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Ubuntu introduces new theme and branding
- dasil003 17y agoNot emulate, but blow right past Apple in the user experience we deliver to our end users You gotta admire the guy's ambition.
- jasonlotito 17y agoDamn right. And considering everything he's accomplished, I think he has the right to be. =)
- dasil003 17y agoI don't think ambition is something you have to earn, more power to him. However considering the cat-herding involved in creating great user experiences from the top down, and considering how much Apple pays its engineers and designers, if he pulls this off he's 100 times the leader Steve Jobs is.
- rbanffy 17y agoWhat they have earned is the right to brag. Apple has a Unix that's very polished and usable, but is not that much Unix-ish if what you need is a traditional X desktop. And OSX lacks package management.
- randallsquared 17y agoPackage management is really useful for servers, or other systems where there's a bunch of dependencies. Desktop apps hardly need it, and OSX apps in particular don't need it. The combination of the drag-to-applications-folder installing and checking for new updates to the app when you launch it solves the vast majority of this problem for the vast majority of users.
- arohner 17y agoYou're absolutely right, but as a developer, package management makes a significantly more pleasant experience. I also really hate how every OSX app has it's own way of doing updates. Even if the OSX makes desktop apps not need dependencies, it would be really nice if I only had one 'update' button to push. As it is, 5 different things want to update practically every day.
- sjs 17y agoIt's pretty silly to have a serious dev machine without a package manager. What do you do when you migrate to a new machine? I like to copy a list of packages and then run an update/upgrade command. Linux wins by far. Copying a directory of self-contained apps is quick and easy as well... but if you need binaries for a newer arch, say x86-64, you'll have to download a new copy, whereas the package manager solution has you covered.
- gommm 17y agoThat's why I use macports on os X... While it's not provided directly by apple, you can't say that there isn't any package manager...
- sjs 17y agoThat's true. I quite like OS X and use MacPorts as well. These days I use OS X almost exclusively. The only reason Linux wins is OS X still has some installers. Not many, but any at all are too many for me. Copying app bundles around is easy enough though and they make things Just Work w/ fat binaries, so kudos to Apple for making that easy. Their Migration Assistant is slow, but still eases much of the pain of migration.
- rbanffy 17y ago> it would be really nice if I only had one 'update' button to push. No. If you are asking for updates and fixes, you are doing it wrong. It should be automated, because you shouldn't have to bother to remember pressing a button. I set up my mother with a Linux box and sure as hell I don't count on her pressing buttons without some prompting. > As it is, 5 different things want to update practically every day. If you have a defective library that's bundled in five apps and needs fixing, you will have five upgrades instead of one. And, possibly, an OS update and a reboot. But only if you are lucky and the publishers of the five programs are paying attention. Most likely, you will end up with five different bugs scattered throughout your system with many different libraries that really should be just one.
- AlisdairO 17y agoThis isn't package management for OSX per se, but if you haven't seen it already I highly recommend macports/porticus, which is pretty effective at managing package for the unix-y apps that OSX is missing.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- mcantor 17y agoUbuntu: Now with grape flavor!
- cmanfu 17y agomore like purple drank
- Dobbs 17y agoI just installed Xubuntu on a new laptop. I was blown away at how beautiful it looks in comparison with Ubuntu. I'm very glad to see Ubuntu get over it's fetish for its old ugly color scheme.
- swah 17y agoI disliked the Dark theme for ubuntu 9.
- revorad 17y agoXubuntu is beautiful and fast. I like it much better than Ubuntu.
- cookiecaper 17y agoIt's the same thing with XFCE as the default window manager.
- flubba 17y agoThank you captain obvious
- cookiecaper 17y agoWell, saying "I like Xubuntu better than Ubuntu" kind of makes it seem like he thinks they're different. Xubuntu is just the name of the spin that comes with XFCE by default. If you're using Ubuntu or Xubuntu, you're still using Ubuntu. The right comparison here would be, "I like Ubuntu's XFCE theme much better than their GNOME theme", or whatever the specific case is. Maybe he likes XFCE better altogether, and then it's "I like XFCE more than GNOME". See what I am saying here?
- flubba 17y agoYep, my bad >.<
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- pluc 17y agoOriginal article: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Brand https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Brand Not sure why neither sources or HN links to it.
- notaddicted 17y ago"Ubuntu dumps the brown" is a particularly bad pun.
- malkia 17y agoGordon Brown? :)
- nailer 17y agoIt's not actually a pun, but an an unfortunate visualization. But perhaps I'm just being anal.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- ern 17y agoI always felt that Ubuntu had a very "African" look and feel because of the brown (and the name of course). I wonder if this is part of a move towards a more global image.
- jasonlbaptiste 17y agoWhy are there no OEMs making strictly ubuntu machines? There's System76, but they're too complicated (20 different choices). Go look at hardware partners and there are no north american system builders! That's what Ubuntu is missing. Guys like us will install it, but if they want to be adopted by normal people it has to come with the system. You'll never get a strong commitment from big guys like DELL. They're too worried about pissing off MSFT. I'll tell ya, Ubuntu Netbook Edition is the best interface for "simple computing" out there. It's like an iPhone for your desktop computer. I almost want to do a live test where I sit people down with windows 7 and Ubuntu Netbook Edition. I bet you Ubuntu Netbook Edition will win almost every time.
- jonknee 17y agoSupport cost is the only thing I can think of. And pressure from MS. I looked just today for an Ubuntu laptop and ran into the exact issue you describe. Dell has Ubuntu on two netbooks, but that's it. Not that I can't install on my own, but I don't want to pay for Windows if I'm not going to use it (and knowing all the hardware is supported is a nice plus).
- jasonlbaptiste 17y agopressure from MS is the biggest part.
- jonknee 17y agoThat seems anti-competitive... Have you heard if they play hardball on OEM contracts if Linux is also an option? If a company has to pay more for each of its millions of Windows licenses because Ubuntu is an option I could definitely understand why we're not seeing any options.
- rbanffy 17y agoI doubt that is documented in e-mails, but I wouldn't be surprised if during lunch with OEM license seller and OEM license buyer, something like this was somehow mentioned. MS is known for playing dirty.
- klozetgeek 17y agoBetter than the brown.
- nearestneighbor 17y agoAm I the only one who thinks that at the GUI level Ubuntu is better than OS X? (I use Snow Leopard and Ubuntu 8.04 extensively)
- grandalf 17y agoIt is for usability. Ubuntu's only weakness is that at the pixel level it's a bit uglier than OSX in some areas... and that by default it doesn't come with quite the same level of fonts...
- nearestneighbor 17y agoFonts are in the eye (or rather, visual cortex) of the beholder. I got used to the Mac fonts, but at first I thought it was some kind of bad joke or misconfiguration. They seemed annoyingly blurry. My theory is that one's brain gets used to the particular fonts and may not like change very much.
- grandalf 17y agoYou are right that OSX uses different subpixel rendering than Windows, but I think that at present the free fonts on Ubuntu are not quite at the level of OSX's fonts and some of Adobe's. This could just be my own aesthetic taste, but I think it could also be due to those companies having highly paid font designers working on those details.
- nailer 17y agoAgfa (who do the Ubuntu / Fedora fonts) developers are paid just like anyone else.
- grandalf 17y agoHmm... Well I admit some of the free fonts are awesome... but I have not found them to be quite as pleasing... Maybe it's just my own taste... not worth arguing about since Ubuntu is awesome and the free fonts are certainly good enough for most purposes...
- anr 17y agoWindow controls (max, min, close) on the right of the window title?? I hope they switch them back to the left. EDIT: my mistake, I meant, why switch to the left?
- htsh 17y agoThey are on the left now, formerly on the right. I think you have it backwards?
- viraptor 17y agoThey've found a new way to make your corners and menus more dangerous. It's not just a classic "turn off" button in the top right. Now you get a "close window" button just below "programs" and above "file menu" for free!
- motters 17y agoPink is the new brown.
- niels_olson 17y agoTo nit-pick . . . let me repeat . . . to N I T P I C K, I reaallly think the window buttons need to be toned down. That one red button looks sends the whole thing back to something out of KDE 2 (no disrespect to the KDE, I run a KDE 4.3 desktop, it's more of a 90s-still-learning-how-to-design-desktops thing)
- phatbyte 17y agoI still think that this new design feels more like a theme than a default GUI of a OS (or DM in this case). While I love Linux and I use it everyday, mostly as a server, everytime I enter in the desktop interface I do not feel the "home sweet home" I do on a OS X or Windows. Linux DM are not comfortable, specially when you have KDE apps mixed with Gnome Apps and there's that mix of different gui + usability styles. I've said this once, and I will say it again (running the risk of serious bashing): Linux should concentrate in only one DM and improve it.
- volomike 17y agoPurple and /brown/? Really? Did they have to go there? That's uuuuuugly. Blue and green. Red and black. Purple and black. But Purple and brown? That's a harsh color transition, if I don't recall. What's next? The Hot Dog theme for Ubuntu? BTW, I'm a huge Ubuntu fan. But man, purple and brown? Geesh!
- ThomPete 17y ago"Not emulate, but blow right past Apple in the user experience we deliver to our end users" I fail to see how that by any metrics are related to the new theme and branding efforts. The user experience is not defined by the look and feel but by so many other factors. It would be interesting if they had actually better ways to deal with certain metaphors such as file browsing. But as it stands right now although I love what Ubuntu are doing they are a long long long way from being anything close to Apple standards.
- tjic 17y ago> After six years it was time to refresh the face of Ubuntu starting with the word mark Yeah, that's a core principal of branding - as soon as the customers are familiar with your logo, change it. Someone tell Apple, IBM, and Coca-Cola.
- ktf 17y agoThe Apple logo has changed at least 2 or 3 times. And the Ubuntu change isn't drastic enough that people will stop recognizing it.
- patrickk 17y agoI'd like to see Ubuntu taking a really radical approach and giving the user a choice of more non-traditional desktop options such as these custom desktops, courtesy of lifehacker: http://lifehacker.com/5043712/roll-your-own-lightning-at-sunset-desktop http://lifehacker.com/5043712/roll-your-own-lightning-at-sun... http://lifehacker.com/5087956/customize-your-own-killer-enigma-desktop http://lifehacker.com/5087956/customize-your-own-killer-enig... UI looks set to change radically over the next few years, it would be cool if they looked at the multitouch route: http://gizmodo.com/5457472/how-the-apple-tablet-interface-could-and-should-work http://gizmodo.com/5457472/how-the-apple-tablet-interface-co... It can't exactly hurt Ubuntu's market share to really look at exploring the possibilities (sorry couldn't resist). Apple (naturally) and even Microsoft are really upping their game on the UI front and there's the danger of Ubuntu being left even further behind.