Ubuntu loosing its popularity

[Art Edwards]

On 11/30/2011 03:17 AM, Nicolas Kovacs wrote:
> Le 29/11/2011 17:00, Art Edwards a écrit :
>> Except that Unity is more like Britney Spears than Archie Shepp.
>
> Since I use Ubuntu in a professional context, I usually stick to LTS
> versions (currently 10.04). Out of curiosity, I installed 11.10 on a
> sandbox machine, and I admit I liked it. I guess I'll check it out
> more in detail next summer, when it's more mature and stable.
>
> I don't quite get all the WM-bashing in the Linux world. I've been
> using KDE since 2.x, GNOME since 1.x, XFCE since 3.x, Windowmaker
> since 0.x, and I just adapted. It's like driving different
> motorcycles. Since every single one has its quirks, you just adapt
> without making a fuzz.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Niki
>
I have also used a variety of window managers, although I'm always
conscious of where I'm getting the most done. So in 1997 I was just so
happy to have X-windows on a home machine--I wasn't very fussy. As I
migrated from RH 4.1 to Suse, which was KDE, and then to Debian, the
wm's looked either like microsoft windows 3.1, or CDE. Then gnome came
out, and it was clear that this was a superior system, because I just
found myself getting more done. Note that it's not just a wm, it's an
environment. You can run either the metacity or the compiz window
managers inside gnome. Every now and then I would check out KDE because
it had such a great look, but within days, I found myself back in gnome
because I was more productive. So, I'm not so big on adapting, if
adapting means using an inferior product. To bend your motorcycle
analogy a little bit, in 1958 Ford introduced the Edsel as a visionary
car. It was a pig. The difference is that they didn't excoriate their
customers for not embracing change, they just dropped it. To me Unity is
Ubuntu's Edsel and Gnome 3 is gnome's Edsel. Worse, they have dropped
their Thunderbird for their Edsel. So, the wm-bashing is because we have
lost the best option. Luckily Xfce has progressed so that it is almost
as good as Gnome 2. Based on the Xfce traffic on the list, gnome users
are migrating their in large numbers, so Xfce will probably get really
good quickly. I know that I'm not looking back, unless the MATE fork
becomes stable, /and/ I find that I'm unhappy with Xfce, an unlikely
situation.

Art Edwards
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