[ale] ranting about new Ubuntu UI

Mon Jun 20 18:30:37 EDT 2011

Let me preface this email by stating that I have not used the GUI on
Ubuntu 11.04. I have installed Ubuntu 11.04 on many systems, but I
have not installed the X stack on any of them as I am well known for
being anti-GUI http://mail.ale.org/pipermail/ale/2011-March/127592.html
http://www.ale.org/pipermail/ale/2011-February/126605.html

That said, I will say that everything you (Ron) have described sounds
like steps in the right direction. Sure, the usage paradigms may have
bugs as described by Jim. But, getting UI elements off of the screen
when they are not in use is a good thing. I know that Ubuntu is
heavily invested in making computers for the humans who have not yet
had the opportunity to use computers. I would bet that UX studies show
that people do not complain unless they already know to expect the
menu bars for every open window to be visible at the same time
regardless of the fact that you only the menu bar for the foreground
app. I know for a fact that people who are new to computers don't know
that scrollbars scroll content until they are taught. Why teach them
_that_? Why not teach them to use a UI that is uncluttered? And
finally, I bet that the huge icons that you complain of resize to fill
the space available to them and when more icons are present they would
shrink. I'm just guessing here, but I know that UI designers don't set
out to piss off the old faithful. They just don't choose to do things
a bad way because "that's the way it's been".

On Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 5:44 PM, Ron Frazier
<atllinuxenthinfo at c3energy.com> wrote:
> Hi guys.  I've been away from the list for a while, so I don't know if
> this has been already discussed.  I also apologize to anyone I offend
> who may totally disagree with me.  No offense is intended.
>
> I decided to do some digital house keeping and download and make CD's of
> the most recent Ubuntu ISO's.  After burning the CD's, I wanted to
> verify that each CD was burned correctly.  I looked up the appropriate
> MD5sum command and saved it in a text file on the hard drive.  Then, I
> booted up the Ubuntu 11.04 desktop CD and clicked Try Ubuntu to get it
> started.  WOW!  I was freaked out because the UI was totally different
> from 10.04 which I'm used to.  From the podcasts, I knew this was
> happening, but hadn't seen it.  Now, I'll admit I'm biased toward what I
> know.  And, I'll admit that I only spent 20-30 minutes looking at it.
> However, my basic first impression is ... hate it, hate it, hate it,
> hate it, hate it, hate it.  It seems everyone is trying to redesign
> their operating system to operate from the point of view of a tablet
> based touch screen.  However, they seem to be throwing mouse based,
> large screen devices under the bus.  I think that's incredibly stupid.
> To do the CD integrity check that I wanted to do, I had to start the
> text editor, copy the command I'd saved, start a terminal window, and
> paste the command into that.  What the @#$%$#$ is wrong with a stinking
> menu?!  It took me 10 minutes just to find out how to start the text
> editor and the terminal with the new system.  Instead of menu,
> accessories, text editor; it's now menu, more applications, see all 75
> apps, scroll scroll scroll all the huge icons down the screen to find
> the "T" section, then click text editor.  Now that I know how to do it,
> it's not THAT hard.  But what's the point.  It definitely takes more
> clicks and mouse movements than it did before.  From the podcasts I
> listen to, It looks like Windows 8 will be doing something similar with
> the UI.  If so, I think it's stupid on their part too.  Why can't the
> designers just realize that desktop / laptop computers and tablets /
> smart phones need different UI's.  I wouldn't try to put all the
> controls from a motorcycle on a car, and I wouldn't try to put all the
> controls from a car on a motorcycle.
>
> Here are some other things I hate at first glance.
>
> * There is a huge bar of icons on the left.  It seems to be a quick
> launch bar and a task bar combined.  I'm OK with that concept.  I've
> been keeping my task bar vertical anyway.  What I hate is that the icons
> are enormous.  They take up a huge amount of vertical space.  Therefore,
> if you have 5 quick launch icons open and 5 apps open, then the task bar
> is full.  I don't know what happens after that.  It may be possible to
> customize it, but there is no obvious way, like right clicking it.  The
> other thing I don't like is that it's not obvious what are quick launch
> icons and what are running applications.  The system seems to put a
> small arrow next to applications, but I don't think it's very effective.
>
> * The traditional Gnome "panels" seem to be gone.  Or, if they're there,
> there's not obvious way to access or customize them, including the top
> panel that appears by default.
>
> * The APPLICATION menu bar (for the text editor, for example) appears in
> the top of the screen panel OF THE OS when you roll your mouse up there
> and disappears when you roll your mouse away.  It does not appear in the
> window for the application.  Why the @$$%%$$# do the designers think
> that I want my APPLICATION MENU to be married to the OS DISPLAY?!  And,
> even if I did, why the $%#$$##$ do the designers think I want it
> vanishing every time I move away from it?!  Stupid.  Stupid.  Stupid.
>
> * Finally, there is no scroll bar on long display items and no up and
> down arrows.  If you roll your mouse over where those features should
> be, a scroll device which can be dragged or clicked magically appears.
> Stupid.  Stupid.  Stupid.
>
> Again, no offense intended.  Others may love these features just as
> passionately as I hate them.  Anyway, I'm definitely NOT installing
> Ubuntu 11.04 or Windows 8 (when it's available) unless I extensively
> test in a VM first.  Probably, I'll just stick with Ubuntu 10.04 and
> Windows Vista or Windows 7 until they stop patching them.  That should
> be about 2 more years for Ubuntu and 7 more years for Windows.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Ron
>
>
> --
>
> (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
> call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
> mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new messages very quickly.)
>
> Ron Frazier
>
> 770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
> linuxdude AT c3energy.com
>
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-- 
.!# RichardBronosky #!.