What to do about the Narwhal

[heiowge]

With the move to Unity over Gnome and Wayland over X, what are Ubuntu users' plans for the future?

The poll is aimed at Ubuntu users. Please don't ask for an I don't use it option. I don't get all these polls that have an option of "I don't use that". If you don't use it, you're not likely to be too bothered about the issue at hand. I often end up ignoring that part of the pie chart when the mag publish those charts as irrelevent.

[Ram]

Ah, I might stick with what I've got for now, then jump ship.
Or go back to kde - only time will tell, Assay only time with tell.

[M-Saunders]

Does this include us Xubuntu users? I'm not a fan of Unity (so far), and if Xubuntu strays a bit too far from its original path then I'll probably move to Debian on my main box.

M

[heiowge]

I imagine as a Xubuntu user, the Unity thing won't be an issue, but what about Wayland?

[PCNetSpec]

I'm getting a bit tired of Shuttleworth's weird decisions:
(maybe it's just the speed of implementation that's bothering me)

X ---> Wayland
GNOME ---> Unity
Inclusion of Qt framework in Natty +1 (though It'll be interesting to see how that works out).

Makes you wonder what he'll announce next week.

Then there's his styling choices, and apparent love of everything "Apple":

Brown ---> Purple (though I prefer purple)
Close/Minimize/Maximize buttons on the left
Unity with it's doc bar, and new "Global Menu"

Maybe they'll call 11.10 "Ostensibly OS-X"

I'm just too used to GNOME, maybe that makes me some kind of "Dinosaur" .. but I'm afraid I'll probably stick with Maverick for a while, then leave... probably to Debian or Mint Debian (rolling) Edition.

That doesn't mean I won't keep an eye on how well (or not) Ubuntu integrate these changes... you never know, in the future I may move back.

[CJLL]

Doesn't matter what they use as a GUI to me, since I trod on my netbook the other week I've not been able to see much of the display through the cracks.

The new netbook will come with a bloody awful distro called Windos 7!

[ajgreeny]

I shall look at it when it appears finally, and I am not worried about unity as gnome will still be there.

Wayland is more worrying as I gather it may not support older graphics cards like my ATI 9200SE.

Nevermind, there's always xubuntu and mint and fedora and suse and mepis and etc etc etc. Probably xubuntu would be my choice if it steers clear of wayland.

[heiowge]

My ATI card is older than that (I think). It's not supported under 10.10. I had to keep my desktop at 10.04. I use 10.10 on my netbook (that I'm using until I can touch my paypal funds and buy a new PC).

Close/Minimize/Maximize buttons on the left

One of the first things I ditch every reinstall. A big mistake moving them.

To be fair, I haven't kept default settings on Ubuntu desktop ever. I hated the brown and by the time they switched, I had got used to my way of doing things.

I think it's Mint for me next time...

[Rhakios]

Sticking with 10.04 until everything settles down a bit. That's what LTS releases are for.

[wyliecoyoteuk]

I think that Canonical are making the right decisions for where they see Ubuntu going.
I am a little bemused by people who moan about default colours, icon positions, etc.
After all it takes but a couple of mouse clicks to change it, and everyone's taste is different, I personally liked the brown theme.

I really like Unity, especially on my netbook, and I have no problem with where the window buttons are (but then I use different OSes and desktops all the time at work)
At least you have the choice, unlike the increasingly tied down M$ and Apple environments, where changing anything is becoming a major undertaking.
I actually had to install a program to change my Windows 7 menus to make them usable again!

Talking about Windows7, has anyone tried messing with the ridiculously user hostile overkill that Windows firewall just became?

[Marrea]

Like Rhakios, I'm sticking with 10.04. One of the things (well the only thing really!) that I find tiresome about Linux is the constant updating of distros. I want to get a distro on my computer, set it up to my liking and then use it, not be reinstalling a new version every few months.

I am however giving Mint 10 a trial at the moment, to see if that is the way to go when we all give up on Ubuntu.

[heiowge]

I have used Ubuntu since 7.10 and had planned on sticking. It's been 10.10 and 11.04 that have changed that. 10.10 hated my ATI graphics card, whereas 10.04 just worked. How can they upgrade and break something so simple AND STILL fail to fix it after 3 months. Surely they could find a way to revert...

And now 11.04 wants to change my desktop. I get that they like unity, but what about just offering Un-buntu as an option. They've managed long enough with Kubuntu and Xubuntu offering alternate options, but to swap their core desktop in favour of a pro-mobile design seems madness... I get supporting it, and promoting it, but not replacing what's popular with it.

I'd have brought it in for 11.04 and see if the market embraced it. Maybe offered the desktop as live install option. Something like "You are installing the XXXXX desktop. Would you like to also install Unity as an option to try as well. It will not affect your current install and only take XXX time".

People could be encouraged to try. Maybe a short slideshow on the Ubuntu install program advertising it. They've done the slideshow already. A few more slides shouldn't be a problem for them.

[PCNetSpec]

I am a little bemused by people who moan about default colours, icon positions, etc.
After all it takes but a couple of mouse clicks to change it, and everyone's taste is different, I personally liked the brown theme.

I agree, the styling is pretty much all reversible/changeable and also agree that's one of the things I love about Linux, as is the ability to switch distro's... I'm just "bemused" at his apparent need to turn Ubuntu into an OS-X-alike.

If I wanted OS-X...

I can't say he's taking Ubuntu in the wrong direction... I'm reserving judgement on that... just the wrong direction *for me* at present.

Like I said, maybe I *have* become the dinosaur my kids consider me to be

[Rhakios]

Well, as 11.04 is only an intermediate release, the adoption of Unity isn't yet set in stone. However, I'm not sure it is aimed solely at mobiles, rather it's seen as an alternative the the Gnome Shell.
Alternative desktop interfaces seem to be becoming quite popular these days, which I conceded, is probably being driven by the increasing prevalence of touch interface devices, though these are not restricted to mobile devices as Jeff Han has often demonstrated.

[nelz]

Like Rhakios, I'm sticking with 10.04. One of the things (well the only thing really!) that I find tiresome about Linux is the constant updating of distros. I want to get a distro on my computer, set it up to my liking and then use it, not be reinstalling a new version every few months.

Then don't. Use a distro that provides rolling upgrades, rather than expecting you to repeatedley reinstall.