[ale] I really incredibly exponentially hate ubuntu unity

Tue May 15 16:07:51 EDT 2012

On Tue, 2012-05-15 at 12:46 -0400, 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:

You and I are on the same page here...  The MINUTE I realized that Unity
broke NX and that half the libraries had been deprecated in Ubuntu while
still "keeping" the freenx package (which could not be installed because
the dependencies could not be satisfied), I immediately started removing
Ubuntu from every system in my possession that was still running it.

Regards,
Mike

> <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.
> 
> 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
> 
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