A Look Back At The Desktop & X.Org/Wayland/Mir Milestones Of Ubuntu

[Delgarde]

Hmmm ... we must use our computers in completely different ways. I navigate solely with my mouse. But if you know the programs name, or can pick it from a list when searching by category or description, then typing text can work. It seems like a lot of effort to me when I can just click once or twice, or as I said at most four times, but it's certainly a good thing that everyone's not the same. And even better that Linux offers a wide enough variety of GUIs to suite most anyone

You say "click one or twice or at most four times" - but that's not counting moving the mouse down to the start button, then up and through the menus. For me, that's *slow* - if I want to run (e.g) PuTTY to ssh onto a Linux server, it's just Start key, P, U, Enter. I can do that pretty much instantly, and my hands are still on the keyboard when the program opens, ready to start using it. A mouse is certainly superior for some tasks, but efficient desktop operation isn't one of them.

As such, I love Gnome 3, because it has better keyboard support than any other mainstream desktop... which is also why I think people are crazy when they describe it as a tablet-UI optimised for touch-screens.

[sarfarazahmad]

Unity actually was good. It felt somehow, complete(just like Windows UI does,(there the UI feels nicely done) and polished. This coming from a guy who shares deep dislike for the dumb and resource hog that Gnome 3 is.
Unity7 was fast (well against Gnome3 at least). I hope Unity as a DE survives this catastrophe somehow, but I get that that is highly unlikely.

[muncrief]

On the contrary - if I'm reaching for a mouse at all, efficiency is already wasted. On both Windows 7 and Gnome 3, I work exactly the same way - hit the Windows key, and type the first couple of letters of the program name. Far easier than taking hands off the keyboard to navigate menu hierarchies...

Hmmm ... we must use our computers in completely different ways. I navigate solely with my mouse. But if you know the programs name, or can pick it from a list when searching by category or description, then typing text can work. It seems like a lot of effort to me when I can just click once or twice, or as I said at most four times, but it's certainly a good thing that everyone's not the same. And even better that Linux offers a wide enough variety of GUIs to suite most anyone

[DanLamb]

Ubuntu was good at testing + QA'ing + integrating Debian. The weren't good at writing their own software projects. Every major Ubuntu software project was a flop.

The Ubuntu phone thing sounded ridiculous. I can't imagine anyone wanting that. Unity 8 + Ubuntu Phone + Mir have all been delayed and delayed with no success in sight. I can't blame them for finally pulling the plug.

[Delgarde]

The simple fact is that when measuring UI efficiency the good old fashioned cascading menu popularized in Windows XP and 7 simply can't be beat. I can get to every program on my Xubuntu 16.04 or Windows 7 systems in four mouse clicks or less. But with the kindergarten style interfaces GUI efficiency can't even be measured in mouse clicks. It's measured in clicking, scrolling, and even typing text in boxes like good old DOS.

On the contrary - if I'm reaching for a mouse at all, efficiency is already wasted. On both Windows 7 and Gnome 3, I work exactly the same way - hit the Windows key, and type the first couple of letters of the program name. Far easier than taking hands off the keyboard to navigate menu hierarchies...

[Gapil301]

I sincerely don't wish to offend those who like Unity, but never once in any of my experiences trying to get people to switch to Linux did anyone like it. In fact most people didn't even like the modern Gnome desktop.

Well the reason is quite obvious, it is unusable.

[caligula]

Again Ubuntu's NIH tech fails. They have a tremendous track record with NIH software failing over and over again.

[dungeon]

Except distrowatch rankings mean nothing whatsoever.

But original Ubuntu included this calendar, so this must have some meaning These were removed later maybe as of Ubuntu 8.04, but it was enough to gain some attention

http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/Ubuntu_Warty_visual_theme/Image_archive

[muncrief]

My experience is the opposite. After the first few iterations, which were objectively terrible, Unity grew to be IMO the best desktop around (that includes Windows and OSX). It is in fact the only reason why I stuck with ubuntu over the past few years despite my increasing frustration with Canonical and the apparent lack of direction. For me Unity 8 was going to be a disaster as it was shaping to be a mobile/tablet UI pretending to be a desktop, and I'm certainly not sorry to see it go. But Unity 7 will be sorely missed.

Well, I think that's the wonderful thing about Linux. It's not a "one size fits all" system. Instead it can be made to look like just about anything one could imagine while the "engine" that drives it remains common and stable. My argument against Unity has always simply been that I didn't feel it was the optimum default GUI for new users to see and experience. Of course that was based upon my own personal preference, raw GUI efficiency, and anecdotal experiences with users I encountered. But as you stated others like it very much and your experience is different.

I think in the end real scientific polling should be used to determine what's the most appealing to the most users, and that should be the default experience. As for Unity, if it's truly popular enough it will never die. Some group or groups of developers will take the development responsibilities on, and it will be another in the many viable GUIs users can choose from.

In the end my hope is that no matter what GUI is or isn't the most popular, Linux becomes a popular desktop OS. It's so far ahead of Windows in so many ways, and doesn't cost and arm and a leg like Apple, that I still have significant hope that it will one day topple the old behemoths

[jacob]

I sincerely don't wish to offend those who like Unity, but never once in any of my experiences trying to get people to switch to Linux did anyone like it. In fact most people didn't even like the modern Gnome desktop.

Unfortunately it appears that when Microsoft came out with the ungainly Windows 8 and 8.1 GUIs many Linux developers started trying to implement their own versions, albeit with alterations intended to "fix" the problems with them. But the problem is simply this - all of these giant new ugly interfaces were solutions in search of a problem. The simple fact is that when measuring UI efficiency the good old fashioned cascading menu popularized in Windows XP and 7 simply can't be beat. I can get to every program on my Xubuntu 16.04 or Windows 7 systems in four mouse clicks or less. But with the kindergarten style interfaces GUI efficiency can't even be measured in mouse clicks. It's measured in clicking, scrolling, and even typing text in boxes like good old DOS.

How anyone could ever have thought any of these interfaces were better than what we already had is beyond me. As I said, they were all solutions in search of a problem.

And finally, what newbies did overwhelmingly like was Xubuntu and its Whisker menu. In fact to this day Xubuntu remains the only GUI I was able to permanently convert Windows users with. Every other GUI quickly drove users back to Windows XP or 7. Windows 10 has certainly made my job easier as well, as few people like it. Not only because of the over the top kindergarten GUI, but also because it's stunningly slow, and the loss of privacy. As I tell them, Windows 10 is the first legal botnet, and they use it at their privacy's peril.

My experience is the opposite. After the first few iterations, which were objectively terrible, Unity grew to be IMO the best desktop around (that includes Windows and OSX). It is in fact the only reason why I stuck with ubuntu over the past few years despite my increasing frustration with Canonical and the apparent lack of direction. For me Unity 8 was going to be a disaster as it was shaping to be a mobile/tablet UI pretending to be a desktop, and I'm certainly not sorry to see it go. But Unity 7 will be sorely missed.