[ale] I really incredibly exponentially hate ubuntu unity

Tue May 15 13:18:57 EDT 2012

On 05/15/2012 12:46 PM, Ron Frazier (ALE) wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Warning - ranting follows. Apologies in advance to anyone who likes 
> Ubuntu Unity. I've been using a Ubuntu 11.10 live cd to do some disk 
> maintenance. I have to vent, here, or I'm going to have to break some 
> fragile objects in the house. By the way, I know I've said some of 
> this before. After all the careful consideration and observation and 
> pondering I can stand, I have concluded that:
>
> <RANT ON>
>
> I hate unity.
> No, I HATE unity.
> No, I REALLY hate unity.
> No, I really INCREDIBLY hate unity.
> No, I really incredibly EXPONENTIALLY hate unity.
>
> For my purposes and style of computer use and preferences, it is 
> probably the worst UI I've ever seen in my life. Here are just a few 
> of the reasons I hate it.
>
> 01) They combine a menu button bar with a taskbar. If I want to start 
> something, I want a menu. If I want to know what's running and switch 
> to it, I need a taskbar. I don't need some mongrel hybrid of the two.
> 02) There is no obvious way to change any button bar settings.
> 03) There are no text names for the apps on the button bar, unless you 
> hover your mouse on them. (Couldn't do that if it was a tablet.)
> 04) Apps are much harder to find and browse through. I'm aware of the 
> search function. Windows has it too. I don't like it, and rarely use it.
> 05) The menu for the WINDOW I'm in is sitting in the bar at the top of 
> the SCREEN.
> 06) If I have multiple windows open, there is no easy way to tell 
> which menu I'm reading.
> 07) The window menu HIDES as soon as you roll your mouse away. The 
> very first or second thing I do when I install an OS, even Windows, is 
> disable every stinking function that auto hides things.
> 08) The scroll control is normally invisible.
> 09) The scroll control moves around and is never in the same place, 
> like the old arrows at the top and bottom of a scrollbar. So, every 
> time I want to scroll, I have to go looking for the current location 
> of the control.
> 10) The scroll control hides itself, EVEN IF YOUR MOUSE IS ON IT. So, 
> say you're reading a long document. You want to read some, click the 
> scroll down arrow, read some more, click again, etc. YOU CANNOT DO 
> THIS WITHOUT MOVING YOUR MOUSE OFF THE SCROLL CONTROL AND BACK ON TO 
> MAKE IT REAPPEAR. Just writing this virtually has steam coming out of 
> my ears.
> 11) If I want to see all my apps or find an app that I don't know the 
> name of, I have to click the menu button, then more apps, then see 87 
> more results. For all that pain, I get this giant list of icons that 
> are not categorized at all, all occupying lots of screen real estate, 
> AND AS FAR AS I CAN TELL, THERE IS NO ACCESSIBLE SCROLL CONTROL. I can 
> only scroll with the thumbwheel or the edge of the touchpad. A 
> heirarchical text based menu is TEN THOUSAND times better. An OPTION 
> to display icons might be handy, ON OCCASION.
> 12) The running things on the combined menu bar and taskbar are not 
> grouped together. So, if I've selected several things from the button 
> bar to run, and I want to know what's running, I have to scroll up and 
> down the bar and look for the stupid little carret indicators.
> 13) There is apparently no way to move the button bar or resize it.
> 14) There is no obvious way to change any settings for the button bar.
> 15) The buttons on the button bar are too large, and it takes up too 
> much vertical space for the number of apps it displays.
> 16) While I do normally keep my taksbar vertical, most people are used 
> to horizontal bars, and may actually like them that way, but this 
> gives you no choice, apparently.
> 17) The close, minimize, maximize buttons are on the wrong side of the 
> window.
> 18) Most of the appearance and font options I'm used to seem to be 
> gone, or exceptionally well hidden.
> 19) The button bar "squishes" when there are too many icons, until you 
> roll over it (which you couldn't do on a tablet by the way), then it 
> unsquishes, generally hiding the icons at the bottom.
> 20) There are no "panels" apparently, that I can position around the 
> screen and put little objects on like the CPU usage indicator, etc.
> 21) This is a TABLET interface and I'm using it on a LAPTOP OR 
> DESKTOP. Those interfaces and environments should NEVER be mixed, in 
> my opinion.
>
> </RANT OFF>
>
> Pant, Pant. OK, breathe, count to 10, think about a peaceful scene.
>
> Well, amazingly, that's all I could think of after testing the product 
> for a full 30 minutes. Perhaps I WON'T continue later.
>
> Suffice it to say, that if I have to run THIS, then I won't be running 
> Linux. I've heard bad things about Window 8 too, but haven't 
> investigated it. Now, I know you are going to tell me that there are 
> alternatives. So, hypothetically speaking, if I were to upgrade from 
> Ubuntu 11.04 to Ubuntu 12.04, can I still run GNOME 2 on it? If not, 
> what would be the closest thing to that user experience that I'm used 
> to and THAT I LIKE?
>
> Thanks in advance. Any help and advice is appreciated.
Cinnamon from Linux Mint should work. Cinnamon is Gnome 3 that acts more 
like Gnome 2
Cinnamon install via PPA 
(http://askubuntu.com/questions/94201/how-do-i-install-the-cinnamon-desktop)
     sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gwendal-lebihan-dev/cinnamon-stable
     sudo apt-get update
     sudo apt-get install cinnamon

KDE and Gnome 3 should work and both are available via Synaptic in 12.04 
repository.

Installing Mate apparently updates to Mint. Mate is a fork of Gnome 2 
included in Mint.

Unless you need "vanilla" Ubuntu; Mint should be releasing a new version 
sometime in June. Mint normally releases a new version about 1 month 
after the Ubuntu release.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Ron
>
>
> --
>
> Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9 
> Mail.
> Please excuse my potential brevity.
>
> (To whom it may concern. My email address has changed. Replying to former
> messages prior to 03/31/12 with my personal address will go to the wrong
> address. Please send all personal correspondence to the new address.)
>
> (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
> call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
> mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email messages very 
> quickly.)
>
> Ron Frazier
> 770-205-9422 (O) Leave a message.
> linuxdude AT techstarship.com <http://techstarship.com>
>
>
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-- 
Jay Lozier
jslozier at gmail.com

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