Natty 11.04 - nearly like 10.10!

[Ric Moore]

On Fri, 2011-07-01 at 11:43 +0100, Liam Proven wrote: 
> On 1 July 2011 07:10, Ric Moore <wayward4now at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Thu, 2011-06-30 at 20:53 +0100, Liam Proven wrote:
> >> On 27 June 2011 09:41, Stephen Kuhn <yank.down.under at gmx.com> wrote:
> >> > On Mon, 2011-06-27 at 03:19 -0400, Ric Moore wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> > This gives you a strong aroma of neophobia & as such not someone I'd
> >> >> > trust to run my systems, I \have to tell you.
> >> >>
> >> >> Damn Stephen, there it is. You got told! I'd be weeping in my oatmeal.
> >> >> And, you're King Cnut'ish as well. Damn... a public service announcement
> >> >> from Liam over your personal preference for the old style gnome desktop.
> >> >> Well, I wouldn't let you near my system either, I happen to prefer KDE3.
> >> >> Oh hell, I'll have to go shoot myself now. :) Ric
> >> >
> >> > Well, if I constantly and consistently deliver something that, for
> >> > nearly the past ten years, looks exactly the same, um, from a stupid
> >> > end-user perspective, am I not doing what I promised in the beginning?
> >> > Ha. Stick that in yer "progressive" pipe and smoke it! ;)
> >>
> >> I have no idea what you promised. If you promised consistency, then
> >> the users should be on LTS releases & none of this is an issue.
> >>
> >> If you promised to help people run Ubuntu, then you are doing them a
> >> grave disservice if you give them some hand-rolled custom setup that
> >> is unlike anything else out there, because if you get run over by a
> >> bus tomorrow, nobody else will be able to support it... And if they
> >> install their own machines, or use someone else's, they will be lost
> >> because it won't be like the standard system.
> >>
> >> This is a lesson I learned myself, over the same time in the same
> >> business as you, and it was hard. You stick to the defaults unless you
> >> have a *damned* good reason. "I don't like the new look" is *not* a
> >> damned good reason, it's a lousy one.
> >
> > Or, maybe Stephen knows his customers preferences and delivers to them
> > what they want, which makes it a damned good reason. Why are you
> > slamming him?
> >
> > I haven't seen one single standard setup that comes ~close~ to suiting
> > my needs yet and I always change it to suit me. If some group insisted
> > on the old KDE StarTrek theme, so that their desktop looked like Spock's
> > workstation, and wanted to pay me to set it up like that and maintain
> > it, then Unity would scare the beejesus out of me, as it might interfere
> > with my cash flow. I just don't get how you can make such a judgment
> > call, without being privy to his business relationship and plans with
> > his customers. Ric
> 
> You might  be right; certainly you're correct that I don't know. There
> could be some specific special situation like this.

That's my point, I had no clue either. But, there are no certainties,
except life and death, in my book. I kept that notion firmly in my mind
when dealing with my customers in the chemical biz. Each one had goals
and sought results in common with everyone else, but each also had
particular needs. And if I didn't seek to ensure that those needs were
met, then someone else would ask the right questions and get MY business
and eat MY lunch... heh, that got expensive. Later on I was third
highest in the US for sales increase percentage over budget forecast.
Then the bastards raised the forecast bar and wanted even more the next
year, ensuring I didn't make the huge bonuses. :) 

> But, overall, I stand by  my points. I am tired of all the
> Unity-bashing & I think a lot of it is knee-jerk reaction.

I dunno, maybe knee-jerk reaction also has benefit. "First Impressions"
typa thing? For many, Unity scored low on that. The KDE3 to KDE4 went
that the same way. Me, I'm old as dirt, so I just waited, and stuck to
8.04 like a dusty door jam. Finally KDE added the traditional menu
button back, I was happy and quit bitching when I leaped to 10.4. 

But for some poor outback maverick making a few quid off of a Women's
Bridge Club computer email desktop/network support, to spend under the
table on his bar tab with his blokes ~unseen by his wife~, getting
handbagged by said ladies after he rolls out Unity on them would not be
a pretty sight, and I'd be afraid too. I'd have a lot of explaining to
do! It would be Bernie Sanders and Timothy Geithner time. :) Ric


-- 
My father, Victor Moore (Vic) used to say:
"There are two Great Sins in the world...
..the Sin of Ignorance, and the Sin of Stupidity.
Only the former may be overcome." R.I.P. Dad.
Linux user# 44256