OStatic

by an anonymous user on Jan. 25, 2012

This is lifted directly from MAC's comm+shift+/. nothing groundbreaking here.

by CincyAnon on Jan. 25, 2012

I love that he is doing this, even though I am not sold on it as a general UI technique.

Where would we be without similar experimentation and pushing the boundaries?

If nothing else, if some technique in here turns out to be a really useful tool at some time then Apple won't be able to claim rights to it!

by an anonymous user on Jan. 25, 2012

A great development, didn't expect it in a LTS release. A pleasant surprise, indeed!

by an anonymous user on Jan. 26, 2012

You should note it does not replace menus. It's mentioned in the blog post as well as anywhere on the web that actually bothered to read the original post. It won't be replacing the menus for a time still, just complementing them.

by an anonymous user on Jan. 26, 2012

This is silliness. Instead of a few clicks from a mouse to open an application, I have to Alt+something and then type in my "intent." So I have to exert more effort to accomplish the same task that the menu does. During a typical day of usage, I doubt if the average/casual user invokes more than five applications. Users know what they want to do and what application they need to run to accomplish that task. There is no intent. I can not see users typing in the "intent" to "write a letter" rather than clicking on LibreOffice Writer.

by an anonymous user on Jan. 26, 2012

It still has the same problems, and just replaces one completely familiar, fairly adequate, and quite simple way of doing a task with a new and novel one (which is arguably more complex).

So for example, the problem of 'bad menu design' is just replaced with a problem of 'bad vocabulary choice'. Any argument about menu design has little weight and can be equally applied to vocabulary choice (which is also - not coincidentally - completely applicable to command line interface command names).

It still requires at least the same type of design tightness and style guide adherence to create a consistent user experience across applications: and arguably more so than a menu does as individual words have no spatial relationship or catgorisation. e.g. in firefox i'm using now, view->sidebar->bookmarks is obviously rather different than the 'bookmarks' menu even though they have the same title.

by anonymouser on Jan. 26, 2012

with EVERY freakin tech-toy writer telling us that touch is the new open/green/meme du jour and how tablets will replace everything, how does that touchy feely work with a paradigm which forces people to use a keyboard way more?

and how is this any different to KDE's krunner (altF2) or even the search function in the kickoff menu. type in burn and you get k3b, type write and it gives you LO Writer and so on... that said most people I know prefer and extra mouse click or two to putting their hand on the keyboard.(and will it work with various languages)

i like the visual aspect of it though and if its usable on XCFE or KDE might give it a try but unless Ive missed something in the demo video, I fail to see how its anything different than krunner.

by an anonymous user on Jan. 27, 2012

I thought we were trying to get away from command line interfaces? Why's he taking a sudden U-Turn?

by Scott on Jan. 27, 2012

This reminds me of colon commands in Vim or vi. In Vim, at least, you can start typing a command and press ctrl-d to get a completion list. This just does it automatically. But wait, didn't Vim copy this idea from the Mac?

:wq

by Scott on Jan. 27, 2012

Well, good luck with doing all your computing on a tablet without a keyboard. I can't wait to see the written documents that come out of that device setup. Anyone who thought we were trying to get away from command-line interfaces hasn't been paying attention. They have been making a rather big comeback in recent years in the form of smart launchers, awesome bars (in Firefox), and (gasp!) actual command-lines, such as newer versions of bash, zsh and powershell. The difference between this and other launchers is that this integrates with internal menus of applications, so it works from inside an application. It seems to be a melding of smart launcher with Vim's colon command interface.

If you are keyboard-phobic, you won't want this; But if you do use that thing that takes more space on your desk or lap than that other thing in your hand, this might come in handy.

:wq

by an anonymous user on Jan. 27, 2012

Glad I already switched to XFCE over the Unity nonsense, then, because this sounds even more unusable; if that's even possible.

by wally on Jan. 27, 2012

"They require you to read a lot when you probably already know what you want."

On this one, Shuttleworth is incorrect. If you use an app frequently that has extensive menu structures, such as a large graphics program, your memory is positional, not verbal. You no longer read the words or even the icons. For that instance, a multi-directional sub-menu would be superior to a heads up search window (ie: a hex or octal position-related choice 'tree')... faster and easier to navigate.

But Shuttleworth is correct in his comment that the program authors must decide where to 'tree' an option, and that is a big consideration when you use a program with which you have only passing familiarity.

by the old rang on Jan. 27, 2012

The idea that, as posted, 'We don't need no stinkin' menus!'

Probably has nothing to do with why so many are dumping Ubuntu, even

if only going to distros like Mint.

Having watched the video, and not really caring, since I am one of the

anti-Unity crowd...

I have been doing most of what the HUD video shows, faster, with a

Track-Ball and the "OnBoard" program that comes in Ubuntu.

The vote seems to be in.

Cell phone interfaces are 'ok'...

But REAL Computer users want their menus, not Rainbow-Bright.

by an anonymous user on Jan. 28, 2012

[quote] We think of it as 'beyond interface,' it’s the 'intenterface.' [/quote]

He talks like barney stinson..

by an anonymous user on Jan. 29, 2012

who cares! get tired of stupid articles about bumtu and shuttleworth's dumb idea's on user interface. bumtu's are done for. so far out in left field it doesn't even make sense. lets change everything up, make it harder and more difficult to preform normal easy tasks, and do it just because we can.

by an anonymous user on Jan. 30, 2012

wow,

first unity... then this... I've sold a lot of refurbished computers with ubuntu but with unity. A lot of customers were shocked and haven't really liked the change to the new OS.

Simple works, if they want to be like mac so much, then why do they have to have a drop menu with the entire screen covered losing the whole point of the desktop.

People who don't know much about computers and the internet don't even know what to ask. they see an icon and they push boom internet. Want to play game press the icon boom the game begins.

Ubuntu really lost me as a user and someone who wants to show people they can still use a refurbished computer without the hassles of XP or VISTA.

Im holding on to xubuntu but if this is a trend in desktops. I recently setup an older dell 1.8 with salineos and added a dock and so far the last two months i've gotten praise for the ease and use of docky and the speed of salineos.

Mark your days are numbered and mint and a few others are going to take the lead while you try to convince people your ideas are as good as steve jobs.

just be linux and stop tring to please technology.

by Tech Zilla on Mar. 12, 2012

From my perspective, the Ubuntu experience was superior to the Debian experience. The main reason, which still applies to Debian, was the horrible configuration files. Simple as that, Ubuntu has 'SANE' defaults and 'SANE' fallbacks. I'm sure Debian has improved because of Ubuntu.

Now that Ubuntu is doing ridiculous things, and in the process racking up dependencies and resources, it opens the door for other distributions to take its place. The reason A long time Debian guy, like me, would switch to Ubuntu is not because of OSXesq desktop 'innovations'.

I'm also unhappy with the choices Ubuntu makes, in regards to supporting projects. There are SOOOOO many projects in desperate need. Project the entire community desperately needs, Unity was not such a project.