[ale] I really incredibly exponentially hate ubuntu unity

Wed May 16 01:02:07 EDT 2012

+1 for Mint.  Been the distro of choice for my last few installs
for novices.

Or, putting new words to the old bluegrass tune:

"May the GUuuuuIiiii ...  be unbroken.... buy no hype, load, buy no  
hype.
Let my desktop, stay uncluttered, buy no hype, load, buy no hype."

peace
aaron

On 2012/05/15, at 13:18 , Jay Lozier wrote:

> 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
>>
>>
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>
>
> -- 
> Jay Lozier
> jslozier at gmail.com
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