface. Do the people that hate Unity also hate Macs?

by Jono Bacon on Sep. 08, 2011

Only fools think that if something is free you somehow lost your right to voice ur opinion.

If Ubuntu with its limited market share is trying to decide what users should do, I think we can always appreciate Microsoft and Apple for being restraint in that area in view of their market share.

Canonical instead of spending valuable resources on unusable usability enhancements can work on drivers, mobile support, interoperability, performance etc.

by an anonymous user on Sep. 08, 2011

Oh man...

Microsoft, Apple, Google, Oracle, Redhat, even the KDE and Gnome community tells you what to do.

Don't you like it? Don't use it. And don't event write about it, every post about your arch enemy is an ad :)

by AE Souza on Sep. 08, 2011

I do feel Susan's comments were too harsh. I'm new to Linux and a new user of Ubuntu 11.04 and even now, with all its alleged bugs, I find Unity quite elegant and a joy to use.

by Jono Bacon on Sep. 08, 2011

Wow, I can't believe someone posted pretending to be me (the comment which starts with "People are posting with name.").

You would think that such a master criminal would at least try and sound like me in terms of tone and grammar. Even just writing sentences that make sense would be a good start. :-)

by DAvid on Sep. 08, 2011

Susan,

i don't have a lot to say about your post.

But while i was reading it i couldn't stop to have the feeling of some angry on your words and to think that you really have something against bacon and not against unity...

I'm sorry but you don't even make sense in some of your acusations

by BergRadler on Sep. 08, 2011

Unity rux

by Adrian on Sep. 08, 2011

In my opinion Unity is great and is getting better. someone said that canonical has to hear to its users. I am one of its users and I say, I like it! Btw that discussion remembers me of Sheldon saying.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKZUg-bTOak

by Luis Fernando Planella Gonzalez on Sep. 08, 2011

The problem with Unity is that, unlike other DE's, it doen't have a "default" and configuration options for the rest.

Is that it's like it is. Period. Ok, you can change the launcher hide behavior and some other minor aspects. But how to minimize an application using the launcher? How to move the launcher? How to add something better than indicators in the panel? How to have another panel?

Take KDE (my favorite one) as an example. It has some pretty bad defaults, like single mouse clicks to navigate in folders. But you can easily tweak almost everything.

The problem in Unity is the deliberate decision to not add configuration options, as they "divide he user base" and have "hidden costs". Ok, probably no other DE is as configurable as KDE, but Unity manages to be even less configurable than GNOME.

Oh my!!!

by Bobot on Sep. 08, 2011

Wow, that was truly right in the middle.

"People don't like being told what to do, how to do it, where to do it, and how much we should enjoy doing it your way. You can try to dictate from up above how much better your way is, but you can't make folks like it."

Why is it that most people try very very hard to make things complicated?

by Scottie on Sep. 09, 2011

As someone who has made the jump from a Windows system, to a dual-boot Windows and Ubuntu system, to a fully Ubuntu system, and who has tested out a few Mac releases...I really, really dislike Unity.

I admit...I tried Unity. I wiped my system (after having created a full backup of my system and preferences and all my tweaks) and installed Unity. After two days...I reinstalled my trustly old Ubuntu 10.10. I figure out that I couldn't use my handy Avant Windows Navigator to make a system panel in Unity. Doing so would wreck the system.

Right now...everything I use most is on my desktop, on a swanky little piece of red and black eye-candy on the right side of my screen. I have a nice wallpaper, and a few shortcuts on my desktop to some folders I use now and then.

Unity...yes, it's probably a learning experience. The problem is...I don't use Ubuntu to learn. I can use the Forums to learn. I use Ubuntu for stability, ease of use, speed, functionality, and because it's free and open source, all of which I really like, and can't find in Windows.

I've tried a few other Linux-based operating systems, like Peppermint, Peppermint 2, Linux Mint, Slackware, and a couple others I can't remember. But I always come back to Maverick.

Unity is not user-friendly. I had to search for five minutes for a function in Unity that I could find in Maverick in five seconds. Unity is a great idea...for netbooks. It is not a great idea for those of us who use Ubuntu on a desktop system.

Of course, there are those who would say that there is a option in Natty to let you use the "Classic Interface" rather than Unity...well...sure you can. I could do that...and then spend six hours trying to customize it the way I have it in my Maverick system. A lot of the stuff I have on my system...I don't have any idea how I did it. But it works...and I'll not change it any time soon.

by an anonymous user on Sep. 09, 2011

I have grown to like Unity. When I first saw it, I had to find out how to use it, just like I did with any other new stuff, and maybe my life would be easier if no new stuff was ever used anywhere(!)

Unity was tested and these tests were documented, at Canonical, I think the tests etc are publicly available.

I help a lot of novice users, all the time, and from a novice view, Unity means simplicity. They do not have to know 'which' and 'where', for several menus.

When, or if, they get more advanced, they will use the search based methods, just like they use in Google all the time. Internet searches used to be category based just like menus.

by gvnmcknz on Sep. 09, 2011

Xubuntu and Lubuntu are nearly there in terms of usability.

I confess I always turn off the "bling", Compiz, "Wobbly Windows",

"shrink" on any distro I try. Give me the speed anytime.

I like Ubuntu and it's derivatives, it "just works", finds the hardware etc.

Easy and fast, secure, (and free!).

So, no I'm not a Unity fan, I do dislike being forced into it,

but there are strong alternatives (from the same company)

gvnmcknz

by David on Sep. 09, 2011

Well said Susan, sums up my annoyance/frustration over this whole debacle quite nicely. While some seem content with it, I know of more than a few (besides myself) who are fed up with being treated like children.

by larry david on Sep. 09, 2011

i wanna hire this bacon. i like him.

by an anonymous user on Sep. 09, 2011

I think that the most vocal people against Canocial and Unity are the mid-tier linux enthusiasts or the ones that know just enough to be dangerous.

I like unity and i see it as making linux accessible for everyone. My elderly parents, my kids, and my wife can use Unity. These people dont need to learn directory structures, drivers, etc. they just want a computer to work with a few clicks. If they choose to learn more than that is great. The people that argue these sentiments seem to want to keep linux wrapped in a culture of elitism.

Experienced user? Mid level hack? No worries, take your vanilla Ubuntu install. Add your favorite windows manager. Like the windows xp look load up KDE. Wanna feel like Neo in the matrix load up Fluxbox. The options are endless.

Griping about a company wanting to put linux in the hands of the masses just seems a little self serving. Every newbie that gets started on Ubuntu is another win for the linux community..they can cut their teeth and move on to other distributions or even make their own if they choose.

by Colin Beard on Sep. 09, 2011

Unity works fine on my netbook and I'm pretty happy to use unity on my netbook as when I use that device I am usually just dipping in to a device to do something quickly on something with a small screen and unity is perfect for this.

However, when I sit down to do some "proper computery stuff" on my home PC I have a 27 inch screen and desktop real estate isn't a major issue, having to go to the left hand screen, scroll through a load of other icons to get to the program I want gets to be a real pain.

Plus, when I want another terminal I want to just hit the terminal icon and get a new terminal, not be switched back to my already open terminal! Some of us like having multiple copies of the same applications open at the same time! We need to have many terminal sessions open on many different machines, you know, using linux as a networked OS, as it was designed to be?

I struggled with gnome 3 on fedora so switched my main work PC to ubuntu 11.04 in classic mode so that I get back what has been taken out of both unity and gnome3, the ever so wonderful bottom panel. I've been using computers since Windows 3.11, when Win95 came out I fell in love with the taskbar, I would love to buy the guy that came up with that idea a well deserved pint! All through my computing from Win95-XP and then finally to Linux in 2007 has used the taskbar/bottom panel to switch between the myriad of open programs I need to do either my job or my funtime computing.

Now this is being taken away from me. I've currently got 30+ applications open over 4 workspaces, I know what each program (most of the are terminals) are and on which machine they are on purely from their position on the bottom panel. Windows7 annoys me with their "jumplists" I think they are called, whereby just the icon in the taskbar is visible requiring me to highlight the icon, wait for the open apps to be highlighted then click on the instance I want.

This faffery is getting in the way of me doing my job or using up my fun computing with unnecessary mouse clicks or mouse movements. I beg all OS developers to stop thinking how users should use their products and let us make those decisions, just give us stuff that is safe, secure, finished! and usable without following gimmicks or thinking you know best.

But foremost, please stop the apartheid against the bottom panel! I'd also liek to see the love reserved for the top panel, I like my clock in the top right hand corner, I'm used to that now, I also like my app shortcuts in the top left of this panel, I'm happy with them there in linux, it works for me.

I've tried fedora15 with xfce, not quite the gnome2 experience but if I put the time in it will be more than adequate, plus with the numbers of people now switching to that distro/WM arrangement I can only see xfce having more development on it and becoming the home of disaffected unity/gnome3 people.

Gnome2-style computing (even if it is Win95esque) is what many people want, it has proven to successful, intuitive and all those other things unity and gnome3 fail to be despite aiming for.

Long live the bottom panel!!!

by an anonymous user on Sep. 09, 2011

Remember your also criticizing all the volunteers that contributed towards Unity. People that gave up their free, valuable time.

by The Old Fellow on Sep. 09, 2011

I agree with most of this post. After trying to live with 11.04 for two months, I dumped Ubuntu. Tried Groan3 for another 2 months, dumped that too. Now a happy XFCE4 user. Distro? Arch, easier than Ubuntu to keep updated.

by an anonymous user on Sep. 09, 2011

I meant 'your're' not 'your' sorry.

by mossholderm on Sep. 09, 2011

While I think Susan's article was harsh, I have to agree with her on several of the points being made:

- Hiding basic functionality doesn't encourage users to explore, it encourages them to move on.

- Changing well established usage patterns without wide consensus leads to splitting groups, rather than bringing them together.

- Making said changes without at least giving the option to disable them creates even larger splits, and more anger.

@Dave, I find it interesting that you want a usability study from Susan, but not from Canonical.

@Jono (the real one!) I used to be a staunch Ubuntu supporter, from Warty up until Maverick. When the Window buttons moved to the left, I really disliked it, but I worked around it. Then the global menu arrived, and that just made things worse. What Canonical has done is create a hotspot of all sorts of different functionality in the upper left corner of the screen. By moving my mouse there, I could be launching something, I could be closing the window, I could be trying to access a menu... who knows! It has become too densely populated an area of functionality, and it is leading to errors. Particularly bad is placing the close button in this hotspot. I wonder how many people have had their workflow completely disrupted by accidentally closing a window when they meant to open a menu?

The global menu is another idea that seems nice (its consistent), but has a negative impact on users. If I have two programs open, and don't have them maximized, should I really have to keep travelling back and forth to the top left of the screen just to get at the menu? We don't all have small screens where that little bit of real estate is so precious, and we most certainly don't all run apps maximized all the time, or one at a time. Some times (often, in my case), you NEED to be able to see and work with more than one thing at a time. By all means, make things elegant and sleek for the common use cases, but always try to remember that what makes Linux and friends great is that they can be molded to the users needs. Please don't take that away.

I won't even go into how bad an idea the hidden menu is when you start taking tablet computers into account...

by an anonymous user on Sep. 09, 2011

you know,what i find unjustified, is the complete arrogance and false sense of entitlement in this poor article.millions of people are happy using unity i am just one of them.stop patronizing us .kde 4 took years to become as configurable as kde 3. and gnome 3 will take its time too.unity is already on the run to become even greater.why do you need the windows buttons to be visible all the time ,are you afraid they will be gone.still canonical support kde ,lxde,xfce and even enlightment so why is all the fuss? stop acting like babies.no guts no glory live long brave ubuntu.

by syncdram on Sep. 09, 2011

This is a great summery on ubuntu. You hit it right on the head. All there testing is being originally done in house long before this crap gets sent out to us for testing. As stupid as the outside testers are they think there getting hit first with it, well your not the decisions have already been made for you. Understand something and choke on it a few times if you have to. the way things are done in the eastern world is through dictatorship, Australia is no different, shuttleworth is no different, canonical is no different. Its a way of life they have always known and do not no anything different. The bright side is shuttleworth won't be around forever and once he and his money is gone so is Canonical. There has not been one no not one of you or inside the company that has ever funded this mess of a Linux distribution the way shuttleworth is doing. Unity is the worst excuse of a Linux Desktop "ever" to come down the Linux pike, and is the first only desktop obstacle ever made for the end user. Unity is for the very first time in Linux history a unquestionably reason to stay with Windows or "never" look upon ubuntu again.

by an anonymous user on Sep. 09, 2011

Somebody said millions and millions like Unity.... lol funny

by Paul on Sep. 09, 2011

Susan,

Nice mullet! Apparently getting on the "Unity hate" bandwagon wasn't your worst decision.

http://pclosmag.com/html/Issues/200609/page02.html

by Chris on Sep. 09, 2011

I am not a big fan of Unity, but this article is a worthless diatribe. It is the first time I have read a piece that you have written....and it will serve as my last.

by Jono Bafoon on Sep. 09, 2011

Will the real Jono Bacon please shut up!

by an anonymous user on Sep. 09, 2011

I stayed away from Unity and went to Kubuntu which was interesting and not without its learning curve. However, after a while curiosity got the better of me and I installed Ubuntu with Unity on a test machine. It partners my Kubuntu machine now and I have found Unity to be much better than I anticipated. The launcher could be more responsive and will no doubt get better. I have tweaked some bits and pieces along the way and learned some more. I think that the key here is that many are afraid of learning new ways - no doubt the nay sayers will always say that it was good before and should never have changed. I for one have come to like it and anyway, it is far, far better than Windows. I will probably rebuild the Kubuntu machine with Ubuntu at 11.10 because it has served its purpose but enough things (Ubuntu One, DropBox etc) do not work as they do with Gnome (Nautilus) to make it irritating.

by MrSums on Sep. 09, 2011

You know I am so fed up of this constant - and I mean constant - whinging; "I like this", "Why do the developers @ x change function y" and so on, interminably.

The whole point of FOSS is that if you don't like something, you can change it:

- don't like Unity? use another distribution

- don't like Gnome? use KDE

- don't like either of them? use something else, OR WRITE YOUR OWN

This is a Free World - no one is always right (for you) and no one is always wrong. The ability to have an opinion is great, by allow others to have theirs too.

Get a life guys, and stop the bloody whinging.

by an anonymous user on Sep. 09, 2011

I, too, went to KDE after the Unity mess. KDE is far more customizable and also quite a but faster for my full screen games.

Thank God that Linux is a community OS and that there are a TON of other alternatives. I still like Ubuntu on the server, but as far as desktop use goes, my company is moving over to KDE. So sorry, Ubuntu!

Maybe in 5 or 10 years after you realize your falling market share, you will see the light and dump Unity - Gnome 3 is a mess too, so that only really leaves a couple of alternatives.

The creator of Linux, Linus Torvalds himself called Unity and Gnome 3 crap! He went to XFCE. When the creator of the operating system complains about the desktop environment, something should be done!

Anyway, Happy KDE users here - everyone should at least try it out! You will be happy you did!

by an anonymous user on Sep. 09, 2011

I think the mistake that Canonical made is not developing Unity, but releasing Unity as the default manager while it was still half-baked. I realize that the Ubuntu releases between LTS versions are to be considered development releases but still, the user base has developed some expectations of usability. I think it would have been better to roll Unity out as an alternative, thus allowing more community time to digest and give feedback on it's direction. I think the main issue here is the community feeling it is having this new wild interface shoved down it's throat.

For me personally, I'm still neutral on Unity. I've seen a lot of improvements in the 11.10 beta and am starting to see where they are going with this. As it turns out, I'm not horrified at what I see. Gnome 2.x has been forked in the meantime, so I'm not worried too much about having a stable alternative to fall back on once the next LTS rolls out (12.04 I believe).

I'll make my decision whether to stick with Unity - and Ubuntu - or wander elsewhere once the next LTS rolls around.

After all, Canonical is only one of many quality vendors of Gnu Linux desktops out there.

by an anonymous user on Sep. 09, 2011

So....who is the knobhead who wrote this article?

Some people just want to use an OS that works.

by an anonymous user on Sep. 09, 2011

My Idea for Jono for more slick Unity interface is to remove the launch bar itself. So that users can search explore and find the applications they want want to launch. And after that lets claim that even a 80 yrs old is able to use it without problem.

by an anonymous user on Sep. 09, 2011

I, too, went to KDE after the Unity mess. KDE is far more customizable and also quite a but faster for my full screen games.

Thank God that Linux is a community OS and that there are a TON of other alternatives. I still like Ubuntu on the server, but as far as desktop use goes, my company is moving over to KDE. So sorry, Ubuntu!

Maybe in 5 or 10 years after you realize your falling market share, you will see the light and dump Unity - Gnome 3 is a mess too, so that only really leaves a couple of alternatives.

The creator of Linux, Linus Torvalds himself called Unity and Gnome 3 crap! He went to XFCE. When the creator of the operating system complains about the desktop environment, something should be done!

Anyway, Happy KDE users here - everyone should at least try it out! You will be happy you did!

by an anonymous user on Sep. 09, 2011

Those who argue that we shouldn't have opinions because it's FOSS should go back to their caves, and take their own opinions with them.

One of the points of FOSS is that everything is open. That encourages discussion. Don't like discussion? You can leave, you can ignore it, you can build your own OS and moderate the level of discussion. What the heck, you clicked on the article, so you must be a troll if you came here and whinged about her opinion.

by FedeleP on Sep. 09, 2011

Jono,

Having read "The Art Of Community", I understand your approach to open source development pretty well. What is occurring here is a reaction to the changes made in the most recent Ubuntu distributions. I encourage you not to take it personally. Try to separate the emotional slights from the technical issues and address the real concerns.

What many people are ranting about relate to their user experiences with Unity. This is what I have noticed:

-Unity is less stable than Gnome 2.X (Gnome 3.X and KDE4 are also less stable). Most users want their machines to simply work. This issue will cause people to leave the Ubuntu community.

-Moving the close, maximize, and minimize buttons to the right puts them in close proximity to the "File" menu of programs and the Ubuntu menu as well.

-The software menu emulates the failure of the Windows 7 menu in that a person must typically click twice, type in a box, and click again. The person must know the name or shortcut of a program to access it, or they must be able to locate it in a category. The older XP style menu involved only one click, a zig-zag movement, and a final click.

-The slider on the side of open windows is harder to grab and hold. Small changes can be frustrating to people with visual impairment, and this one highlights the issue.

-Menus that are not attached to windows remind me of Mac OS starting with 1.x. The new location can be disconcerting for users.

-Unity is a resource hog. This is a pretty big issue for those with older hardware (even if it is only 3 years old). Most of these folks don't know that they can log out and choose "Ubuntu Classic (No Effects)" mode to access Gnome 2.X.

Of course people are entitled to their own opinions. That being said, many are voting with their feet and going to Mint. Personally, I am using Ubuntu 10.4, 10.10, and 11.04 on over 30 machines. When performance is an issue, I use LXDE. I also undo many of the recent changes using BleedingEdge (www.sourceforge.net/projects/bleedingedge) which I maintain.

For newbies though, there is a lack of understanding surrounding Linux. They think that they need to eat what you feed them. They don't just say, "I want to tweak feature X", and do it. So they rant against a perceived (benevolent) dictatorship. This is just something that a person in your position has to put up with. Sorry.

Sincerely,

FedeleP

by Br Jack+ on Sep. 09, 2011

I've used Ubuntu for years and at first, I was a little worried about Unity. But the more I use it the more it grows on me. For those people who are used to doing something a certain way, I can see where the changes will be a little unnerving.

BUT, to call out someone who wrote on his personal blog about his personal views is childish. They are his opinions. And, like many have stated, move to a different DE if you don't like Unity.

I can see where Unity is heading (or at least I think so). And that is a unified UI for ALL devices. Imagine that: the SAME look on your phone and tablet and laptop and desktop. Everything in the exact same location, found in the exact same way, and launched that same way. That, to me, is a GREAT vision for mobile computing. I mean, Google and Apple are working toward that and no one seems to mind. (Like the one person who stated if Apple had done this, it would have been lauded as the best thing going.)

~~~

Peace,

Br Jack+

by an anonymous user on Sep. 09, 2011

I don't get the outcry over unity. Ubuntu is linux, use KDE, XFCE, Gnome, LXDE, Fluxbox, etc. I think you can use them all on Ubuntu. Since Ubuntu 11.04 came out, I've tried Unity, KDE, XFCE, LXDE, Gnome3. I've tried Ubuntu, Fedora, Mepis, Aptosid, Debian Squeeze, Mint, Mint Debian, Crunchbang, Bodhilinux -- too many to count.

At the moment, I've settled on Ubuntu with Unity on one box and Debian Squeeze (LXDE) on another. All the desktops have their pros and cons -- but this is Linux, you have choice. Don't like something? Move on, file a bug or patch, blog about it, whatever. Get a Mac, a Win7 box, go back to WinXP, or stay with Windows Vista if that is your cup of tea.

The fact that people whine when Ubuntu makes a big change tells me something about the critical mass an importance that Ubuntu has achieved. Maybe people think Ubuntu is Linux. Well folks, it isn't. If Apple makes a change, cry all you want, but if you have a Mac, you aren't going anywhere.

I doubt that people wouldn't complain about something like that so vocally with most of the other top 100 distros on distrowatch.

by kaddy on Sep. 09, 2011

At the End of the Day... Canonical can do whatever they please with Ubuntu... I enjoyed using Ubuntu for a few years... but then it started heading in a direction that I didn't like.... so I switched to something else.... easy. The beauty of Choice...

I find Ubuntu currently to be a Monstrosity with Unity but Maybe I will revisit Ubuntu One day... If and when Unity improves and Matures.... If not... no biggie... Plenty of better choices out there

by an anonymous user on Sep. 09, 2011

I'm currently sticking with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. (Good ol' classic Gnome desktop...) Support for 10.04 LTS ends in April 2013, at which point I'll probably switch to Debian with LXDE, or perhaps Lubuntu if they don't screw that up.

by C_Smith on Sep. 10, 2011

if this guy REALLY disliked Unity, he'd switch to GNOME3 or use Linux Mint, sure, Unity isn't for everyone, but that doesn't mean they think they're kings, and most of what this guy said sounds to me like whining. why complain when the tools to fix the problem (install another desktop environment, or another distro entirely) are right there within reach? this post is beyond pathetic.

by Stevie on Sep. 10, 2011

The way people here are treating Jono is sickening, troll somewhere else?

by John Ervin on Sep. 10, 2011

I am happy with my Ubuntu 11.04 with the classic interface and maybe Docky or AWN at the bottom. I have the main things I use available with one click. I did try Unity 2D a few times on my system and I went back to what I was used to because it was too clunky. When 11.10 comes out soon, I will switch to it, then I will decide if I am happy with it or if I need to figure out how to reconfigure it back to something I'm comfortable with.

by an anonymous user on Sep. 10, 2011

Spot on op-ed.

Canonical have gone off the rails big time.

They have thrown years of accepted software standards away in order to try to be "unique" (you were already unique, you obviously didn't realise it). What you did to the Gnome/Desktop UI is just wrong. It might work, it might be easy to learn, it might have its own core logic, but it's still wrong. Change for the sake of change. Change in order to try to compete against Apple. Change at the expense of a lot of people's expectations. Change that overall was not necessary.

Had you been in the position where thousands of your users were saying "well, it's OK, but please revamp the desktop, it's clunky and illogical" then Unity would make sense. But the very opposite was true. You had thousands of new users each year, all saying the same "great design, easy to use, love it" and then you went and changed it. Unbelievably dumb thing to have done.

I also have to say that the remark about "the OS causing people to explore" is outrageous. Could you have been anymore patronising? Would you buy a drill if the On/Off switch was hidden behind a door that required a 3 stage opening process? Of course you wouldn't. Worse still if the drill manufacturer then patronised you when you complained by implying you were lazy and didn't explore your environment.

It's a real shame to see what Canonical are doing. You could have been a contender, could have pursued the tablet and mobile markets. But without your own line of hardware you have two definitive things - your logo and your Desktop. You messed up the more valuable of the two.

by bigbrovar on Sep. 10, 2011

I started my Linux experience with ubuntu some 4 years ago. Later moved to kubuntu because it suited my workflow better. I work as a system admin for a school which deploys ubuntu on all machines (educational and administrative) so I deal first hand with Linux newbies (story for another day)

I have said this once and would say it again the problem I see with ubuntu is not unity, but lack of consistency. It would seem to me that canonical does not seem to have made up its mind on what it wants to do with the ubuntu UI. Over the years I have seen so many changes come into each version of ubuntu and. With each change users are expected to learn and relearn. First we had the search bar at the gnome panel (anyone still remembered that?) Then we had the me menu, then windows buttons where moved to the left to make space (for what idk) there was the netbook edition, the netbook remix and then even that was deprecated. Later we got indicators, (heard someone even mention windicators) and then the me menu is removed, global menu is default (something that Jono told us was gonna apply to just netbooks) even applications have been inconsistent, gimp was removed to make way for PiTiVi, and an enhanced fspot took its place, later both fspot and PiTiVi are removed, evolution removed for Thunderbird, we are not sure what would happen with Firefox. Heck no one is sure about what would come next with the new ubuntu.what all this chanages does is position ubuntu as a very inconsistent and an unserious OS. Very operating system should at least maintain a comfort zone which users can get used to, something which enterprise can build documentation on and something which the user can learn and stick to without having to relearn something new at every release. Sure the current approach by canonical suits us geeks because we always lovebto try something new and shinny. Its always so easy for us to get used to new interface. But when I look at the users in my company and how long it took me to get them comfortable to use gnome 2 and build a workflow on that. I appreciate the amount of pain it would take getting them used to the radical approach taken by unity. I won't even mind the effort if I have an idea if the fundamental concepts of unity would remain as in. I mean now I heard window buttons are hidden when windows are maximized? Seriously ubuntu needs a roadmap. Because all the features we see coming into each release feels hastily thought out. It seems like an idea someone had in a dream (would it be cool if we had a dash shoe up when users press the user key?) What the design team needs is discipline and consistency. While effort is channelled toward improving driver support, stability, and adding superlatives to existing UI elements. This is the formula that made windows successful over the years. Same for Mac users always know what to expect with each release of windows even then some are scared to upgrade. Windows 7 is just windows 95 with lots of superlatives and a glassy theme. This is the approach that kde has taken and so far so good their users have been happy. If canonical wants to go with unity all well and good. Just draw a plan for LTS stick with and built on top of it. Not something someone would wake and decide. Oh found something better than dash or oh the unity panel to be removed and replaced with awesome Foo. The impression many have of Ubuntu is that of a toy OS not meant serious work. Its time canonical does something to change that

by bigbrovar on Sep. 10, 2011

I started my Linux experience with ubuntu some 4 years ago. Later moved to kubuntu because it suited my workflow better. I work as a system admin for a school which deploys ubuntu on all machines (educational and administrative) so I deal first hand with Linux newbies (story for another day)

I have said this once and would say it again the problem I see with ubuntu is not unity, but lack of consistency. It would seem to me that canonical does not seem to have made up its mind on what it wants to do with the ubuntu UI. Over the years I have seen so many changes come into each version of ubuntu and. With each change users are expected to learn and relearn. First we had the search bar at the gnome panel (anyone still remembered that?) Then we had the me menu, then windows buttons where moved to the left to make space (for what idk) there was the netbook edition, the netbook remix and then even that was deprecated. Later we got indicators, (heard someone even mention windicators) and then the me menu is removed, global menu is default (something that Jono told us was gonna apply to just netbooks) even applications have been inconsistent, gimp was removed to make way for PiTiVi, and an enhanced fspot took its place, later both fspot and PiTiVi are removed, evolution removed for Thunderbird, we are not sure what would happen with Firefox. Heck no one is sure about what would come next with the new ubuntu.what all this chanages does is position ubuntu as a very inconsistent and an unserious OS. Very operating system should at least maintain a comfort zone which users can get used to, something which enterprise can build documentation on and something which the user can learn and stick to without having to relearn something new at every release. Sure the current approach by canonical suits us geeks because we always lovebto try something new and shinny. Its always so easy for us to get used to new interface. But when I look at the users in my company and how long it took me to get them comfortable to use gnome 2 and build a workflow on that. I appreciate the amount of pain it would take getting them used to the radical approach taken by unity. I won't even mind the effort if I have an idea if the fundamental concepts of unity would remain as in. I mean now I heard window buttons are hidden when windows are maximized? Seriously ubuntu needs a roadmap. Because all the features we see coming into each release feels hastily thought out. It seems like an idea someone had in a dream (would it be cool if we had a dash shoe up when users press the user key?) What the design team needs is discipline and consistency. While effort is channelled toward improving driver support, stability, and adding superlatives to existing UI elements. This is the formula that made windows successful over the years. Same for Mac users always know what to expect with each release of windows even then some are scared to upgrade. Windows 7 is just windows 95 with lots of superlatives and a glassy theme. This is the approach that kde has taken and so far so good their users have been happy. If canonical wants to go with unity all well and good. Just draw a plan for LTS stick with and built on top of it. Not something someone would wake and decide. Oh found something better than dash or oh the unity panel to be removed and replaced with awesome Foo. The impression many have of Ubuntu is that of a toy OS not meant serious work. Its time canonical does something to change that

by new_reader on Sep. 10, 2011

Whoa, what's this about? Only really noticing this post for the lack of charm of the author. Was a bit shocked to see this as a new reader.

Sounds like you have something against Ubuntu. I find this hard to understand considering what they've done for linux. I'm no longer an Ubuntu user but it's what got me into linux a few years ago. I use Mint now and I think it's the best distro going at the moment, but Ubuntu is the upstream.

They've contributed a HUGE amount. We should be psyched that an open source company is branching out into new territory and contributing back, even if we don't use their desktop.

Also think Jono gets a lot of undue vitriol. Find this hard to understand too as the guy is clearly sound.

by Jack Harkness on Sep. 10, 2011

So, Susan was victim of a slow news day and of writing off the cuff.

What next?

That she is having 'girl' problems so as to explain her opinion?

That's class Jono.

Im writing this so FULLY support everything she has written her and ESPECIALLY the tone..

Its really rich that when mr Bacon had his popular podcast, he had no qualms commenting with such tone. Heck, Id say he was much, much worse than Linton ever was.

Ah yes, but he will tell you that it wasnt journalism he was doing.

And please stop treating our parents and grandparents like total morons.

Ive started switchgin family and friends when PCLinuxOS came out in 2007 and it just worked out of the box (wifi was still iffy then).

id say Ive switched about 30-35 people to Linux and apart for old hardware which I put XCFE by default, people were given the choice of Gnome-KDE. The latter won by a 4-1 margin (it was mainly ex-windows users).

And out of those peolpe, over half are over the age of 70.

My mom, aunt and mother in law NEVER used a computer as well as 3 other people.

One of them is my 92 year old russian neighbour.

They run PCLinuxOS, Mandriva, Kubuntu, Puppy mainly and a few others.

Im not asking my mom to run sudo commands but to email, surf, Skype and listen to music as well as play games, it was no different than showin my dad on Windows over a decade ago.

I put a few icons on the desktop and she clicks on them.

Oh yeah, icons, buttons, taskbars for seniors? Big. I mean BBBBBBIIIGGGGGG. (some of them love icons that take 15% of the screen with 18pt font so they cant miss it)

Heck, I even put a shutdown widget next to them so she can shut down without hunting down the button.

Ive made the desktop suit HER needs, trying to make it as simple as clicking on a button to turn on a program like FF or Gvenview to watch pictures of her grandkids.

Please dont treat my mother like an idiot, she graduated university at a time when few women did and was brilliant in her field. She came late to the technology age but is not 'dumb'. Explain to her that to get her email she clicks on the big icon with the mail symbol (I change icons to things that they like, not the default like office writer has) and within the week she is sending emails to friends.

I wouldnt ask her how to install apps or do updates but the 5-6 things she wants to do on the computer she can and very efficiently.

This goes for all the seniors Ive dealt with.

Dont use them as the excuse as to why things are dumbed down.

Do I have to even mention that when our kids friends are over they use the Linux computers here with no problem? Of course not, kids dont care.

They use KDEnlive to put Youtube videos up even though they use something else on Win7.

You want to dumb things down? Check out the VLC preferences setting for how things should be done: two tier software. A light interface that takes the most common functions and makes them easy to access and easy for newbies. And then if you want more options or want to learn more, THEN you have the option of having more.

But never forget that only one person knows which desktop is best for them: the user himself.

by notconvinced on Sep. 11, 2011

Tried unity.

Biggest problem for me, must click a bunch of things to accomplish the simplest task, such as autostarting an app.

Sure kids and others just clicking about doing basic stuff are thrilled.

So for me unity is totally unusable.

Folks doing usability studies completely ignore the needs the 'regular' nix user.

So go ahead make your fancy useless ui.

by Rory on Sep. 12, 2011

Hi Susan,

I think that your article represents a large proportion of linux users who see this progression towards simplicity and restriction as a slap in the face, and I can empathise, despite the fact that I cannot sympathise. I'm new to Linux, and in my opinion, the current 11.04 is a great release for shedding the stereotype that linux has to fledgeling users like myself. Up until recently, I believed linux to be exclusively for people who had experience with code, and never for people like me (experienced end-users). Ive recently made an old laptop useable again, and have discovered all of the relatives of ubuntu, all because installing and first using it was a walk in the park, and a big part of that was diving into unity.

This is not to say that a little more freedom wouldn't be nice, and I would think that a happy medium is certainly achievable.

Aside from all of this, your journalistic style is nasty and serves to harm your side of the discourse. You offer wild assumptions and exaggeration, and as for rhetoric questions; should you use them? No.

by wangker on Sep. 12, 2011

I have more or less the same feeling.

I commended on one web page that is against your idea.

I come to this page from there and I want to save time to retype my words so I post its link here:

http://openbytes.wordpress.com/2011/09/07/convoluted-rebuttals-unity-the...

I just want to keep my history formed favorite tool still handful and save me time and effort.

I do not want to face a system full of big changes that I do not have option to adjust back to what I know the best, feeling uncertainty and unmanageability and helpless while it slows me down or blocks my routine work.

by wangker on Sep. 12, 2011

I also commended on this original link:

http://www.jonobacon.org/2011/09/06/menu-discoverability-in-ubuntu-11-10...

by an anonymous user on Sep. 12, 2011

This is the best review on Unity which brings out the frustrations users have with the UI.

The number of comments in this post is the evidence how people feel bad about the changes Canonical has done which makes the user powerless.

And the funny part is how always trolls make tall claims that their Grandma or aunty or their puppy is able to use the UI within minutes of using the system. LOL.

by John on Sep. 12, 2011

Just read Jono's comment in Original blog that users will find the menu somehow by accindent. lol and people here are calling Susan as arrogant

by lxtips on Sep. 12, 2011

Thank-you Susan. I for one don't think your comments are at all harsh. The alternative is that faithful Ubuntu users (like myself) begin migrating (like I have). For months now this issue has been ignored. No I haven't enjoyed being told how I need to interact with my desktop, not in the least: that's why I moved to Linux and Ubuntu in the first place. I might be a marginal case but now what unity has done for me is urge me to try other distributions. Fast. I would very much like to remain an Ubuntu user and have had no reason to change since 2005 until now. Mr. Bacon you have met a lot of success on the back of the Ubuntu user community (and a lot of your own hard work certainly), so stop hiding behind personal opinion and represent sir. Lastly and truly thank-you both for your contributions.

by Bonofide Pigfat on Sep. 14, 2011

Unity is the obvious choice of dumb users.

by Set on Sep. 15, 2011

You are spot on with this post. I don't really care if it's an editorial, opinion piece, or whatever you want to call it. It may not be the absolute truth but it's damn close to what the masses think. Unity is garbage. Because of it, I made the switch to KDE and couldn't be happier. Until Unity, and Gnome 3 get their acts together, I will be supporting KDE.

To those that say you have no right to complain because it's free are idiots. Having an opinion doesn't cost a cent either but Bacon can't express it? BULLSHHH.

by Sturd on Sep. 15, 2011

It's choice at the end of the day. I've used it all, from the CLI on a server machine, to Unity in Natty. Spend long enough in any of these environments in Linux and they all bend to your will and work habits. I've happily worked alongside Unity for the last six months, and I intend to carry on for the next six. For the people who've taken a look at the screenshots and lambasted it, because they're too "alternative" for the popular Ubuntu flavour, it's still GNOME where it counts and it doesn't take long at all to get accustomed to the small changes that are present in the new environment. If you still don't like it, accept that it's just another choice for you, along with GNOME Shell, Mate, KDE 3/4 or whatever else you'd prefer.

by an anonymous user on Sep. 16, 2011

Unity, tried it hated it. reinstalled 10.10. Left Red Hat a few years back because I didn't care for the way they were headed. Now looking at installing Arch or a couple of other distro's so I guess my time with Ubuntu is just about over. Linux is about choice, they did, now I will.

by JP on Sep. 28, 2011

Susan- I think your article had a very bitter tone to it- bordering on unprofessional.

by Shane Fisher on Oct. 01, 2011

First of all I would like to establish that I am no expert in Linux. I have been working with computers and their applied sciences since 1976. With this said, I would like to speak about these comments about Ubuntu 11.04 and 11.10. I have used 11.04 and I must say that I can log in with or without Unity. It is the decision of the User. I found this out through exploring videos on Youtube. I do not understand how these folks that have oodles of experience with Linux OS's are complaining about such a minor detail? If all of you who are complaining are so adept at this you should have figured that out to begin with. Jono is not dictating anything nor is his team there at Canonical. As Linux Users, we have the choice to use Ubuntu or not. I have tested personal more than 15 Distros since I have been learning Linux. If anyone is wondering whose side that I am on, it is simply my side that I am on. From an objective view point and professionally speaking, I am surprised at all of this immature lashing out about one Distro of Linux. I thought that we were adults and not Jr. High School Students? I am currently using a Ubuntu-based Distro called " Pinguy OS 11.04" which does not have the "Unity Interface " and I am very happy with it thus far. See I had a choice. Just like everyone commenting on this blog has a choice of which Distro they use. The slogan "Linux Means Freedom To The People" that is what is the focus of that. Our freedom of choice! My hat is off the Jono for his stance that he has taken with these attacks about this single Distro. May some of you who think that they are adults actually evaluate their attitudes and actions when commenting on a blog-site. Children from other homes plus their children see this irrational and negative behavior and will immitate it in their own persoanl interactions with people. The question is " Are parents really taking resposibility as a role-model?" Just food for thought.

"Linux Means Freedom To The People!"

by an anonymous user on Oct. 05, 2011

I have read Linux Format in the UK for some years now and the author has been a monthly contributor to it for quite a part of that.

In that time I cannot remember any positive comment she has ever made about Ubuntu, Canonical and Mark Shuttleworth. She gives the impression of genuinely despising them all and having an anti-Ubuntu agenda. As a result I wasn't surprised in the slightest to see the tone of this posting.

by jeremy-77 on Oct. 16, 2011

it seems that unity makes you jump through hoops to get what you want I here people say its a part of gnome but it is nothing like gnome to me even gnome 3 dose not feel like gnome too me it adds to many more steps to do things than traditional gnome 2 i have tried to bite the bullet as im told on the ubuntu irc channel and get use to it and after several attempts I just cant force myself to like it so here is my opinion everyone has there personal preference, some like kde some like lxde some like xfce and some of us like gnome 2 so now there is unity. so thats ok unity can stay but dont force it on the ones who dont want it and keep gnome 2 alive if you must then just make a different ubuntu distro and call it unibuntu or something like that and leave ubuntu UBUNTU ! I thought microsoft was the only one out there to dictate to us what we should like or not like or how we should learn it there way. linux is about open source stability and user friendly and having an opinion!

by an anonymous user on May. 03, 2012

I've just finished reading the article and the comments on it. And if this is how the Linux "community" treats each other, I only have one thing to say.

Thank you.

Bill G.