31–40 of 194 posts
It reminds me of the die-hard KDE users and Kubuntu. I think Canonical did well with the creation of Ubuntu, which made it possible to throw a Linux desktop at a newbie user for the first time. From the sounds of it, Unity hasn't lost that angle. Since it's actively looking at tablets, I think they are here to stay. With tablet hardware getting more powerful, it could be surviving contender to iOS and Android.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why switch to XFCE? Can't you just install Gnome?
Sure on Ubuntu 11.10 I installed Gnome 2.2 (see below comment for correction) as follows. This may not be possible on the next Ubuntu release. That's why I am migrating to Mint. How to install gnome-classic on Ubuntu 11.10 # apt-get install gnome-session-fallback # cd /etc/lightdm # gedit lightdm.conf change user-session=gnome-classic hold down the alt key when right clicking the menu bar to add frequency and system…
I went through this same stuff recently, tried xfce for a while, finally gave Gnome Shell a week and have grown to like it. I don't miss 2.2 anymore.
* The dock won't auto hide until hovered over like in OS X.
* I have to search for the app I want to use most of the time. There should just be a whole menu or list
* The dock should be able to be moved different areas of the screen.
I tried to get used to it but couldn't. I switched to ElementaryOS (loved it). Then I switched to Crunchbang which runs OpenBox and I've never looked back.
Ubuntu is amazing for newbies except for those 3 flaws. Its the only distro I've seen that could make a Windows or Mac user feel right at home.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why switch to XFCE? Can't you just install Gnome?
Sure on Ubuntu 11.10 I installed Gnome 2.2 (see below comment for correction) as follows. This may not be possible on the next Ubuntu release. That's why I am migrating to Mint. How to install gnome-classic on Ubuntu 11.10 # apt-get install gnome-session-fallback # cd /etc/lightdm # gedit lightdm.conf change user-session=gnome-classic hold down the alt key when right clicking the menu bar to add frequency and system…
What, are they gonna stop making it based on Linux and move to something that can't run Gnome?
Linux Mint has put Google custom search into the distribution in order to raise revenue. It's in firefox both from the address bar, the search box, and in the quick search from the 'start' menu. It's very annoying, and it isn't just a matter of opting out. Mint doesn't support an easy way to remove it from all three locations without getting technical. I used mint for a couple of months, the custom search engine came…
What about if Google Chrome is one's preferred browser and Google search is one's preferred search engine. Would Mint's custom search still be as annoying?
The problem isn't so much Google. I like Google, but the custom search is not as good as vanilla Google. Currency conversion doesn't work, the calculator doesn't work, google maps doesn't return it's places on top of the results... non of Google's enhanced features are functional.
There's a quick search from the start menu which uses custom search as well, and this seems impossible to change.
As a fairly recent main machine ubuntu convert (6 months or so), I'm actually a fan of unity. Like everyone I hated it at first, but now that I have got used to it I prefer it to regular gnome stuff. I agree however that 11.10 has been a nightmare as many useful (but not hardcore) features have been removed from the UI of many packages for reasons such as "casual users are unlikely to need this". This is the problem…
I originally started using Ubuntu for the driver support (after a while you want to work rather than compiling everything and editing files in /etc, which means you either roll your own de facto distro or you switch to something which has an 'out of the box' workability).
http://intosimple.blogspot.com/2011/11/decline-of-ubuntu.htm...
Then I stepped back and thought for what I'm needing or want a desktop: automounting + wifi.
For automounting I'm now starting 'thunar --daemon &' in my '.xsession', and for wifi and it's config I'm using 'wicd' and otherwise just XMonad.
Canonical is genuinely trying to make linux the most user friendly it's ever been and make it ready for real mass adoption. It's not going to be easy and not everyone is going to like every change but you can't get so down on them for trying so hard. Saying the solution is to go backwards is the same as telling canonical to just stop trying all together. There's no point in stagnating and sticking with gnome. New use…
For the rest of us (power users and coders) we're fortunate enough to know how to replace Unity or improve it. Canonical has a plan and they're sticking to it. They probably know that the value these changes will make in the future are worth disappointing the people complaining. You have to make choices as a developer and sometimes it's better to make a chunk of people unhappy than to bend to their will and dilute the value of your product's future. If they didn't stand strong on this they may very well end up stuck working on these little complaints instead of focusing on the bigger picture and making the system far better, far faster.