[ale] I really incredibly exponentially hate ubuntu unity

Tue May 15 13:24:57 EDT 2012

I installed 12.04 and after 45 min, I formatted and installed Mint.
Give it a try.

http://linuxmint.com/

-Erik-

On Tue, May 15, 2012 at 11:46 AM, Ron Frazier (ALE)
<atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Warning - ranting follows. Apologies in advance to anyone who likes Ubuntu
> Unity. I've been using a Ubuntu 11.10 live cd to do some disk maintenance. I
> have to vent, here, or I'm going to have to break some fragile objects in
> the house. By the way, I know I've said some of this before. After all the
> careful consideration and observation and pondering I can stand, I have
> concluded that:
>
> <RANT ON>
>
> I hate unity.
> No, I HATE unity.
> No, I REALLY hate unity.
> No, I really INCREDIBLY hate unity.
> No, I really incredibly EXPONENTIALLY hate unity.
>
> For my purposes and style of computer use and preferences, it is probably
> the worst UI I've ever seen in my life. Here are just a few of the reasons I
> hate it.
>
> 01) They combine a menu button bar with a taskbar. If I want to start
> something, I want a menu. If I want to know what's running and switch to it,
> I need a taskbar. I don't need some mongrel hybrid of the two.
> 02) There is no obvious way to change any button bar settings.
> 03) There are no text names for the apps on the button bar, unless you hover
> your mouse on them. (Couldn't do that if it was a tablet.)
> 04) Apps are much harder to find and browse through. I'm aware of the search
> function. Windows has it too. I don't like it, and rarely use it.
> 05) The menu for the WINDOW I'm in is sitting in the bar at the top of the
> SCREEN.
> 06) If I have multiple windows open, there is no easy way to tell which menu
> I'm reading.
> 07) The window menu HIDES as soon as you roll your mouse away. The very
> first or second thing I do when I install an OS, even Windows, is disable
> every stinking function that auto hides things.
> 08) The scroll control is normally invisible.
> 09) The scroll control moves around and is never in the same place, like the
> old arrows at the top and bottom of a scrollbar. So, every time I want to
> scroll, I have to go looking for the current location of the control.
> 10) The scroll control hides itself, EVEN IF YOUR MOUSE IS ON IT. So, say
> you're reading a long document. You want to read some, click the scroll down
> arrow, read some more, click again, etc. YOU CANNOT DO THIS WITHOUT MOVING
> YOUR MOUSE OFF THE SCROLL CONTROL AND BACK ON TO MAKE IT REAPPEAR. Just
> writing this virtually has steam coming out of my ears.
> 11) If I want to see all my apps or find an app that I don't know the name
> of, I have to click the menu button, then more apps, then see 87 more
> results. For all that pain, I get this giant list of icons that are not
> categorized at all, all occupying lots of screen real estate, AND AS FAR AS
> I CAN TELL, THERE IS NO ACCESSIBLE SCROLL CONTROL. I can only scroll with
> the thumbwheel or the edge of the touchpad. A heirarchical text based menu
> is TEN THOUSAND times better. An OPTION to display icons might be handy, ON
> OCCASION.
> 12) The running things on the combined menu bar and taskbar are not grouped
> together. So, if I've selected several things from the button bar to run,
> and I want to know what's running, I have to scroll up and down the bar and
> look for the stupid little carret indicators.
> 13) There is apparently no way to move the button bar or resize it.
> 14) There is no obvious way to change any settings for the button bar.
> 15) The buttons on the button bar are too large, and it takes up too much
> vertical space for the number of apps it displays.
> 16) While I do normally keep my taksbar vertical, most people are used to
> horizontal bars, and may actually like them that way, but this gives you no
> choice, apparently.
> 17) The close, minimize, maximize buttons are on the wrong side of the
> window.
> 18) Most of the appearance and font options I'm used to seem to be gone, or
> exceptionally well hidden.
> 19) The button bar "squishes" when there are too many icons, until you roll
> over it (which you couldn't do on a tablet by the way), then it unsquishes,
> generally hiding the icons at the bottom.
> 20) There are no "panels" apparently, that I can position around the screen
> and put little objects on like the CPU usage indicator, etc.
> 21) This is a TABLET interface and I'm using it on a LAPTOP OR DESKTOP.
> Those interfaces and environments should NEVER be mixed, in my opinion.
>
> </RANT OFF>
>
> Pant, Pant. OK, breathe, count to 10, think about a peaceful scene.
>
> Well, amazingly, that's all I could think of after testing the product for a
> full 30 minutes. Perhaps I WON'T continue later.
>
> Suffice it to say, that if I have to run THIS, then I won't be running
> Linux. I've heard bad things about Window 8 too, but haven't investigated
> it. Now, I know you are going to tell me that there are alternatives. So,
> hypothetically speaking, if I were to upgrade from Ubuntu 11.04 to Ubuntu
> 12.04, can I still run GNOME 2 on it? If not, what would be the closest
> thing to that user experience that I'm used to and THAT I LIKE?
>
> Thanks in advance. Any help and advice is appreciated.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Ron
>
>
> --
>
> Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9 Mail.
> Please excuse my potential brevity.
>
> (To whom it may concern. My email address has changed. Replying to former
> messages prior to 03/31/12 with my personal address will go to the wrong
> address. Please send all personal correspondence to the new address.)
>
> (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 email messages very quickly.)
>
> Ron Frazier
> 770-205-9422 (O) Leave a message.
> linuxdude AT techstarship.com
>
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