Unity: 3 Rants And A Tip

I'm a customisation-and-looks freak ever since thus I love how KDE is such. Since I started using Gnome/Ubuntu back in 10.04 it's been more than ok so far. Loving it! Adapted to it when before all I could say by anything Gnome is plain UGLY I wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole. I guess it's a matter of perspective, preference and adapting. Not to mention CHOICE.

I used to be one of the "I hate Unity group whiners" but after several days, even weeks, of trying it out I've come to love it. Been using it since it came out. Sure, lots of things not too polished but the major things work - and what I need works - which is what's important (at least for me it is). To each his own I guess.

The one thing I've notice about people in general, not just when it comes to Linux distros, is that when they don't like something and don't want to do anything about it, then they'll never see it in another way no matter how you try to make them understand. This is the same with a food you don't like but so many like/eat it. You will never get it why so many people love/eat that food but you can't overcome the dislike. That simple.

The good thing about being a Linux user is you always have lots of options before you. Change distro. Change DEs. Heck, even build your own distro from scratch. Imagine if you were a Windows user and whine a lot about how Windows 7 is terrible. Too bad you can't change to another DE or distro short of downgrading to Vista or XP, right? You just have to suck it up and use it for the rest of your life. (By the way I don't hate Windows.)

First of all, I don't think this is the most efficient way to manage the contents of a desktop like windows, menus, running application list. If they would make a combo of Enlightenment 16 Pager and a good Nautilus implementation, with a window list, that would be the best. Just do some GUI/UI engineering!

Why should I _lose a whole screen_ for application management?
Why should I _process_ a screen change for application management?
Why should I _type_ the name of the application what I looking for?

Just a few examples of the lack of the design in this concept. I think to make an
easy to use design is not means to loose smart things, just 'coz "those are boring".

I think this is the same misleading conception what M$ made. "Ok just remove all usable applications from the OS, and just blow it up with totally not visible and
not directly used stuff, to fill a dvd. And if the user wants to edit sound or image, let him/her reach that package via internet. Why? I don't understand, next time just drop out a web browser. Come on! :)

I'd like to say a few words as a NON-computer/Ubuntu Geek. I love Ubuntu. Not going back to Mr. Gates. BUT, one thing I find discouraging is the constant searching, searching for answers. Don't get me wrong, I like learning new stuff about computers, how it works, etc. But I'm not a programmer and trying to get answers about 11.04 has been awful. I now have a useless MP3 player because 11.04 doesn't recognise it. Didn't have the problem before. Cube? What Cube? That doesn't work either. I love the idea of the workspaces, in fact, I need it. But where is the 'how-to-use-it' info? I have tried to figure it out to no avail. It's not that I mind the apps not working...I know I can always find the answer. But it shouldn't take weeks of searching to NOT find the answers. Posting on several Ubuntu sites has not helped. Very discouraging. I think it's one of the reasons why more people do not stick with Ubuntu. This has nothing to do with having a Microsoft frame of mind, where you click and everything is done. I like searching, but this has been ridiculous. Not everyone is a programmer.

OK this is another anti-Unity rant, and therefore it will likely be ignored by Canonical, but when 11.04 came out I decided to give it a fair try and after trying it out for a long while, I'm dropping Ubuntu, and I think Canonical should listen to the many users that have been alienated by this move.

Natty Narwhal == Linux Vista: That sounds a bit harsh, but it is the first version of Linux which has stalled for me while shutting down. And more generally, Unity has some serious problems that make you wonder "what were they thinking?"

First let me start by saying that there are some things I do like about Unity:

* I like the workspace switcher
* I like the control panel, er, systems settings dialog
* I like the simplified indicators replacing the old applets.
* I like some of the features of the dock/launcher except for its location and size

But there's a bunch of things I hate about Unity:

* Lack of customizability. LACK of CUSTOMIZABILITY!!! Sorry for shouting, but this is a trully WTF issue. This is by far the biggest flaw. It goes directly against the philosophy of letting the user decide what the user wants and likes. OK, you want things to look and behave differently fine. But why do you take away from me the ability to configure it? That's one of the very reasons why I (and many people) hate Windows: it doesn't let you customize it. With Unity you have to install the Compiz Configuration manager, go to "Desktop" and select the "Unity plugin", and you get a very limited number of possibilities. Mr. Shuttlesworth, you prefer Unity to the Gnome shell, fine, but why are you taking away our freedom? If I don't share your taste why are you forcing yours on me?

* Global menus: this shameless Mac rip-off is a really ill conceived idea for the desktop. Might work fine for a netbook, but 20 - 24 inch screens are now quite common. With the global menus the user has to move the mouse cursor from one end of the screen to another just to choose a menu item.

* The unbelivably cumbersome Dash: Before: if I wanted to access, say a game X, I would click on "Applications" drag to "Games" and click on X (2 clicks, one mouse movement). Now: I click on the dash icon. Then I click on "More Apps". Then I click on "All Applications" on the opposite end of the screen. Then I click on "Games", then since I don't play it often, and its name doesn't begin with an 'A', I have to click on "Installed (see 38 more results)". Then I have to scroll down (even though I have a 24 inch screen, and click on X. 6 clicks, at least one very long mouse movement and scrolling. In what universe is that better? Why are all the categories burried so deeply? This is downright idiotic. And ironically they said they hired "design people" to focus on user interfaces. What???

* Inconsistent look and feel. The way you interact with the dash is different from the way you interact with everything else. One click opens. The lower-right icon to increase the size, maximises and does not support a drag. It looks OK with the standard theme, but if you change the theme, the dash still looks the same (Lack of customizability again).

* No right click on the dash or the launcher, or the workspace switcher. Well, the launcher allows right-click, but the resulting menus have a look that's inconsistent with the normal context-menus. What's wrong with context menus? Context menus are a great idea, which allows you to quickly see a menu of operations on an object to which you are pointing. They are very intuitive. But with the dash, and the top bar you cannot right-click. The result is an inconsistent UI: in some places you can right-click, but not in others.

* Alt-Tab no longer shifts between windows: I have to explicitly click and move windows around now... Ok, you can click on the launcher, but still, no key combinationj to switch fast? what the ...?

* The dash shows a section for "Apps for download". What the F? I have to endure ads everywhere online and now it looks like they are coming to my desktop too? Sure, they might not be ads now, but how far behind can that idea be?

* It's buggy. They said the Unity team felt it was ready to be shipped. Well, the Unity team must be very small and didn't test it as extensively as they should've had. Honestly it feels like an unfinished product. Like something they rushed and shipped out without being ready, to meet an arbitrary deadline.

* Compatibility: one of the great advantages of the Linux world over Windows and MacOS X is the mutual compatibility between different Linux versions. Maybe it will still be possible to run things the same way, but the rift created between Canonical and GNOME leaves us with questions regarding how well/smoothly will applications for one desktop run on others. More to the point, to the inexperienced user, the Linux newcommer, the whole situation looks like a mess: which distro/desktop shall he choose? If he chooses one he will miss out on applications for the other? This whole thing is making such decisions much, much more difficult, and therefore more difficult for people switching to Linux from some other OS.

Honestly, I'm worried Mr. Shuttlesworth is getting a bit too cocky for Canonical's own good.

Here are some things he said according to the article at

http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2010/10/shuttleworth-unity-shell...

"[...] developers are already supporting Ubuntu's indicator system and other custom integration points [...]" So what? The indicator is just a tiny issue compared to all the rest.

"files and folders way of thinking is completely broken" Say what? I'm sorry but that's just rubish. That's a really arrogant thing to say. Some people might be too disorganized to work with files and folders, but for a lot of us they are a very useful organizational tool.

Mr. Shuttlesworth claimed it improves performance over GNOME Shell. (https://blueprints.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/other-dx-n-unity-compiz) I have an ATI/AMD 5770 graphics card and GNOME Shell on Fedora 15 running from a LiveCD behaved much more smoothly than Unity in the hard drive! They claim that the move was based on the fact that GNOME Shell is based on Mutter which is (according to Canonical) not as good as Compiz. Exhibit A: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/compiz/+bug/709461. That is just plainly ridiculous.

Then he even said they are dropping the Gnome classic UI altogether for 11.10!!! (http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2011/04/ubuntu-11-10-will-not-ship-with-class...) Again, going with the philosophy of reducing choice. And if Linux has ever been about something is about choice.

What concerns me the most is Canonical's dictatorial turn. It's as if they were saying: "this is how it's going to be and if you don't like it, too bad. Suck it up or go elsewhere". Well, they are pushing a bunch of us, formerly unconditional Ubuntu supporterers to go elsewhere. Canonical seems to be following the footsteps of Microsoft and Apple.

I understand that they want to attract more OEMs and other users, but what I do not understand is that they want to do this by alienating half their existing user-base.

Unity == dis-unity. Pardon the obvious and lame pun, but the name Unity has been incredibly ironic, as there hasn't been such a divisive issue in the Ubuntu community and maybe the Linux community at large.

I am writing this rant now on Linux Mint. Yeah, I know it's based on Ubuntu, but there's one key difference: no Unity!

I am looking forward to see if 11.10 fixes these issues. I may return to Ubuntu if Unity goes past the alpha-stage.

I have the sidebar occasionally refusing to retreat into invisibility (as per "anonymous", 10th May). Does anyone have a "fix" for this, please.

I hated Unity and retreated to 10.04. Thought I should give it a fairer go, so am now on the 64bit version and am growing more used to it. I agree with the comments that I prefer choosing applications from a customised menu list rather than trying to remember names. (I'm the same at parties - can't remember names, but good at faces (and figures!)).

Roll on October and 11.10 is what I say!

first im going to say I agree its not very customisable but you can get compizconfig settings manager and change the size of the icons to 32 at least but for more customising you need like gunity or conifty

i strongly disagree about it being less usable and having less screen real estate.
if you have a full screen app unity hides automatically (window dodge also) and puts the close buttons in the top bar so you actually have 24px more space.

its got super fast switching too,if you hold down super it give you the number of your launchers so you can switch between Writer and firefox with super+2 super+3 so if your writing a paper you dont even need to touch your mouse.

Ok the dash i dont understand what is wrong with it? if you want to go to Internet app its on the front page? or go more apps then installed and it lists all installed apps and once you know the name you can search it later super fast or pin it. its also creates an isolated atmosphere so the user can focus on there current task "finding an application"

I have managed to get Nautilus-Action working with Unity3D Desktop - it required a compile of the 3.1.2 source and a process to convert the gconf stored menu item - very happy now.

Basically I am very pleased with the overall result. There a wave of excellent App Indicators coming thru and these are really adding to the overall experience. I agree its a WIP but at the rate new apps are being added 11.10 will be excellent.

I couldn't agree more with 'Shawn Powers' and his video on 'Unity'. It is slow to navigate especially when multitasking. I also prefer the bar at the top but I also use 'Docky' at the bottom with 'intellihide'. My Docky menu includes all of the most highly used items I use in hierarchical order from left to right. (i.e. Browser, E-mail, k3b, terminal etc.etc.)At the top of the screen is where I place and use desktop switcher using Compiz cube, for visual effect but it also is quicker at the top for changing sides if more than one program is open as I usually use it this way when doing photographic manipulation, touch-ups etc. and need to quickly switch from one program to another. I've used 'Unity' for about 2 weeks and it is just poorly thought-out and configured IMHO. My other peeve is Gnome 3 which I also used for a short period of time in 'OpenSuse' and 'Fedora' and it too is poorly organized and just plain ugly. The icons were way too big. Workspaces on the right side margin is just awful. It seems to me little though has go into both of these hurriedly designed program shells.

I prefer spending time learning how to use the programs that I accomplish my work with more efficiently. The OS and the Desktop should allow me to launch programs quickly and run them without crashing. How about MORE attention on fixing bugs, some of which I find unresolved with complaints dating back to Ubuntu version 6.06 or earlier?

Is KDE going to go the Unity route also? If not would it be a good choice Desktop in place of Gnome/Unity?

The new scrollbar was another problem that required returning to normal, not to mention Firefox changes that had to be restored.

My experience of Unity on a netbook was really fine.
After upgrading my "desktop" (actually, a powerful notebook), dual monitor machine to 11.04, my Unity experience lasted less than an hour. I switched to Gnome (classic).
Some tweaks:
http://www.webupd8.org/2011/04/things-to-tweak-fix-after-installing.html

I don't understand why some people compare the Unity interface to Windows 7. They got (almost) nothing in common. The Windows bottom bar, in addition to the pinning feature, also includes the clock/calendar/etc. features. So, both the left bar and the top bar in Unity exist in one single bar in Win7. Also, Win7 bar got the button for app launch (like classic desktop) plus the search (like the Unity dash).

I gotta tell you, coming from Win7 to Unity was not at all a super smooth experience like some of the people here claimed and I don't think they designed Unity with this in mind.

From my POV, having the left bar on autohide is not so productive. I work in the automotive SW business and any colleague of mine who ever had the intention of using an auto hide bar gave up on it. Having the bar visible makes the app switching much faster. The 30-40px are irrelevant. You don't just open 10 apps and remember the keyboard shortcut to it. You alternate the apps alot, they get closed, then reopened, they change order... you need to see them to be able to switch between them fast.

And my answer to the guys complaining about people complaining and telling them to switch distro or DE: stop trolling please. Legit claims about things people don't like are not supposed to be replied with "switch distro!". Maybe someday when half the user base of some product you make walk away from you without saying anything, you will want them to have said something beforehand.