Unity Interface sucks, Any alternatives

Liam Proven lproven at gmail.com
Mon Jan 2 19:15:18 UTC 2012


On 2 January 2012 17:26, compdoc <compdoc at hotrodpc.com> wrote:
>
> There was an article today about the Unity interface, and about Gnome 3. The
> next LTS release of Ubuntu will be supported for 5 years instead of the
> normal 3 years.
>
> This may be the last desktop release of Ubuntu. They feel that tablets and
> phones are the future. Since I use Ubuntu Desktop for my servers, this is
> unwelcome news.
>
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/02/linux_in_2011/

I think you - and perhaps the author of that article, Scott
Gilbertson, I believe* - have possibly misread the interview with the
SABDFL.

The fact that Canonical has stated that it wants to produce tablet,
phone and other touchscreen versions of Ubuntu /does not/ mean that it
will /stop/ doing a desktop version.

Unity is not a tablet or a touchscreen interface. It is a
desktop/laptop interface, designed to be operated with a mouse and
keyboard. What it is, though, is designed to scale down to
smaller-screen devices like netbooks - which is where it came from,
remember - and contain foundations that can be /shared/ with tablets
etc.

If you don't believe me, go look at existing tablet/phone interfaces.
Look at Apple iOS, Android, Palm WebOS, RIM's version of QNX and so
on. Look at the things they all have in common:
* purely icon-driven interface
* apps run full-screen
* on-screen keyboard

Next look at the things they all /don't/ have:
* no windows
* no menu bar or drop-down menus
* no icon bar, task bar or other graphical app-switcher

Now, look at Unity:
* desktop and apps have menu bar and are menu-driven
* apps run in windows
* no on-screen keyboard
* panel to graphically switch apps

Unity is a *desktop*. It is *not* a touchscreen GUI. However, it's
designed to share common ground with /future/ interfaces that /will/
run on touchscreens - just as are Mac OS X Lion and the demo versions
of Windows 8.

Canonical is not doing anything weird or controversial. It's not
trying to alienate users. It is doing the same thing that the big
commercial players are doing - simplifying its GUI, learning lessons
from the wildly-successful touchscreen devices such as the iPhone and
Android phones and the iPad.

Touchscreens are, at the moment, clearly where computers are going.
That doesn't mean we won't have keyboards, more precise pointing or
drawing devices and so on /as well/.

And the longer LTS release - which just means supporting the desktop
for as long as the server has always been, that's all - does not mean
the end of desktop releases.

In other words: sheesh, people, calm down and stop overreacting!

-- 
Liam Proven • Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile
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