Ubuntu Unity is not all that unifying

I recently installed Ubuntu Netbook edition 10.10 for my imaginary girlfriend, she (me) realised that it was ugly and reverted to the normal Gnome desktop. Now she (me) is happy.
 
Upgraded to 11.04 from 10.10, quickly started using the Classic theme. much better and faster on Gigabyte Netbook.
They do however have a wireless issue if you looking to upgrade, several tickets open for it. So if wifi/wireless is key to work dont upgrade.

In my case, pre-shared key works at home but WEP at the office no longer works, 10.10 it worked flawlessly.
The reverse for some reason is true depending on the machine installed. (I dont claim to know the whole story or scenarios, go research if a concern).

At this point, considering downgrading back to 10.10.
 
I went the upgrade route and it went flawlessly. I totally love the new Unity interface! It works so smoothly and intuitively, I just love it! Sure, there's a few rough edges that need to be smoothed out, but they were working to a deadline after it became apparent Gnome 3 wouldn't be ready in time.

Oh, and Alastair...if you move the mouse pointer to the left edge of the screen the launcher appears after a delay, if you move the pointer to the top left corner it appears instantly...RTFM dude.
 
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Me personally, I am a absolute fan of the new interface... I guess I was lucky in that I got acquainted to it when using 10.10 Ubuntu Net book Edition... Now, I cannot imagine using anything else and windows / gnome just seams old and outdated...

It takes getting used to, but once you have the hang of it you will fall in love with it... Like every change, at first there will be resistance. I know how I felt the first time I saw it.
 
I installed it. I then downloaded the kubuntu install and installed that. I have officially moved to KDE. Unity is sucky.
 
If this guy Alistair tried it for a few more minutes, he would have realised that you can put a shortcut for any application you want on the launcher. One click and it's open.
 
Joe Average said:
You get what you pay for...in this case : Nothing.
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I dont think this needs to be a OS bashing comparison with a paid OS, people use this for real world uses and serves it puspose quite efficiently.
I pay for Microsoft for work and still have more issues than any linux flavour.
 
Made the move back to gnome on 11.04. Just out of curiosity, anyway to test out KDE on Natty without it affecting the entire setup? Ie: same as gnome-unity change at login? Do i have to download Kubuntu live or is there a quicker fix?
 
Sysem said:
Made the move back to gnome on 11.04. Just out of curiosity, anyway to test out KDE on Natty without it affecting the entire setup? Ie: same as gnome-unity change at login? Do i have to download Kubuntu live or is there a quicker fix?
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just install kubuntu-desktop inside Ubuntu, log out and select kde as default.
 
First impressions

I installed 11.04 on my netbook and the installation went without a hitch. General system response is okay, except if you leave the keyboard for a couple of seconds. It seems an overly aggressive powersaving scheme is at work that spins my hdd down after a couple of seconds. The forums indicate this to be a BIOS issue. I've since then upgraded the BIOS to latest, but the problem still persists. The problem does not appear on Windows, so the next step might be to disable ACPI support.

Overall I'm happy with the interface, it takes a couple of seconds to get familiar with it's operation. The integrated menu bar combined with the sidebar is perfect for netbooks which are generally vertically handicapped - this is probably the biggest interface improvement for me, a netbook user. My biggest hurdle was learning the new scroll bar, and using it while scanning through text inside articles is frustrating because you have to take your eyes of the material to focus where the scroll "handle" is. Granted, with a scroll mouse this would not be an issue but if you're working on laptop without a scroll option on the pad it's rather irritating.

Generally it feels like bootup times are slower than 10.10 - though I cannot confirm this, but it takes >25 seconds to boot on my dual-core atom. The previous version used to present a logon screen within about 12-15 seconds. This might have to do with the startup apps and the ext4 filesystem, previously I used ext2 for netbooks.

The coming months patches and further development for 11.10 will be the make or break for unity. Fedora 15 looks promising with GNOME3 and the interface does look very polished. Time will tell
 
Only reason I am holding thumbs for Ubuntu to get Unity right is because I would love to see Wayland and I am sure Conical will make sure Unity works on it 100%.

If I remember correct it will come with 11.10
 
Ya, look.... I think Unity is pretty rad. I'm just peeved I can't figure out why I can't get MP3's to play in the new bundled Banshee. They still work in Rhythmbox but Banshee, she's broke.

I've installed and uninstalled various gstreamer(good/bad/ugly) tweaks. And the ubuntu-restricted-addons. Did it install all of them? No clue. If anyone can help, id love a PM.
 
I think the points expressed in the article are valid, however I feel that all of these things are paper cuts and will be ironed out over time.

its quite amusing to note how much backlash there was against kde 4. everyone was screaming and shouting that they were killing kde. then came gnome 3- that was the worst thing ever, now unity and omg!!!!
Now everyone has come full circle, and are hailing that same kde 4 as the unity saviour. Software matures and given time, and knowing canonical, unity will become a rock solid desktop. and if its still a little too immature for your tastes, well then stick with 10.04/ move to kde and wait for the next LTR. If they have accomplished so much in such a short space of time, imagine what it will look like in 2 years time.

that said, even if canonical drops unity, the gnome foundation has moved on. Like it or not, the choice is no longer between unity and gnome 2, but between unity and gnome shell. Gnome 2 is being phased out and as with kde 3, those who hang on to it will soon find that the software will move with the changes, and slowly will become incompatible.

As for me, I am excited to see where unity ends up. My installation was flawless, it works beautifully, and I find it an absolute pleasure to work with.
 
ave said:
I think the points expressed in the article are valid, however I feel that all of these things are paper cuts and will be ironed out over time.

its quite amusing to note how much backlash there was against kde 4. everyone was screaming and shouting that they were killing kde. then came gnome 3- that was the worst thing ever, now unity and omg!!!!
Now everyone has come full circle, and are hailing that same kde 4 as the unity saviour. Software matures and given time, and knowing canonical, unity will become a rock solid desktop. and if its still a little too immature for your tastes, well then stick with 10.04/ move to kde and wait for the next LTR. If they have accomplished so much in such a short space of time, imagine what it will look like in 2 years time.
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+10000000000

The new Unity interface rocks. Its awesome and for a first release for a free software it works very well. Takes alot of getting used to but once you do its just great for people who multitask.

BTW stop writing opion pieces when you gonnas review software. Its a pretty jerk thing to do.
 
MightyMuffinMan said:
+10000000000

The new Unity interface rocks. Its awesome and for a first release for a free software it works very well. Takes alot of getting used to but once you do its just great for people who multitask.

BTW stop writing opion pieces when you gonnas review software. Its a pretty jerk thing to do.
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Agreed. Only reason I switched was because launching apps become a mission. I know you can pin it to the side, but I didn't want all my apps cluttered there. It really isn't a friendly navigator that dash board. Also, had to launch "Home Folder", then mount my NTFS drive, where as in gnome I can click on places and its displayed there, just a click to mount and display.
 
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