Ubuntu Linux losing popularity fast. New Unity interface to blame? | Royal Pingdom

[Michael Butash]

If you look at the general pattern of linux-based netbook's, I think 
they were somewhat ill-received because they tried the captive 
portal/single-pane approach.  I bought an Asus EEEBox to use as a 
portable server, but I played with the interface before nuking it.  It 
was horribly inadequate/crippled for desktop use forcing a single pane 
without windowing, and was kludgy compared to true touch-based device it 
was trying to emulate.  Worked great with ubuntu server with text on it 
though once I nuked the disks.  :)

Fist time I saw unity, I thought "good god, someone thought that eee 
linux interface was a good idea".  Then somehow gnome shell fell inline 
too.  I guess the non-oldschool linux geeks probably want something more 
ipod-ish (eww), but I think the general decline of ubuntu users 
(directly inverse to mint's rise) and intertube outrage toward 
unity/gshell says enough that this is NOT what current linux users want.

That said, microsoft is again playing catchup (again) to this linux 
trend - last time i saw images of win8, it looks like unity/gshell too. 
  Just like vista looked way too much like compiz/beryl by the time it 
came out.  Either way, I suppose everything will just mimic an ipod for 
saleability to cattle soon regardless.  Everyone else will still be 
using gnome2 forks with xp vm's like our cranky old parents still 
clinging to the good old days.

/me pounds cane on the floor and looks for dentures

-mb


On 12/01/2011 12:46 PM, Ted Gould wrote:
> On Thu, 2011-12-01 at 12:36 -0700, Kevin Fries wrote:
>> Canonical started with Gnome3, and got upset about Gnome-Shell, so
>> decided to write their own to "fix" what they perceived as a problem.
>
> Just to clear up some factual inaccuracies here.  What is now Unity
> started as Netbook Launcher and pre-dates GNOME Shell.  I, along with
> several other Canonical employees, attended the GNOME design sprint
> where GNOME Shell was born and we decided to stick with the path we were
> on instead of adopting that one.  Later we ported Unity to the
> GNOME3/GTK3 stack after it was released and mostly stable.
>
> 		--Ted
>
>
>
>
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