Unity

[wyliecoyoteuk]

Well, I'm still using it on most of my PCs.
No need for it my MythTV box.
I like it. Most of the complaints seem to be from people who like to twiddle with their desktop. I like mine the way it is, not dumbed down, just easy to use.
Instead of spending endless hours customising my desktop, I just use it.
The launcher has to be the easiest system to customise yet, in terms of adding/deleting entries, lenses are useful too.

[SpecialStuff]

Options galore getting removed in Unity 12.04. Dodge windows gets the chop -> http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/02/mark-shuttleworth-explains-dodge-ditch-decision-in-precise/, and now the spread window picker from the overview goes -> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1921996. There's a lot of talk about the first impressions on newcomers, and it seems like the OS is now being completely tailored to suit the "first hour" of use. Green users didn't like the bar disappearing when windows were nudged near it apparently.

For me, though I understand the desire to bring in new users and tailor the experience, removing these simple, useful and tactile options completely seems nuts all over. I much prefer the dodge function over auto hide, which renders the bar almost invisible unless you mouse over the left side.

I can't escape the feeling that Unity is going to be a struggle for Canonical. It just feels flawed by design. The bar still pops out unwanted if you try to use the browsers back button, and the menus are still a trudge to get through. Gnome Shell compared feels much more complete, clear and sensible, though the usage is more radical for regular desktop users and has obviously alienated a few. Shame, but it remains my preferred desktop.

[nordle]

The bar still pops out unwanted if you try to use the browsers back button

I got round this by increasing the delay on when it pops out. It takes me a milisecond to hit the back button, no bar. Hold mouse there for 1/3 of a second and bar, sorted.

Am struggling with annoying focus issues in Claws-Mail. When I tab to an open clawsmail session, the menu at the top is that of the previous app. Have to force maximise of claw-mail to get it to give me the claws-mail menu at top. Dont have this issue with any other app. I don't think claws-mail is officially supported by ubuntu though, ie not in main repo. So I may have to look at Thunderbird again (its been 5 years, maybe its improved).

EDIT:
Right, so we cant hide the launcher at all now. I don't like that, it worked for me fine (once I increased the delay slightly). Now I've got used to the extra screen real estate.
And that's on the LTS release, crap it. Not a game changer for me, just not ideal.

[SpecialStuff]

Well confession time, I've been using it for a bit with the bar kept persistent, and I have to say it's a much better experience all round, definitely better than I imagined it to be. I had to make the icons on the bar a little bit smaller (I shrank them to about 38-40 rather than the default 48 ), but it's easily a better solution for me than having to mouse over the left and make the thing appear before I can access it. It does take up space on the left side, but then I'm kinda used to that as some of our Windows work PC's (I don't work in I.T. though) have their taskbar on the left or right and I'm fine with it. It looks good and isn't annoying.

I was really upset when the news came that the dodge windows function was going, but having tried it now with the bar persistent, for me personally it works and makes sense, and doesn't feel like a flawed idea. I'm really looking forward to 12.04.

I'm so easily changeable. Or bipolar. It's one or the other, the doctor says.

[Rhakios]

I don't know if this has occurred to anyone else before, but one thing that could make Unity more user-friendly (in my opinion) is to move the lens buttons from the bottom of the screen to left, parallel to the dock. This would save a lot of the mouse travel, up an down the screen, that I find such an annoyance in Unity as it is at present.

[Ram]

But it is designed for touch screens...

[Rhakios]

But it is designed for touch screens...

Then they'll just have to buy me one.

[wyliecoyoteuk]

well I just inserted a couple of spacers in the firefox bar to avoid the accidental launch.
And you can change the dodge settings.

[reklan]

well tried to keep using Unity.. In its defense, it is better than it used to be.

Problem being, is that there is not enough to customize. being forced to do things a certain way.. its getting close to being good.. but for Linux users, we want to customise, change things.. if the allowed us to get rid of the global menu, and change the location of the dash/launcher, would be great.

Gnome 3 does better, especially with the extensions.

However, all 3 of my Linux machines, (including this quad core desktop and two laptops, have all reverted to Xubuntu 12.04..)

[wyliecoyoteuk]

.. but for Linux users, we want to customise, change things..

Not me, really, I just want to use my PC, not fiddle with how it looks.
In fact, all of my Linux customisation is to do with actually getting things to work as I want. I rarely change my desktops on any install (and several don't even have a desktop).
For example the biggest changes I made to my RH server were to install and configure Hylafax so that I could print a large file to CUPS, split it into individual pages and fax them to different people all in one operation.

I find Unity quite nice to use.

[nelz]

we want to customise, change things..

Which GNOME and Unity both try to protect you from, try KDE.

[SpecialStuff]

.. but for Linux users, we want to customise, change things..

Not me, really, I just want to use my PC, not fiddle with how it looks.
In fact, all of my Linux customisation is to do with actually getting things to work as I want. I rarely change my desktops on any install (and several don't even have a desktop).
For example the biggest changes I made to my RH server were to install and configure Hylafax so that I could print a large file to CUPS, split it into individual pages and fax them to different people all in one operation.

I find Unity quite nice to use.

Yeah I agree with you here. There's a certain level of attraction to messing about with themes, but the trouble is once you start you're never really happy with things and it can go on forever. I've just spent a couple of weeks tinkering with Mint 13 Cinnamon, and it truly is lovely and I've enjoyed messing about with the looks, but after going back to Ubuntu I find a certain relief that there's a gorgeous desktop that comes complete and without any need for further input beyond a wallpaper and a change of the launcher size.

I love flaffing about with themes on Linux, but you can't really berate Ubuntu for offering hey! a unified look for their offering. There's plenty of options if you do want to tailor it. Why not install Cinnamon on it and stick a different dock in? It's all there if you want it.

[Brian Hunter]

I can't be arsed with messing around with my desktop, so gnome and unity, and it's like, are great for me.

I know many others love to thinker with how their desktop looks, that's why things like openbox and kde are great for them.

Guess what I am saying is that one person's pro is another person's con, and visa versa. That's why I don't think that you can put gnome, or unity's, lack of configuration down as a con, speaking in an absolute sense. It's not a con, it just makes it a bad fit for you.