Default Theme v. Community (what kind of consensus is needed?)

[Elliot F.]

On Thu, 2004-10-14 at 21:54 -0500, Robert Brimhall wrote:
> I agree with the last bit. I will keep using Ubuntu b/c it works. I
> won't be using the default theme... I see nothing wrong with it... I
> just happen to like the pre-warty final "plain" theme more. I can't
> see myself promoting Ubuntu to others though... I think the new
> default theme is a little to... cheesey IMHO... anyways, it would be
> good to hear from the devs on this issue a little more in detail.

Agreed.  I had recommended Ubuntu to someone, only to have them install
it and get an ... interesting ... default boot image.  What kind of
consensus would the community need to change the default gdm and gnome
splash images to something more tame?  I thought the previous images (to
which I have reverted) were a lot better, or at least more appropriate
as default themes.

> On Thu, 14 Oct 2004 22:44:04 -0400, dave <dave at rodrig.com> wrote:
> > Matt Zimmerman wrote:
> > > On Thu, Oct 14, 2004 at 11:08:06AM -0500, Jason Bradley Nance wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > >>However, it seems that the developers have come down and very politely and
> > >>eloquently said "too bad".
> > >
> > >
> > > I disagree with this assessment.  On what concrete evidence is it based?
> > >
> > 
> > "Too bad" might be a tad strong, but I get the feeling the developers
> > aren't taking this issue anywhere near as seriously as the rest of us.
> > This is due to the near-total lack of an official response. From Mark
> > Shuttleworth, we got "this is exactly what the mailing list is for,
> > we'll see what happens" (*not* his exact words, but what I got from it),
> > and that was it. I have no idea whatsoever what Canonical's position is
> > on whether or not this theme will remain on as the default.
> > 
> > Someone posted earlier that the theme issue was being discussed on
> > ubuntu-devel. I searched that list using Gmane, but couldn't find any
> > thread that looked as if it might be related. Of course, I may have
> > overlooked it, please correct me if I did.
> > 
> > Again, to reiterate, the theme is not acceptable in many settings. I
> > think we've gotten that message loud and clear. Even so, I started to
> > second-guess myself a little bit. It's not that bad, I told myself. It's
> > no big deal. So, I switched back to the theme in question. I brought my
> > laptop to work, as sort of a little experiment, since my workplace is a
> > little more liberal than most. I booted up and inside of 5 minutes I had
> > changed my background back to the tame ubuntu background. I couldn't go
> > through with it, I couldn't let anyone see it.
> > 
> > Also, I asked my wife what she thought of the theme. She told me that it
> > reminded her of an advertisement for a spa. She doesn't have issue with
> > the models, their proximity to each other, or their lack of clothing,
> > and neither do I. But she did say that she didn't care for the theme in
> > general and would not use herself. She'd only use personal photos of
> > loved ones on her background.
> > 
> > I sincerely hope Canonical isn't simply riding this storm out. I'd like
> > to know what the official word might be, or if it's even being
> > discussed. It will play a real part in whether or not I am willing to
> > actively promote Ubuntu to friends and family. I will definitely
> > continue to use Ubuntu as my distro of choice no matter what happens,
> > but, at this point, I'm not sure I'll tell anyone about it.
> > 
> > Dave
> > 
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> >
>