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One of Paul's imperatives is to make a few people very happy rather than a lot of people kind of happy. That in mind, I think this is a good move for Canonical

One of Paul's imperatives is to make a few people very happy rather than a lot of people kind of happy. That in mind, I think this is a good move for Canonical to move to Unity in 11.10. If people want the user-friendliness of GNOME, they can go to other linux distributions. But Canonical is doing well with open source technology - they've actually moved linux to something beyond the more savvy users and hackers - it's accessible to anyone used to Windows, with a bit of tweaking. I don't think they should stick with what's safe just because it's ubiquitous. They can't directly compete with Apple and Microsoft, so experimenting with what Linux can be specialized in or how to make it unique are worth disappointing a few users, I think. (EDIT): I forgot to mention, I also don't think changing UI will affect Canonical because of past history with it. Facebook has a mass of complaints every time ot changes, but it's still growing every day. The two examples don't entirely match up, but I think the same will apply to Canonical.

DanBC 15y ago
> They can't directly compete with Apple and Microsoft, so experimenting with what Linux can be specialized in or how to make it unique are worth disappointing a few users, To me this feels a bit like what Opera has churned through - first you pay; then you pay to get rid of ads (or not); then it's got great CSS (which is rigidly compliant but makes some sites look weird); then it's free; then it's got versions for mobile technology; then it's got social stuff built in; etc etc. Opera is a great browser. Unfortunately, not many people know that it's a great browser, because they use IE or Safari or Ff or Chrome. Facebook does get a lot of criticism from users when it changes UI. I think the difference is that you only read that if you're already using Facebook. All the furore about $LATEST_CHANGE_IN_OS is written on blogs, and that gets read by people trying to decide whether they're going to go for some Linux distribution. Many Linux distributions aren't very good at "elevator pitches", and most users are too lazy to plough through a bunch of wiki pages to find out just why Mandriva is different from Mageia.
- gcp 15y ago
  Opera is a great browser. Unfortunately, not many people know that it's a great browser, because they use IE or Safari or Ff or Chrome. Operas has very good mobile market share, i.e. where it matters now. They executed well on that space. Whatever advantages they have on desktop (questionable IMHO) don't seem to be compelling or strong enough to win users over. And just like everyone else, they now have to fight the Google Chrome advertising juggernaut.
keithpeter 15y ago
"it's accessible to anyone used to Windows, with a bit of tweaking." What? Have you tried handing a laptop running Unity to someone used to Windows 7 and asking them to complete a few tasks? I wish Ubuntu well. Wouldn't a customised GUI stack including Wayland and Unity be great? BUT like Windows it isn't!
- dylangs1030 15y ago
  Ah, you misunderstood me. I meant GNOME and pre-10.0 Ubuntu is accessible to native Windows users. Unity I admit requires more getting used to.

DanBC 15y ago

> They can't directly compete with Apple and Microsoft, so experimenting with what Linux can be specialized in or how to make it unique are worth disappointing a few users, To me this feels a bit like what Opera has churned through - first you pay; then you pay to get rid of ads (or not); then it's got great CSS (which is rigidly compliant but makes some sites look weird); then it's free; then it's got versions for mobile technology; then it's got social stuff built in; etc etc. Opera is a great browser. Unfortunately, not many people know that it's a great browser, because they use IE or Safari or Ff or Chrome. Facebook does get a lot of criticism from users when it changes UI. I think the difference is that you only read that if you're already using Facebook. All the furore about $LATEST_CHANGE_IN_OS is written on blogs, and that gets read by people trying to decide whether they're going to go for some Linux distribution. Many Linux distributions aren't very good at "elevator pitches", and most users are too lazy to plough through a bunch of wiki pages to find out just why Mandriva is different from Mageia.

gcp 15y ago
Opera is a great browser. Unfortunately, not many people know that it's a great browser, because they use IE or Safari or Ff or Chrome. Operas has very good mobile market share, i.e. where it matters now. They executed well on that space. Whatever advantages they have on desktop (questionable IMHO) don't seem to be compelling or strong enough to win users over. And just like everyone else, they now have to fight the Google Chrome advertising juggernaut.

keithpeter 15y ago

"it's accessible to anyone used to Windows, with a bit of tweaking." What? Have you tried handing a laptop running Unity to someone used to Windows 7 and asking them to complete a few tasks? I wish Ubuntu well. Wouldn't a customised GUI stack including Wayland and Unity be great? BUT like Windows it isn't!

dylangs1030 15y ago
Ah, you misunderstood me. I meant GNOME and pre-10.0 Ubuntu is accessible to native Windows users. Unity I admit requires more getting used to.