On Tue, May 3, 2011 at 2:46 PM, Rik Tindall <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 03/05/11 13:56, Derek Smithies wrote:
>> ...
>> Thoughts on the interface:
>> The UI is definately snappier, and is more conservative on screen real
>> estate.
>> Quoting from "somewhere",
>> The purpose of the X interface is to allow more information to be
>> displayed on the screen
>>
>> Unity does this better than gnome (my opinion).
>> So far, I don't have a replacement for the system monitor which runs in
>> the bar at the
>> bottom. My preference is to see a graphical representation of network
>> traffic and cpu usage.
>> However, I think I could be alone in this, as mac and windows don't
>> display this information
>> in the taskbar. My feeling is that cpuusage/network usage is only
>> relevant to a small segment
>> of the population (relevant to geeks in other words).
>>
>> I have read various comments from people about the good/bad switch to
>> unity. Some comments
>> read as: "I have always used gnome and am not prepared to try something
>> new". In other words,
>> there are people out there who are "bound to tradition".
>> My view is that it is unwise to regard the people at Cannonical as
>> stupid. They made an informed
>> choice, and understood the ramifications (could lose their business) and
>> thought carefully. Give
>> them some credit - it is a young UI, and does need time to mature, but
>> it has to be put out there
>> sometime. Whenever it is put out there, people will complain bitterly..
>
> Thanks Derek,
>
> I too have been in test mode on 'Narwhal' 11.04 ~20 hours (less 8 asleep :)
>
> Tried Unity, but an hour or less later had resolved to bypass it, having
> found the "Gnome classic (no effects)" boot setting: this gave me the
> reasurance that I would actually be able to use this release.
>
> Unity flaws:
>
> 1. Dumbing down? - inaccessible programs (no more menus) / minimal
> functionality from right-click either (none on the taskbars) / no easy
> route into o/s functionality. You have to use Search box for what you
> want - but if you don't know the program name?.. e.g. Search doesn't
> understand "shell" or "console", just "terminal". I like the standard
> Gnome workspace switcher. Full stop. (So glad to have the clunky,
> clumsy, inscrutible Unity disabled now! Will explore it more another day.)
This seems to be a biggy for many. As a former gentoo user, I like to
get under the hood occasionally!
>
> 2. Top-left controls.
This is easy to change (it was in gnome anyway), but I'd have to say
MANY people have said that once they have persevered they like it.
>This has grown into my chief annoyance with
> Ubuntu's development track, which has now concentrated in Unity. Is it
> Mark BDFL's personal preference to have these top-left controls, or was
> it the Gnome crew's?.. The default theme for the last two releases at
> least has had top-left window control buttons, but I liked the earlier
> (Gn)Ubuntu with top-right window control buttons, thank you very much,
> and don't understand the need for this change (forcing longer
> mouse-reach upon right-handed people :-) - Is it to mimic MacOS? Why?
Then again why mimic windows?
>
> 3. Firestarter, the failsafe firewall package for Gnome, has just been
> made buggy to install and use. Having worked through googled advice, I
> can cope with the result now and carry on with the potential migration
> assessment ('no syslog access' / write for Firestarter).
pretty sure it's a gtk, not gnome app, but I may be wrong. Also it is
not currently in development and the last release tarball is dated
2005 (!). Frankly it appears to be dead, and some of the comments I
see online indicate that it is not working so well with modern
kernels. Not good for a security app!
>
> 4. This 'rebranding' of Ubuntu with Unity, does it follow a trend? And
> that has seen the removal of the very useful GIMP as default, in favour
> of?
Theres only so much room on a cd, and gimp is only a "sudo aptitude
install" away...
>
> I like the new Firefox (4.0) however, which is going to drive
> perseverance to transition to Narwhal.
>
> 5. Back to 10.10 for getting more work done now though.
>
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