Ubuntu and its community

[Ramón Rocha]

Sebastian,

If I understand you correctly, you are essentially saying that there are
usability issues with Unity and one solution to this is to make its behavior
configurable (to what extent is to be determined).

I'm not sure I agree that a tweak/configuration tool included in the default
installation is the solution to this issue.  From the past few releases, I
think it's clear that Ubuntu is trying to appeal to a larger audience and so
they are trying to simplify the entire "Ubuntu experience".  Additional
options add complexity so it makes sense to omit them. Would you agree?

-Ramón



On Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 3:46 AM, 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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