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You are right that the "largely ineffable" feeling needs to be cashed out. But I use that phrase largely because the psychology of UI interactions and usability
by jdabgotra 13y ago
You are right that the "largely ineffable" feeling needs to be cashed out. But I use that phrase largely because the psychology of UI interactions and usability that would justify my like of Unity is a new, inexact, and developing science. So, I'm starting with the basic observation that after giving Unity a try, it grew on me, as it did with others, to the point where we actually prefer something new. Part of it is increased simplicity. Another part is more screen space. Another part is that the OS doesn't get in your way (like KDE does). Another part of it is that is the tendency to place things of importance in the upper left which is, in our Western culture, where we tend to start looking for things (like when reading a book).
As far as evolution is concerned, my point is that I often notice, say, when Facebook changes their interface that users complain because they have to learn something new -- they are lazy, but if you force them into something, they may end up preferring it later. It is true that we shouldn't redesign things if they work well. But the way things are designed the first time may not be the best possible way.
The new features in Unity might not be molded by some process like natural selection. But there is some argument to made that it is. Creating one platform for all devices and levels of users would have enormous advantages, and is a response triggered by changed in the computing environment -- mainly, the widespread use of touch phones and tablets.
Aside from that, all I can say is that Ubuntu does do some user testing, and I hope they are listening to their users. They also have to take some chances and try out new things and see what users respond to. But I agree that their interface changes should respond to real needs, not imagined needs.
- pyre 13y ago| which is, in our Western culture So Ubuntu aims to only be used 'in the West?' ;)
- jdabgotra 13y agoHaha, no, but English is becoming the global language, I should have also mentioned. So Western culture is dictating global usability standards - be it good or bad, its happening.
- pyre 13y agoEnglish isn't necessarily becoming the global language. I would wager that Chinese has a good shot at the future depending on things play out.
- ColinWright 13y agoOut of interest - which "Chinese"?
- jfoster 13y agoMandarin is by far the most widely spoken. Others don't even come close. Cantonese is the other one that people consider common, but... http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=mandarin+%7C+cantonese http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=mandarin+%7C+cantonese
- pyre 13y agoThere is a non-zero chance of China becoming a larger economic player. Also, China exports a lot of immigrants to other countries. I don't have any data to back this up, but it does not seem like an totally 'out there' idea.
- mtts 13y agoI'm bored, so I'll bite. Yes, officially, Mandarin is the native language of the vast majority of China's 1.3 billion people. Unofficially, however, at most a large minority in China speak it natively. What is called a "dialect" in China often differs as much from standard Mandarin as, say, Romanian from Latin. Speakers of these dialects who live in large cities will often know enough standard Mandarin to get by, but usually only barely. Outside of mainland China and Taiwan the Chinese diaspora usually speaks either Cantonese or Fujianese languages like Hokkien. These languages are related to Mandarin, but certainly not mutually intelligible with it. It's also a myth that the writing system is the same across Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien and all the other "dialects". While all "Chinese" languages use similar characters, written Chinese does not, in contrast to what is often thought, consist of pictographs. The written Chinese of a Cantonese speaker will therefore differ greatly from the written Chinese of a Mandarin speaker. Sometimes one version will merely seem "somewhat off" to a speaker of a different variety of Chinese, at other times it will make no sense at all. With that in mind, the number of speakers of Mandarin has to be revised way, way down, to the point that it's no longer a serious contender for global language status. English is still supreme in that regard and will be for the foreseeable future, with Spanish coming in second.