Ubuntu and its community

Fri Jun 24 08:59:22 UTC 2011

I totally agree with Sebastian.
I accept design decisions too, but would be glad to offer users (not only
power users) the possibility to change some behaviours.

I also agree that ubuntu is becoming a release not-only-for-geeks, or better
said for-casual-or-home-users but please should not become
*only*-for-casual-or-home
users, letting power users alone or without a manner of tweak.

I also think that including a good and complete tweaking tool will convince
many powerusers to come back to ubuntu or not leaving.
Kindly

Elvis

On Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 10:46, Sebastian Rösgen <s.roesgen at googlemail.com>wrote:

> Hello,
>
> while I have followed the development of the power user community with
> enthusiasm, I want to raise your awareness of a discussion repeating itself
> month for month within the general Ubuntu community. Though, the term
> "discussion" is perhaps not the right word. Perhaps "illness" or "disease"
> fits better.
>
> Currently bug No. 733349 (https://bugs.launchpad.net/**unity/+bug/733349<https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+bug/733349>)
> shows the symptoms of this illness. Many users vote for a change in the
> behaviour of the Unity Launche. But seemingly the discussion is not taking
> place on equal ground. No matter the arguments that the community members
> bring up to discuss the errors/mistakes in the current behaviour of the
> Launcher the official developers of Canonical still answer with the 'slogan'
> that there cannot be any change due to "design decisions".
>
> Additionally a patch was offered by a user and this patch is seemingly good
> enough that it will get packaged and downloadable via PPA.
>
> I now ask myself if this is the right way? 91 users want a change of the
> behaviour but it is not even considered to make the behaviour of the
> Launcher more configurable. A PPA is a joke. The user who wrote the patch
> could also have created the PPA himself.
>
> Then this leads to the problem I currently have with the idea of a power
> user community.
>
> A simplified version of Ubuntu Tweak should become a standard tool in the
> default installation of Ubuntu. At least some aspects of the system should
> be configurable by default. Imagine a Windows user who wants to change the
> location of the Windows Panel in Windows 8 or 9 and finds out that the new
> policy tells him that he has to download extra software to make the
> repositioning of the panel possible. Tell him that the panel now
> automatically auto hides and to change this behaviour he has to download a
> second program to change this behaviour as well.
> That is what is currently happening to Ubuntu. The idea of the Power User
> Community is wonderful. But it fires the wrong signals. Perhaps you should
> all read the bug reports and the discussion about the bug to understand
> entirely what I mean.
>
> During the last month I installed Ubuntu 11.04 on many PCs and many users
> asked the same thing: "can I change this". It does not matter what "this"
> meant in the given context. What is important that I nearly never
> encountered somebody who was entirely happy with the desktop (and desktop
> behaviour) which is presented to the user. All of them liked the launcher,
> but many of the users get confused by the behaviour described in bug 733349.
> Why is there a launcher icon which you sometimes can click without anything
> happening? This is a good question, at least to me. Others want the launcher
> at the bottom or the right side of the screen. Then all are astounded that I
> have to install a huge cluttered program called CCSM to configure one simple
> feature of the system (i.e. the behaviour when the launcher hides and when
> not).
> I always answer that "they are working on this". Even when this means that
> I can only hope that I will be able to configure these things via Ubuntu
> Tewak or whatever else later on. I like Ubuntu and therefore I defend it.
> But I can only defend it to a certain degree. I do not want to explain
> anymore why "this feature" or "that feature" is not working correctly or as
> expected. At the moment I only say wait please for the LTS version. And the
> funny thing is that I explained so often what an LTS version is that every
> user knows immediately what I mean.
> But I sincerely hope that some of the issues will really be fixed when the
> LTS version is released. When I initially said so I really was convinced
> that over the course of time even the most blinkered developer will become
> aware of the fact that "a design decision" is not everything. But I start to
> lose this hope.
>
> The way how they dealt with the patch for bug 733349 exemplifies the
> problem. Ubuntu tweak (or rather a trimmed down version suited to normal
> users' needs) should become standard to ubuntu. And the given patch of
> 733349 should be configurable with this version of Ubuntu tweak. Do I want
> to use the new behaviour or the default behaviour which is dictated to us by
> design decision. I have no problem with design decisions as long as there is
> an alternative option to configure the system.
>
> A further problem with design decisions is that Ubuntu or rather Mark
> Shuttleworth and his design team have not always made good decisions at all.
> Remeber the Windicators? Well, where are they. When the
> close/minimize/maximize buttons were moved to the left there was a big
> outcry. And then there was this (interesting) vision of the Windicators.
> Many people thought about it and the uproar ceased. The buttons were not
> moved out of a decision to make Ubuntu more "Macish" but instead because
> there was a real thoughtful idea in the background. Well, again my question.
> Where are now these Windicators. For these Windicators the change was made
> but I still can not see them. I do not even see any test versions. But the
> changes have been made.
>
> I sometimes get the impressions that Ubuntu tries desperately to become so
> innovative and new that this became an obsession. In German we say "du
> sollst das Rad nicht neu erfinden" which translates to "you should not
> reinvent the wheel". Some features have been around in the computer world
> for many years now: and they work. Other have been around and these features
> should be changed. But if nearly one hundred users complain about something
> one should think about the complaints. Especially if it is something like
> Launchpad where the few who have accounts speak for the many they represent.
>
> So think about this. The Poweruser community should take Ubuntu Tweak,
> simplify it and then do everything in their power to make this simplified
> version a part of the normal control center in Ubuntu. And it should be a
> replacement for CCSM and that ugly option which decides when the launcher
> reveals that is currently in the control center (i.e. "system settings" at
> the moment). And Jono, I do not want to be too bold, but I would really beg
> you to fight for this Ubuntu Tweak version to be implemented as a default in
> Ubuntu. It is really needed. People everywhere are discontent with certain
> aspects of Ubuntu Unity.
> I think that the default configuration of Ubuntu with Unity will bring you
> many new users. But as long as you (Canonical) will not offer an easy and
> fast way to configure the system, you will lose many old users. Making
> Ubuntu Tweak a default in Ubuntu will show the users, the more experienced
> users, the long time fans, the enthusiasts, that Canonical respects their
> wishes. Making it default is the way to show that Ubuntu really should be a
> system for everyone and not just a few. And believe me, these options to
> configure the system will even be interesting for many who want to switch
> from windows to some other system.
>
> Ok. This Was a long post and I hope that at least a few will read it
> entirely. Thank you!
>
> Yours
> Sebastian
>
>
>
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-- 

Saluti

Elvis D.
elvisd79 at gmail.com
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