[Unity is definitely not for new comers] Re: ubuntu-users Digest, Vol 80, Issue 209

[Doug]

On 04/30/2011 11:28 PM, James wrote:
> Hi
>
>> On 04/30/2011 05:13 PM, saqman2060 at gmail.com wrote:
>>> Unity is definitely not for new comers. And there is no real
>>> functionality improvement. Stick with the classic Gnome or try
> Gnome 3.
>> ...
>> I think it's the other way around.
>>
>> BTW: please bottom post on this list.
> I actually think that Gnome and KDE interfaces would be more intuitive
> for newbies in that they more closely resemble the windows start
> button interface from whence most newbies appear to come, e.g. the
> applications menu is the functional equiv of the programs sub menu,
> the system menu is equiv of the control panel, and places is the equiv
> of my computer. For newbies coming from a windows environment the
> unity interface would represent a new learning curve on top of the
> linux environment possibly making them linux is even more alien to
> them. If I were aiming at the noob them I'd give them an interface
> more closely ressembling that which they're migrating from. So I'd
> agree more with the previous poster on this. Unity might potentially
> scare off the noob looking at Linux for the first time. As many  people
> seem to dislike change that could potentially put them off if it's too big
> a change in one hit. Just some thoughts
>
> James
>
> PS.
> Since Aus is the top of the world this is my version of top posting ;)
>
I am sometimes forced to wonder whether anyone cares if there are "noobs"
or if there are, whether they are happy with the interface or not. I
would tend to agree that kde, without some of the far-out plasma stuff,
is fairly Windows-user-friendly, and something like Mint is fairly W-u-f.
Zorin might have them all beat--altho you need their Gnome interface to 
move
icons onto the desktop, where a lot of us want them, you can then set up 
and
move to something that looks and works very much like XP.  So at least a 
_few_
of the distro makers care.  Ubuntu has been anti-Windows from the 
earliest I
looked at it, so I don't know why it should surprise anyone that it is
becoming even more so. If I were advising someone who had a strong Windows
background and did not wish to delve into a whole new unfriendly world, I
would have to recommend Mint, or Zorin, or perhaps PCLinuxOs. If I were
recommending something to a disgruntled Debian user, then I might suggest
Ubuntu. And if I were advising a real programming type, I might tell him
or her to look at Suse. But I will say something nice about Ubuntu--it has
the best (perhaps only) real user manual today, as far as I can tell.  It
is even of some use to folks who have other distros.  And its mailing list
is quite friendly and helpful, probably because it has so many users.  I
wonder how many it will have after Unity is crammed down their throats?

--doug

-- 
Blessed are the peacekeepers...for they shall be shot at from both sides. --A. M. Greeley